George P. Allen was born in Botetourt county, Virginia, July 30, 1821. His parents, William and Caroline Allen, were both natives of the same State. He received his education in the common schools of Virginia, and began the study of civil engineering. He learned the surveyor’s art, and has been engaged principally in that business through life. For the first few years after leaving school he was engaged in the mercantile business in his native State. In 1854 he removed to Missouri and settled in Daviess county, and from 1856 to 1861 held the responsible’ position of county surveyor. In that year of the beginning of the great civil strife, he went south as a volunteer, under Governor Claiborne Jackson, in the Confederate army. In December, 1861, he was taken prisoner by the Union forces in Jackson county, Missouri, and remained a prisoner of war until March, 1862. After his release he moved with his family to St. Joseph, Missouri, and there resided until the close of the war, when he returned to Daviess county. In 1872 he was again elected county surveyor, and has discharged the duties of said office with credit to himself and the county, ever since.
Mr. Allen was married, on the 8th of May, 1847, to Miss Sarah A. Miller, a native of Augusta county, Virginia, born January 7, 1827. Four children were the fruits of this union; namely, George M., born May 2, 1819; William, born September 18, 1851; James McDowell, .born May 29, 1856, died in March, 1858; and Margaret I., born November 6, 1858.
