Person Record

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1 of 1977 Fred Allen, The Blind Poet, 90th Birthday

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Name

Allen, Fred Martin

Genealogy ID

83278

Born

13 OCT 1854

Birthplace

Smethport, McKean PA

Deceased

21 MAY 1946

Deceased where

Delmar, Tioga PA

Cemetery

Prospect Cemetery

Education

The White School
Mansfield State Normal School 1875

Occupation

Poet
Allen's Business School

Titles & honors

F. & A. M. Friendship Lodge No. 247

Father

Fordyce A. Allen

Mother

Jane Martin

Spouse

Clara Holloway Wentworth

Children

Jean A. Allen
Richard W. Allen
Elizabeth Stephenia Allen

Reference

Obit PDC

Notes

Blind Poet Celebrates Birthday
Mansfield – Fred M. Allen, of Mansfield, poet and former educator, celebrated his 90th birthday Friday. "I am glad to be alive," he declared, with his cheery smile, when interviewed at his South Main St. home. He was born at Smethport, Pa., Oct. 13, 1854, a son of Prof. Fordyce A. and Jane Martin Allen. In 1858 his father established the West Chester Normal School of which he was principal until 1864 when he came to Mansfield to become principal of the State Normal School. He was twice principal of the institution, from 1854 until 1869, and from 1877 until his death, Feb. 11, 1880. In 1867 he founded the Soldiers Orphan School, the management of which he retained until his death, Mrs. Allen succeeding him until the pupils were transferred to Harford, Pa., in 1890. Fred Allen attended the borough school, then known as the "white schoolhouse," on Academy St. across from the Normal School campus. It is now an apartment house owned by S. S. Beach. He graduated from the State Normal School in 1875. In 1882 he erected the building on Main St. now owned by R. R. Cruttenden and conducted a business college there for several years, when he became connected with the Williamsport Commercial College. Later he taught in business schools in Elmira and Wilkes-Barre and conducted the Troy Business College at Troy, N. Y. While at Troy his sight failed and he retired from the teaching profession. Mrs. Allen, the former Miss Clara Wentworth, died Nov. 26, 1923, and the following year Mr. Allen returned to Mansfield. After his sight failed Mr. Allen turned to composing poetry and soon became known as Mansfield’s blind poet and he has been called upon to give his poems at many social and public affairs in this and other communities. He was finally persuaded to offer his poems in book form and he has published two volumes, "You and I and Uncle Si" and "Uncle Si and Others." One of his most beautiful poems is based upon (rest is missing)

Fred Martin Allen,widowed = 83278
Death Cert. #45294; Cause – Arteriosclerotic heart disease
b. 13 October 1854, Smethport, PA; d. 21 May 1946, Delmar Township, in this community 4 days
Parents – Fordyce Allen, Mass. + Jane Martin, NY
Informant – Elizabeth Allen, Mansfield
Burial – Mansfield, 23 May 1946

