AllenParkinson - Person Sheet
AllenParkinson - Person Sheet
NameHarper Allen 189
Birthabt 1824, (possibly) Fairfield, ME
Residence1850, Hancock Plantation, Aroostook, ME460
Memo in a home with two Sweasey families (This area of Maine spoke mostly French.) He was listed as a laborer along with three other men.
Residence1860, Township 18, Range 7 (Fort Kent), Aroostook, ME461
Residence1868, Ashland, Aroostook, ME
Residence1870, Dalton, Aroostook, ME462
Deathabt Feb 1871, Minnesota463,464
FatherMoses Allen (1790-1865)
MotherTheasa Elnor (Thracy) Parker (1798->1860)
Spouses
DeathMar 1865, Fort Kent, Aroostook, ME466,467,468
Birthabt 1 Aug 1825469
Baptism1 Aug 1825, St. Johns, New Brunswick, Canada469
FatherMichael Kelly (1806-1867)
MotherMary Fitzgerald (-?)
Marriage5 Jun 1851, Portland, St. John, New Brunswick, Canada470
Marr Memoat St. Luke's Church
ChildrenMary E. (1852-?)
 Martha Frances (1853-1932)
 Josephine (1855-1938)
 John P. (1857-?)
 Anna Margrett (1859->1920)
 Caleb Harper (1861-1937)
 George Henry (1863-1929)
Death12 Oct 1911, Ashland, Aroostook, ME471
Memoshe was buried with her first husband and their son
Birth28 Aug 1823, North Yarmouth, Cumberland, ME471,472
Marriage24 Mar 1868, Ashland, Aroostook, ME473
Marr MemoHarper was listed as "from Fort Kent" while Maria was from Ashland.
Notes for Harper Allen
Birth place as Fairfield: (His father, Moses, was in Fairfield until 1827.)

Harper and Helen sold lot #20 to Henry West (over time Helen and several daughters lived in Henry's home) and Silas Niles. He stated that John Sweezy had deeded the land to him (the same John that he lived with in 1850.) on 29 November 1851. 474

The probate records after the death of Helen/Ellen show that Harper sold land and used the money for the education of each of his children - something not always done at that time.475

According to the letter from his mother, he found homes for his younger children and left for Minnesota in 1865, after Helen/Ellen died. There was a gold rush that year. “The discovery of gold in northern Minnesota led to the Vermilion Lake gold rush of 1865-66. However, hardly any gold was found. Tiny amounts of gold were found embedded in quartz. Mining the gold out of this hard rock was not profitable. The gold prospectors abandoned the area by 1867.” 476 Only Caleb came back to live with Harper when he returned.462

A biological sketch after the death of Harper's son, George, states that they moved to Ashland five years after his birth and the death of Helen. (published in the Presque Isle Star Herald)

In 1870 he had cows, cattle, 1 pig and grew spring wheat, oats and buckwheat.477

When his will was probated, the children (and Maria S.) requested that John G. Mosher of Buchannan ME be guardian rather then Maria.

Interesting death info found the obituary of his brother, Charles: [Harper] “was an expert woodsman and well known in Ashland. He went to Minnesota when much of that region was a wilderness and while there engaged in exploring for lumber operations on the river above St. Paul. He was killed by a shot from the shore supposed to come from Indians.”464

Another interesting note: a Harper Allen Bragdon, son of Horace Bragdon, was born in Ashland in 1874. He died 12 Dec 1939.31

History he live through:
In 1839 Governor Fairfield declares war on England over a boundary dispute between New Brunswick and northern Maine. This is the first and only time a state has declared war on a foreign power. The dispute was settled, however, before any blood was shed.

In 1843 coastal Maine received 204 inches of snow during that winter. One snow storm that year produced snow from Maine all the way to the Gulf of Mexico.478
Notes for Helen (Spouse 1)
In 1850 she was living in the home of Henry West and listed as a laborer460
Last Modified 16 Jul 2019Created 20 Jul 2022 using Reunion for Macintosh