| When John Allen came to the site now know as Ann Arbor, he did so with a
hope that his fortunes were going to take a turn for the better. He had
left behind a family and financial problems in Virginia. He was hoping
that Michigan, with its unsettled frontier, would be the place where he
could start over again, wash away his debts and build a pleasant
community. John Allen was born and raised in Virginia. The
son of a wealthy land owner and farmer, he was married twice. His first
wife, Mary Crawford died after giving Allen two sons. His second
wife, Ann J. McCue, was a widow when Allen met her. Like Allen, she
had two children from a previous marriage. Both wives of John Allen had
large inheritances behind them, so Allen married into money. Yet, historical
records maintain that he left Virginia for a new life to escape money
troubles.
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| Consequently, John Allen wasn't exactly the stereotypical pioneer blazing new
paths into the wilderness. His past was somewhat troubling. According to
historian Jonathan Marwil, Allen was trying to get away from some bad
debts incurred before leaving his home state. Another historian,
Professor Russell Bidlack, sheds some more light on Allen. Apparently, Allen
had borrowed some money, bought a herd of cattle with that money, and intended
to drive the cattle to Baltimore for profit. Whether that deal ever
materialized is not clear from the existing records. What is know is Allen left Virginia in the fall of 1823, and met Rumsey soon after. Allen was
the wealthier of the two men, spending $600.00 for 480 ($1.25 per acre)1 to
Rumsey's $200.00 for 160 acres. In addition, both men had the foresight
to lobby for and purchase the right to have their village designated the
county seat. They paid $1,000.00 for this privilege. The move to obtain
the county seat was brilliant foresight on their part because these
government institutions, such as the county court house and jail, ensured
the success of the small village. All legal and governmental business of
the county had to go through Ann Arbor, thus making the village a center
to transact business. Whether this foresight can be attributed to both
men or one in particular is not known. However, the record on John Allen
is far more complete than on Rumsey (mostly due to Rumsey's untimely death
in 1828). It appears that John Allen was a man of distinct ambition and
enthusiasm. Many people attribute a large part of Ann Arbor's early
success to his tireless efforts building up the town structurally and
culturally.
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| While it seems clear that John Allen founded Ann Arbor in order to start a
new life, he also did it for capitalistic reasons. Allen could sell the
land he had originally purchased at quite a profit and did so. By the
time he left Ann arbor for New York in 1837, to better manage his
financial affairs, Allen owned several thousand acres of land in the
western part of Michigan. Thus the founding of Ann Arbor turned out to be
a profitable venture for Allen. But Allen earned his money
enthusiastically promoting his new town and its qualities writing: "Our
water is of the purest limestone, the face of the county modestly uneven,
our river the most beautiful . . ." But John Allen's energy was not only
directed toward selling plots of land. He became involved in many civic
duties and functions, helping Ann Arbor grow in more ways than just
population.
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| Besides the selling of Ann Arbor as a great place to live, Allen wore many
hats during his life in the town he founded. He established Ann Arbor's
first post office in 1825, becoming the town's first postmaster. This
duty alone probably didn't take up too much of his time back then. Mail
was not delivered to the townspeople. They had to come to the post office
to pick it up. Mail came into the town on the average of every six days
or so depending upon the weather. When it did arrive, the entire mail
shipment only amounted to six or seven letters. But being the postmaster
wasn't the only duty of Allen's.
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| In addition, he was one of the county coroners. He was also president of
the village trustees, and a justice of the peace. He served as a private
in the Michigan Volunteers which was the first regiment in Washtenaw
County. He was a member of the debate club, which, at its initial
meeting, consisted of two members, Allen and Rumsey. When John Allen
wasn't busy with the above obligations, helping to build houses, making
sure the school had enough land and selling plots of land, he managed to
get into politics.
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| Prior to his political ambitions and appointments, Allen studied law
with the honorable Judge James Kingsley. He was admitted to the Bar
of Washtenaw County in 1832. Passing the bar more than likely helped
his political life. Before becoming a lawyer, Allen had run for a
state representative seat but finished in a dismal fourth with only
40 votes to his credit. In 1845, a few years after studying with
Kingsley and passing his exam, he ran for and won a seat in the state
senate. He remained in that position for three years before leaving
in 1848.
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| If all this isn't enough, John Allen established Ann Arbor's first
newspaper, the Western Emigrant with Samuel Dexter. The two editors
used the paper as a format to express their anti-Mason views. The
two: "made the Emigrant an Anti-Masonic organ" and dealt powerful
verbal blows at what they considered a crime against good government.
Thus, John Allen was concerned with money matters as well as
political motives and genuine willingness to see his village grow and
prosper.
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| By 1837, John Allen was a very powerful and rich man in Ann Arbor.
In order to manage his finances better, he moved to New York. It
seemed he wanted to get closer to the action of investing.
Unfortunately, the investment markets were not kind to him. By 1850,
he had lost most of his wealth in real estate, and he was looking for
new ventures to regain his fortune. The gold rush attracted him, so
he moved to California in the mid part of 1850. He never made it
back east, dying near San Francisco on March 11, 1851. Sadly, the
colorful and diverse life of Ann Arbor.
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1. Marwil, Jonathan. A History of Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor: The
University of Michigan Press, 1987. 1.
2. Bidlack, Russell E. John Allen and the Founding of Ann
Arbor. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1962.
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