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Below is a family biography included in The History of McLean County, Illinois published by Wm. LeBaron, Jr. Co. in 1879.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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CHARLES ALLEN, farmer, Sec. 32; P. O. Heyworth; born in Marion Co., Ohio, May 19, 1845. His father, David S. Allen, was born in Pennsylvania, and emigrated to Ohio, then to Illinois, and located in Padua Township, McLean Co., in 1845. Here he entered eighty acres of prairie and twenty of timber, upon which he lived until 1860, when, after living in Christian Co. three years, he returned to McLean Co. and settled in Downs Township, where he died, March 17, 1864. He married, in Ohio, Betsey Love; she died in McLean Co. in 1848, and lies buried in the Dawson graveyard, in Padua Township. The subject of this sketch lived with his parents until the winter of 1864, when he enlisted in the 150th I. V. I., and went forward to battle for the Union. He was forwarded to the front, and, during the year 1864, was engaged upon duty in Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and, in the spring of 1865, he was discharged, and returned to Downs Township, and followed farming upon rented land until 1871, when he purchased his present place of 100 acres, upon which he then settled and has since lived. His marriage with Charity E. Cusey was celebrated Dec. 30, 1868. They have two children — John Cusey, born Oct. 22, 1871; Charles A., June 11, 1876. Mrs. Allen was born in McLean Co., Nov. 21, 1844. She is a daughter of Senator John Cusey, one of the early settlers of McLean Co., whose biography appears in this work.

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This family biography is one of 1257 biographies included in The History of McLean County, Illinois published by Wm. LeBaron, Jr. Co. in 1879.  View the complete description here: The History of McLean County, Illinois

View additional McLean County, Illinois family biographies here: McLean County, Illinois Biographies

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