Penelope Johnson Allen

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Penelope Johnson Allen
White woman with dark eyes, wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
Penelope Johnson Allen, from a 1922 publication.
Born
Penelope Van Dyke Johnson

October 27, 1886
Chattanooga, Tennessee
DiedJanuary 9, 1985 (age 98)
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Occupation(s)Local historian, clubwoman, writer, educator, journalist

Penelope Johnson Allen (October 27, 1886 – January 9, 1985), born Penelope Van Dyke Johnson, was an American newspaper columnist and local historian. In the 1930s, she led a Works Progress Administration project to collect and copy county records in Tennessee, preserving many genealogical and other records. She wrote a popular family history column for the Chattanooga Times, "Leaves of the Family Tree".

Early life[edit]

Penelope Van Dyke Johnson was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, the daughter of James Whiteside Johnson and Sue Coffin Cleage Johnson. Her father was a county official. She graduated from Chattanooga High School in 1904, and attended Western College in Oxford, Ohio.[1]

Career[edit]

Johnson taught school as a young woman, before she married. During World War I, she worked at a DuPont munitions factory in Penniman, Virginia.[1] After the war, she worked at a newspaper in Chattanooga, as a reporter on various beats (including sports). In 1922, she ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Tennessee state legislature.[2][3]

Allen became a genealogy columnist for the Chattanooga Times; her column "Leaves of the Family Tree" offered detailed accounts of notable Southern families, including Cherokee families (a particular interest of Allen's). During the 1930s she headed a state-wide project to collect and copy county records, funded by the Works Progress Administration.[4] She wrote books including Tennessee Soldiers in the Revolution (1935),[5] Guide Book of Chattanooga and Vicinity (1935, a pamphlet compiled for the Tennessee chapter of the DAR),[6] Manuscript of the History of the Cherokee Indians, Particularly the Chickamauga Group (1935),[7] Tennessee soldiers in the War of 1812 (1947),[8] and Leaves from the Family Tree (1982, a collection of her newspaper columns).[9]

Allen was a member of the Tennessee Historical Commission,[10] state press chair for the Tennessee Federation of Women's Clubs, and state historian of the Tennessee chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).[11] She was also active in the DAR at the national level.[12][13] In 1970, a portrait of Allen was unveiled at the annual dinner of the Chattanooga Area Historical Association, and donated to the Tennessee State Library.[14]

Personal life[edit]

Penelope Johnson married Samuel Boyd Allen. They had a daughter, Penelope Allen Moore.[15][16] She was widowed when Samuel Allen died in 1932. Penelope Johnson Allen died in 1985, aged 98 years, in Chattanooga. Her personal collection of papers related to Cherokee history is in the Tennessee State Library and Archives.[17] Another collection of hers, papers related to the Brainerd Mission, is archived at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.[18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Moore, Gay Morgan (2011). Chattanooga's Forest Hills Cemetery. Arcadia Publishing. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-7385-8694-6.
  2. ^ "Mrs. Allen Endorsed". Knoxville Sentinel. 1922-06-09. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ "Mrs. Penelope Johnson Allen Indorsed by County Executive Committee". The Chattanooga News. 1922-08-02. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ Jansen, Abby, "Penelope Johnson Allen: Making History By Saving History" (2017). Student Research. 11.
  5. ^ Allen, Penelope Johnson (1935). Tennessee soldiers in the Revolution; a roster of soldiers living during the Revolutionary War in the counties of Washington and Sullivan. Taken from the Revolutionary army accounts of North Carolina. The King printing company.
  6. ^ Allen, Penelope Johnson (1935). Guide book of Chattanooga and vicinity. Chattanooga: publisher not identified. OCLC 8665908.
  7. ^ Allen, Penelope Johnson (1935). Manuscript of the History of the Cherokee Indians, Particularly the Chickamauga Group.
  8. ^ Allen, Penelope Johnson; National Society, United States Daughters of 1812; Tennessee Society (1947). Tennessee soldiers in the War of 1812: regiments of Col. Allcorn and Col. Allison. Chattanooga? Tenn.: Tennessee Society, United States Daughters of 1812. OCLC 1810286.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ Allen, Penelope Johnson (1982). Leaves from the family tree. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press. ISBN 978-0-89308-227-7. OCLC 8824541.
  10. ^ "Mrs. Allen Given Award of Merit". Chattanooga Daily Times. 1955-12-15. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ Allen, Penelope Johnson (August 1923). "Marriage Records from Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee". Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine. 57: 465.
  12. ^ "Aiding Mrs. Gillentine". Chattanooga Daily Times. 1935-04-14. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Mrs. Allen Receives High D. A. R. Appointment". The Chattanooga News. 1930-07-05. p. 17. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Penelope Van Dyke Johnson Allen". Tennessee Historical Quarterly. 30 (3): 329–330. 1971. ISSN 0040-3261. JSTOR 42623248.
  15. ^ "Moore-Allen". The Bristol Herald Courier. 1932-12-02. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Mrs. Allen and Daughter Receive D. A. R. Honors". Nashville Banner. 1931-03-17. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-08-08 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Penelope Johnson Allen Cherokee Collection, 1775-1878". Tennessee Secretary of State. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
  18. ^ "Penelope Johnson Allen Brainerd Mission, correspondence and photographs". University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Digital Collections. Retrieved 2020-08-08.
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