Family tree of Ethan ALLEN
Author, American politician, Industrialist, Businessman
Born Ethan ALLEN
Farmer, businessman, land speculator, philosopher, writer, and American Revolutionary War patriot, hero, and politician
Born on January 21, 1737 in Litchfield, Connecticut Colony, USA , United States
Died on February 12, 1789 in Burlington, Vermont, USA
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Seven siblings, all of whom survived to adulthood, joined the family between Allen's birth in 1738 and 1751. His brothers Ira and Heber would also become prominent figures in the early history of Vermont.
... Ethan Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, the first-born child of Joseph and Mary Baker Allen, both of English and Puritan descent. The family moved to the town of Cornwall shortly after his birth. The move to Cornwall grew out of Ethan's father's quest for freedom of religion during a time of turmoil: the Great Awakening, when Puritans were separating into churches with differing dogmas, in particular about the proper form of conversion: by works or by grace. Ethan's lifelong interest in philosophy and ideas emerged against the backdrop of his father's involvement in these Puritan debates and his father's refusal to convert to the covenant by grace. As a boy Ethan already excelled at quoting the Bible and was known for disputing the meaning of passages.
Seven siblings, all of whom survived to adulthood, joined the family between Allen's birth in 1738 and 1751. His brothers Ira and Heber would also become prominent figures in the early history of Vermont.
Although not very much is known about Allen's childhood, the town of Cornwall was frontier territory in the 1740s. By the time Allen reached his teens, the area, while still a difficult area in which to make a living, began to resemble a town, with wood-frame houses beginning to replace the rough cabins of the early settlers. Joseph Allen died in 1755; at the time of his death he was one of the wealthier landowners in the area, ran a successful farm, and had previously served as town selectman. Allen had, before his father's death, begun studies under a minister in the nearby town of Salisbury with the goal of gaining admission to Yale College. Allen's brother Ira recalled that, even at a young age, Ethan was curious and interested in learning.
Allen was forced to end his studies upon his father's death. While he volunteered for militia service in 1757 in response to French movements resulting in the Siege of Fort William Henry, his unit received word while en route that the fort had fallen, and turned back. Even though the French and Indian War continued over the next several years, Allen did not apparently participate in any further military activities, and is presumed to have tended his farm, at least until 1762. In that year, he became part owner of an iron furnace in Salisbury. He also married Mary Brownson, a woman five years his senior, from the nearby town of Roxbury, in July 1762. They first settled in Cornwall, but moved the following year to Salisbury with their infant daughter Loraine. Allen bought a small farm and proceeded to develop the iron works. The expansion of the iron works was apparently costly to Allen; he was forced to sell off portions of the Cornwall property to raise funds, and eventually sold half of his interest in the works to his brother Heman. The Allen brothers sold their interest in the iron works in October 1765.
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Geographical origins
The map below shows the places where the ancestors of the famous person lived.
