James Miller Allen, was born on October 2, 1821 in Cole, Missouri to Isaac Allen and Margaret Boyd (Miller) Allen. He was the second of eleven children. The Allen family had moved to Platte County, Missouri by 1840. James was farming there with his father when he met and fell in love with Hannah Jane Riggs. They were married after the harvest on November 18th, 1841 and welcomed a son, Cyrus Albert Allen, on September 19th, 1843. The young couple was right in the midst of "Oregon Fever", living near a popular jump off spot for the wagon trains heading west. They probably knew neighbors whose family members had already made the trip and they would have seen newspaper articles and/or posters exalting the virtues of the Oregon Territory. Before their son's first birthday, they made the difficult decision to join Hannah's family on the Oregon Trail. Preparations would be made to leave in early 1845.
Hannah's parents were James Berry Riggs, a Kentucky-born farmer, and his wife Nancy Clarinda (Anderson) Riggs from South Carolina. Soon after James and Nancy were married in Illinois, Hannah and her twin brother, Milton, were born there on January 18th, 1825. By 1844, when the plans were being made to leave for Oregon, there were four more sons and two more daughters who would also be making the trip.
The following family members were preparing for the journey to Oregon:
James Berry Riggs, head of the family
Nancy Riggs, his wife
Milton Riggs, b. January 1825, son
Rufus Riggs, b. November 1827, son
Marion L. Riggs, b. May 1830, son
Washington L. Riggs, b. August 1833, son
Silas T. Riggs, b. April 1836, son
Louisa M. Riggs, b. Feb 1839, daughter
Silbey Ann Riggs, b. March 1842, daughter
and
Hannah Allen, b. January 1825, daughter
James Miller Allen, b. October 1821, son-in-law
Cyrus Allen, b. September 1843, grandson
Since the Allen and Riggs families were farmers, they were undoubtedly excited at the possibility of acquiring land
that would be plentiful, as well as fertile. With the talk that there was an opportunity for free land, it's easy to understand why men were so eager to make the 2500 mile overland journey. James would be leaving his parents and siblings behind when he left with his wife and in-laws.
He surely had many conversations with his own father about the prospects Oregon offered, and they likely formed a plan that, if Oregon proved to be the land of milk & honey as described, that James would send word back to his parents in Missouri to join him out West. One can only imagine how torn James must have felt. While he was eager for adventure and new opportunities, he would also have been dreading the goodbyes.
(Rene Rodgers contributed content to this post)
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