ALLEN, Fred Martin [SRGP 83278] – Fred Martin Allen, of Mansfield, died early Tuesday morning, May 21, 1946, at the age of 91. Born at Smethport, PA, October 13, 1854, where his father, Fordyce A. Allen, was owner and editor of the local newspaper, he moved at an early age to Westchester, PA. There his father was principal of a boys’ academy, later the West Chester State Teachers College. At the age of ten, Mr. Allen came to Mansfield, where his father was principal of the Normal School and head of the Soldiers’ Orphan School. He spent his boyhood and early manhood here and taught mathematics and Latin at the Normal for several years. On August 6, 1879, Mr. Allen married Clara Drew Wentworth, daughter of Dr. John Brodhead Wentworth. He established commercial schools in various states and was for many years the dean of American Business Schools. He had schools in both Elmira and Williamsport which later were purchased by Mr. Healy. For twelve years Mr. Allen and his family lived in Wilkes-Barre, where he founded the well-known Wilkes-Barre Business College, which he eventually sold to Victor Lee Dodson. At the time of his retirement from active business upon the death of his wife in 1925, he, with his son, owned a school at Troy, NY, and at Amsterdam. Mr. Allen has been blind for 25 years, but had, until his last illness never ceased to write gentle and charming verse for which he was so widely known. Four books of his poetry were published, for one of which the former Ambassador and famous author Richard Washburn Child, wrote numerous texts on the teaching of mathematics. Fred Allen’s life was spent in service for others and was an inspiration, not only to those in his community, but to all others with whom he came in contact through his many lecturers and informal talks. He is survived by his three children, Richard Wentworth Allen, of Half Moon, NY; Mrs. Jean Allen Goodwin, and Miss Elizabeth Allen, of Mansfield; a granddaughter, Mrs. Margaret Lapp, of Corning, and a great-grandson, David Collins Lapp, and a sister, Mrs. Fred Ely, of Mansfield. The funeral will be held Thursday afternoon at the Shaw Funeral Home, at 4:00 o’clock, the Rev. Floyd Guiles officiating. Burial in Prospect Cemetery with service conducted by Friendship Lodge F&AM. – Mansfield Advertiser, 22 May 1946, p.1

Mansfield Advertiser, PA, 27 February 1929, Wednesday, p.1
A Very Busy Life of Mansfield Hustler
One of the best known and most popular men in Tioga county today is Fred Allen, of this place, a son of the late Professor Fordyce Almon Allen, one of the pioneers of Mansfield, and one of the founders of the State Normal School. His mother was Jane Martin Allen, and he was born in Smethport, PA, October 13, 1854, and soon after that coming to Mansfield with his parents. He received his early education in the Mansfield Soldiers’ Orphan School, of which his father was the principal and his mother was matron. In 1880 he graduated from the State Normal School, and soon thereafter he open a business college in the store now occupied by the Advertiser printing office, which he conducted for a couple years. He then opened a business college in Elmira and continued to run it for about six years. From Elmira Mr. Allen established commercial schools in Scranton, Williamsport, Hamilton, Ohio, Lansing, Mich.; Wooster, Mass., and Wilkes-Barre. He conducted the Wilkes-Bare School personally for some years, where he made many friends. Many years have elapsed since he left there but at the recent commencement exercises of the college there, he was invited to make the principal address. A Wilkes-Barre paper refers to the occasion as follows:
"Fred M. Allen, of Mansfield, made the principal address, stressing the value of education and impressing upon the graduates the benefits to be derived from honest and clean living. Mr. Allen, formerly a resident of Wilkes-Barre, while he was proprietor of the Business College from 1900 to 1910. He is well known as a school proprietor, author of a shorthand system, a public speaker and writer. Upon retirement from the local school he was connected with several schools, but owing to failing eye-sight, which ultimately resulted in total blindness, he took up his residence in his boyhood home of Mansfield, There he has been dong public speaking on affairs of interest, as well as writing poems. He has published a volume of poems under the title of ‘Uncle Si’s Philosophy,’ and recently brought out a book of verse entitles ‘You and I, and Uncle Si.’ The first named book attracted the attention of Richard Washburn Child, while he was in Rome, Italy, writing for the Saturday Evening Post."
Mr. Allen taught for a time in the Merchants’ and Bankers’ Business School in New York City, then was business manager of the Scudder School for Girls for a year. About ten years ago he purchased the Commercial College at Troy, NY, which he still owns, and which is conducted by his son, Richard Wentworth Allen, with a corps of assistants. Mr. Allen’s first edition of "You and I, and Uncle Si," was 500, which sold like hot cakes. It pleased everybody. On August 6, 1879, Mr. Allen was married to Miss Clara Wentworth, daughter of the Presiding Elder of the Elmira District of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To this union were born three children: Mrs. Jean Goodwin, of Mansfield; Richard W. Allen, of Troy, NY; and Miss Elizabeth Allen, of New York City.