Allard Families of Ohio and Illinois

Two Allard Connections

My Allard ancestors and relatives are not the type who figure prominently in county histories or other historical records. Yet they fascinate me for two reasons: First, because they lurk on the margins of history. Second, because they are woven deeply into both my mother's and my father's family history.

I first found the Allards when looking into the Patton family of Allen County, Ohio. Mary "Polly" Patton married Ephriam Allard in Allen County on 12 April 1853. James Humphrey, Justice of the Peace, presided.[1] Polly would have been about 16 years old. Ephriam had appeared on the 1850 census with his mother and step-father, John and Levina Martin, and sisters, in Van Wert County.[2] I assumed that Ephriam’s father had died and his mother remarried John Martin prior to 1850.

Ephriam and Mary later moved on to Tazewell County, Illinois. Levina Martin moved with them, and was resident with Ephriam and Polly in 1870.[3]

It was a bit later when I discovered Allards in my father’s family line. When I was a child, my family attended the Meeker-Wheeler reunions, held in the early 1980s at the Gomer Dads Club behind Gomer Elementary School. This was a reunion of the descendants of Charles Perry Wheeler (1843-1899) and Mary Catharine Allard Wheeler (1845-1934). According to her death certificate, Mary Catharine Allard Wheeler was born in Delphos, Ohio on 10 October 1845, daughter of Peter Allard, a native of Canada, and a Ms. Cisco.[4] Some further research showed that her parents had resided in Van Wert County, Ohio in 1850.[5]

Further research on Peter Allard revealed that he was born in Canada, almost certainly what is now the province of Québec. Census records and obituary indicate that he was born between 1800 and 1802. All agree that he was born in Canada. [6] There were large numbers of Allards in Quebec, many of whom migrated into Upstate New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire in the 18th and 19th centuries. A Peter Allord appeared on the 1840 census of Fairfield County, Ohio. On 3 October 1844, Peter Allard married Sophia Francisco in Hocking County, Ohio, John Gose, Justice of the Peace, Presiding.[7] Since the Francisco families of the area sometimes went by a shortened “Cisco,” this confirmed Mary Catharine Allard Wheeler’s parentage.

Peter Allard appears on the 1860 census in Hocking County[8] and in 1870 in Shawnee Township, Allen County.[9] His wife in both is listed as Magdalene or Magdalena, whose aged differed from the Sophia of the 1850 census. It appeared that he had remarried.
Peter died in Allen County on 5 April 1875. His obituary in the Lima newspaper reads as follows: “Peter Allard, another of the Pioneers of the North West, aged 75 years, died at his residence on the Spencerville Road, about three miles from this city, on Monday last and was buried yesterday.”[10]

Census records tell us that Peter was a laborer and a farmer and owned land valued at several hundred dollars. He was unable to read or write.

Putting the Pieces Together

For quite some time, I believed that I was dealing with two related but distinct families. The nearness of the Ephriam Allard/Lovina Martin family to Peter and Sophia Allard in 1850 led me to believe that there was some type of family relationship. Fairfield County, Ohio records later clarified that this was likely the same family.

An 1844 newspaper notice in Lancaster, Ohio, reveals that a Peter Allord requested a divorce from his wife, Levina.[11] This appeared in March of 1844 and Peter married Sophia Francisco in neighboring Hocking County in October of that year. It appears that both Levina and children as well as Peter and his second wife moved to the area just west of Delphos, Ohio in the mid-1840s. Therefore, it appears that Ephriam Allard who married Polly Patton was an older half-brother of Mary Catherine Allard Wheeler.

Peter’s known children by Levina are:

Ephriam Allard, who married Polly Patton and moved to Tazewell County, Illinois in the late 1860s. His mother, Levina Martin, moved with him. It appears that Ephriam and Polly divorced in Illinois and Ephriam remarried to a Mrs. Eliza Bowman. He likely died in 1884 in Vernon Co, MO.[12] But this is another story…

Mary Allard, who married Alexander Penrow in 1851 in Van Wert County, Ohio.

