AMBROSE MONTGOMERY ALLEN, D. D. S.,
the skillful dental surgeon of Grove City, comes of one of the earliest
and most highly respected families of Mercer county. He is the son of
the venerable Samuel Allen, of East Springfield township, this county,
who was born in Ireland in 1825, a son of Robert Allen, who with his
family emigrated to America in 1835, and in the same year located on
what is known as the “Allen Farm” in East Springfield township, Mercer
county. At that date Samuel Allen was a lad of ten summers. There he
grew to manhood and received a fair education in the early “district
school,” and settled down in life as a farmer on land which he
cultivated in an excellent manner. He married Mary Gilmore, and they
together conducted the farm, he thus spending his long and useful life,
he reared a highly respected family which is an honor to his name as
well as to that of his faithful wife. The names of their children are
here recorded: Rev. R. C., a minister of the Covenanter church, now
residing in Grove City; Dr. Samuel R., of whom a more extended mention
is made hereafter; Ann Jane, a promising young lady who died aged
twenty-two years, in the full bloom of a beautiful young womanhood;
Eliza, who died in infancy; Julia Mary, who married Robert Wilson and
is now residing in Los Angeles, California; William J. C., at home; and
Dr. Ambrose M. Allen, of this memoir. The family was reared on the farm
and in the strict faith of the Covenanter church, to which religious
body the good parents were united in early life. The father, Samuel
Allen, was ardent in his zeal and support of the cause of abolition in
its day, before the Civil war settled that vexed national question, and
he was a powerful and convincing man in debate, in principle
uncompromising, and his forensic ability won for him enviable
distinction alike upon the floor of the Lyceum and the literary society
of that period. In connection with the so called “Underground Railroad”
be helped more than one poor slave to make good his escape to Canada,
where he became his own master. He has ever been on the side of the
down-trodden and oppressed and active in the great and growing cause of
temperance, and now, although in his eighty-fifth year, he is an
earnest advocate of the principles and doctrines of total abstinence
for the individual and Prohibition for the state.
Concerning his
children let it be said in this sketch that his son, Rev. R. C. Allen,
has long been connected with the ministry and has held high rank in the
church of his choice. Dr. Samuel R., the second son, was born on the
old parental homestead in Mercer county December 5, 1850, united with
the Covenanter church (Reformed Presbyterian), received a liberal
education in what is now Grove City College and in Westminster college,
and read medicine under Dr. James Mehard, of Mercer. and later
graduated from the medical department of the Western Reserve University
of Cleveland. Ohio, in 1881. He then entered upon the active practice
of his profession at Grove City, where for eight years he did an
extensive medical practice, and then health failing him, he went to
Blanchard. Iowa, thinking a change of locality might benefit him, but
there he died August 3, 1890, when not quite forty years of age, just
in life’s prime, when all seemed fair for a long and useful career. In
1882 he had married Harriet Shaw, who survives him. He also left three
children, Mary Jane, Newton R. and Samuel.
Before proceeding
with the personal sketch of Ambrose M. Allen, whose name heads this
memoir, the subjoined reference will be made to the family history: The
father was twice married, his first wife, whose maiden name was Mary
Gilmore, having died, aged forty-four years, in 1874. For his second
wife he married Mary Porter, and by this second union he has one
daughter, Lillian Askew, now Mrs. William White. In each instance of
marriage he was fortunate and highly blessed by having for a companion
a lady possessing sterling traits of womanly character, both of heart
and mind.
The reader’s attention will now be called to the facts
concerning Dr. Ambrose M. Allen’s career. He was born on the old
homestead in East Springfield township, Mercer county, Pennsylvania,
June 7, 1863. He spent his youth upon the farm and in attending the
country schools. He also spent three years at learning the carpenter’s
trade, and by working at this trade as well as by teaching school he
obtained means to defray his expenses in attending Grove City College
and the Pennsylvania Dental College of Philadelphia, from which latter
institution he graduated in 1889. For a short time he practiced
dentistry in Philadelphia, but in 1890 located in Grove City, where he
has long since enjoyed a large and profitable practice. He is a worthy
member of the Lake Erie Dental Association. He has ever taken a
commendable interest in the public school system, having in 1892 served
upon the board of education of his city and held the office of school
director. Politically he is an ardent supporter, as is his father, of
the Prohibition party, believing in the final triumph of its
principles. The Doctor is a director of the First National Bank of
Grove City, was formerly connected with the Peoples National Bank, of
which he was one of the organizers and its first vice-president and
later became its president, but withdrew from the institution in 1903.
He
was happily married in 1890 to Sarah Sewell, of Hazelton, Pennsylvania.
They are both active members of the Covenanter church. They have always
been active in religious, educational and reform work, and many
prominent public workers along those lines have found in the generous
and boundless hospitality of their home a temporary haven of rest.
Three children have been born to them: Irma Sewell, who was born
September 23, 1891, and died June 6, 1892; Percival Wayne, born October
9, 1893; and Dorothy Mae, born November 14, 1906.
Source: (Twentieth Century History of Mercer County, 1909, pages 510-512)
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