GEORGE WASHINGTON ALLEN, the founder of Greenfield, was born May 15, 1801, in Tennessee. His father, Zachariah Allen, emigrated to Greene county in 1819, settling near the present site of White Hall. George W. was the seventh son of the first wife, and whether from being left an infant by the death of his mother, or from a desire that he might fill a clerical position in the church of his fathers - the United Presbyterians - he was favored by his father in receiving the elements of a good education. His bent of mind was indulged in books of theology, philosophy, science, jurisprudence and civil engineering. His theology was a disappointment to his father, for instead of a pastorate in the church of ancestral faith, he became a member of the M. E. church at the age of 28; filling important local positions in this church to the end of his life; often throwing open his house to the denomination for worship, and giving a resting place and home to its weary ministers, while they laid the foundation for one of the strongest protestant churches in the vicinity. In 1828 he was married to Caroline Henderson, oldest child of James Henderson, who had removed from Ohio and settled near White Hall in 1819. She was born in Ohio, in 1808 and is now living in the city of Greenfield, its oldest resident. He was the father of nine children, two dying in infancy, and one - Mary J., wife of William A. Tunnell, in mature womanhood. Four of the children - Sarah A., wife of J. Howard Gray; W. S. G.; George B., and Luther T., are living in the city of Greenfield; and two daughters, Mrs. Harriet E. Sweeney, and Mrs. Caroline M. Noftsker, in the city of Rock Island. The old whig party found in Mr. Allen an earnest advocate, and his home was often honored by the presence of the leaders of this party. The republican party received his last vote, it being cast for Abraham Lincoln, for his second term. He removed from the neighborhood of White Hall, to the eastern portion of the county, in 1832, and laid out the plat of the town of Greenfield, in 1834. He was the first postmaster, and held the office 15 consecutive years. He died Jan. 17, 1865.