Lucinda Allard

Susan Allard, who married John Scott in 1860 in Tazewell County, Illinois.

Peter’s known children by Sophia Francisco

Mary Catherine Allard Wheeler, above.

Peter Allard (1847-1922), who married Levina Herring and lived in Allen and Paulding Counties, Ohio.

Much still to be done

I’ve not yet explored Fairfield County, Ohio records for additional details of Peter’s divorce from Levina Allard. I’ve not yet been able to locate a marriage record for Levina’s marriage to John Martin in the mid-late 1840s. I also need to check Allen County, Ohio records to see if Peter left a will or estate that may provide further details.

The Wheeler family is buried at Shawnee Cemetery, south of Lima. There is no record of either Peter’s or his last wife, Magdalena, being buried there.

It does not appear that Peter is directly related to the large Allard family of Hocking and Morgan Counties, Ohio, which seems to descend from a Daniel Allard who came to Ohio from New Hampshire. Much data on this family can be found on the internet and in legal records.


[1] Allen Co, OH Marriage Records.
[2] 1850 Census of Section Ten, Van Wert Co, OH, p. 155B.
[3] 1870 Census of Hopedale, Tazewell Co, IL, p. 139B.
[4] Death Certificate. Mary Catherine Wheeler. Allen Co, Ohio. 24 August 1934. File #47061.
[5] 1850 Census of Washington Twp, Allen Co, OH, p. 155.
[6] 1860 Census of Perry Twp, Hocking Co, OH, p. 204; 1870 Census of Shawnee Twp, Allen Co, OH, p. 531; Obituary, Allen County Democrat, 8 Apr 1875, p. 1.
[7] Hocking County, Ohio marriage records.
[8] 1860 Census of Perry Twp, Hocking Co, OH, p. 204.
[9] 1870 Census of Shawnee Twp, Allen Co, OH, p. 531.
[10] Allen County Democrat, 8 Apr 1875, p. 1.
[11] Genealogical Abstracts from the Lancaster “(Ohio) Gazette. Vol 1: 1826-1873. Lancaster, OH: Fairfield County Chapter of OGS, 1998, p. 4.
[12] Online Missouri death index - http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/birthdeath/deaths.asp?id=109823, accessed 29 Dec 2009.

Why I'm doing this

Back about 1992, I discovered a shoebox in a closet at my grandmother's house. In the box were several photographs dating from the 1860s to the 1920s, mostly of my mother's Patton ancestors. This led to lots of questions. I was fortunate to have a grandmother with an excellent memory, who was able to provide lots of information on both her family and my grandfather's. I also connected with several relatives who were in their 90s at the time (born in the late 1890s) and recorded a number of stories that I suspect would now be lost.

I've collected enormous amounts of information over the years on many families, but especially the Pattons of Allen County, Ohio; Priddys of Van Wert and Fayette Counties, Ohio; Blossers and allied lines of Fairfield, Hocking, Perry, and Allen Counties, Ohio, etc. I've learned a lot along the way. I learned that most "family stories" about the distant past are usually at least partially untrue, yet almost always contain some grain of truth. I've learned that things that seem tangential at first can in fact be central. And I've learned to scour records for what they say about how people lived, not just when and where.

After about 10 years, I started sorting through my files about two years ago organizing the data. I'm interested in more than just when my ancestors were born and died. I'm interested in how they lived and how their lives worked. My work in the 90s was very much focused on the skeleton-- who people were, when they lived, etc. Today, I'm trying to put some flesh on the bones, telling more about how they lived. I try to combine good genealogical research with local history methods.

I've always had dreams of putting together some books on some of these families, but I've realized that this will never happen and perhaps should not happen. The process never finishes. So I'll share bit by bit, usually in an incomplete form, in the hope that it might be interesting to someone. I believe strongly in documentation, but I also value traditions, inferences, and good guesses. It's essential to state which is which.

So, here goes...