1840 census indicated two males and three females (in addition to Margaret) ages ranging from 10 to 29 (in 5-year increments). [1057]

Margaret SMITH vs Margaret CLENDENIN
(last revision of this story, 30-OCT-2021)

There appear to be two different women named Margaret, who married a man named John ALLEN, in Lycoming Co., PA.

The will of John ALLEN of Lycoming Co. (25 Jul 1838), names his children as: Elizabeth, James, Jane, Thomas and Margaret, and names the mother of those children as Margaret SMITH (Source [3602]). This list of children closely matches the names found in the family of Margaret ALLEN found in the 1850 census of Lycoming Twp. (Source [161]). Curiously, in the will, John never refers to Margaret SMITH as his wife, only as the mother of his children. It is likely they were not married. The Margaret ALLEN who appears as a head of household in the 1840 census of Lycoming Twp. (Source [1057]), appears to be the same Margaret as in the 1850 census. This shows that she was a widow prior to 1840. The dates given in the probated will suggest that John ALLEN died in late July or early August, 1838. Margaret’s age in the 1840 census “50-59” is consistent with her age in the 1850 and later census records. And the ages of the children are consistent with the ones named in the 1850 census; Elizabeth, who does not appear in 1850, is probably the female indicated in the “15-19” age range in 1840.

Looking back to 1830, the census (Source [8233]) gives us a John ALLEN in Lycoming Twp. who is “40-49” and the oldest female in the household is also in the same age range, consistent with Margaret in the later census schedules. There are five persons in younger age brackets, except that the oldest one is “20-29” which seems too old to be one of the five known children.

There is a John ALLEN, age 26-44, in Lycoming Twp., in 1820, and so possibly the same John as in 1830. But going on the previous logic, Margaret SMITH would have been about 32, and yet the oldest female in this household was assigned the age range of “45 and over.” The next younger female was “16-25.” Another discrepancy is that it lists two boys “16-25” which does not fit with the family known in 1850.

In the 1810 census of Lycoming Twp. is a John ALLAN [sic]. Note: all the ALLENs were assigned that spelling by this enumerator; but also note that he liked to add a little curl after the last letter of most surnames, so as written, it may look like “ALLANE” to some people, and Ancestry.com has used a mixture of both spellings in their index. John and his wife were “45 and over,” so too old to be our John. In that same census there were five other ALLEN households (four in Lycoming Twp. and one in Burlington Twp.) but no others named John.

And in 1800, there again was only one John ALLEN, but depending on whether you look at the U.S. census or the Pennsylvania Septennial census for the same year, he either lived in Lycoming Twp. or in Bald Eagle Twp. The Septennial gave his exact age as 48, while the U.S. census said “45 and over.” So he was born about 1752. This puts him in the same generation as one of his neighbors, John CLENDINEN [sic], age 52.

Going forward in time, the 1860 census shows us a Margaret ALLEN, age 72, in Lycoming Twp., in the home of J(ohn) C. & Jane THOMPSON. Also in this household is a Mary ALLEN, age 18, who might have been the daughter of Abraham & Emily ALLEN (see NOTE-1). Another child, Samuel BORDER, age 12, is an unknown quantity. But then there is Margaret THOMPSON, 30, and her two children, William and Alice, both born in Wisconsin, and who were visiting from Sauk Co., Wisconsin, where they lived with Isaac W. THOMPSON, a brother of John C. THOMPSON. The theory for the composition of this household is that both Jane THOMPSON and Margaret THOMPSON are daughters of Margaret ALLEN. Margaret THOMPSON had brought her children to meet their grandmother and aunt. Both Alice & William remained in Lycoming Co. for the rest of their lives, though unfortunately there appear to be no living descendants of either. Thomas ALLEN and Isaac W. THOMPSON had moved to Wisconsin about the same time and remained very close there; Thomas even named one of his sons, Isaac Thompson ALLEN. This supports them being in-laws.

The last census in which we find this Margaret ALLEN is the 1870, where she is listed as age 82. She is still living with John C. & Jane THOMPSON. Also still residing there are William THOMPSON and Samuel BORDER. Plus a house servant, Catherine DOUGHERTY, 19. On 3-Sep-1878, an obituary appeared in the “Gazette & Bulletin” (Williamsport, PA), announcing the death of Margaret ALLEN, age 93 years, 27 days (it is difficult to read the numbers) (Source[712] [712]). The fact that the funeral was to be “from the residence of Mr. J. C. THOMPSON” confirms it is the same woman who was living in his home. The pattern of age in the census records suggests she was closer to 90 years. Another newspaper article was found from an uncertain date, but probably in 1878, which explicitly referred to Mrs. Margaret ALLEN as the mother-in-law of John C. THOMPSON and the mother of Mrs. THOMPSON; Margaret was described at the time as “nearly ninety-one” and “confined to her room for nearly two months” (Source [4062]).

On the other hand, "History of Lycoming County Pennsylvania" (John F. Meginness,1892) (Source [1606]), has some interesting information about the CLENDENIN family (pp.1199-1200). It reports that a John CLENDENIN from Easton, Northampton Co., PA, and born there about 1757, served in the Revolutionary War. Afterwards, in about 1777, he married Rebecca De France (according to Rebecca’s 1840 testimony for her pension application, she identified their marriage date as Oct 1788, in Pine Creek Twp., Northumberland [Clinton] Co., PA — this is just outside the western border of present-day Lycoming Co.). They had a daughter, Margaret, who married a John ALLEN. It does not say anything further about Margaret & John, but does name Margaret’s siblings (the book says there were 10 children of John & Rebecca, but Rebecca testified to 12 as part of her pension application in 1840). John & Rebecca apparently moved to Lycoming Co., by way of Elk Co., ending up in a place called Tim Gray’s Run, on Lycoming Creek. According to the pension file, John CLENDENIN died in January, 1813 (see also Findagrave.com Memorial# 69547668). The book says Rebecca lived another 33 years after that, to the age of 84. This puts her death in 1846 and her birth in 1762. I have in fact found a John CLENDINEN [sic], age 52, in Lycoming Twp., in 1800 (PA Septennial Census). If this is the same man, that moves his year of birth to 1748. The first time Rebecca CLENDENIN appears in the census is 1820, living in Loyalsock Twp., where she was tallied as being “45 and over.” Assuming the younger persons tallied were her children, there were 3 boys and 6 girls. Of the 12 children named in the pension file, 3 were boys and 8 were girls (one child died before being named). The two oldest girls were probably married by that time. Although Meginness does not give Margaret’s year of birth, if she was the oldest child of John & Rebecca, she was probably born in 1789; if not, obviously later.

Another book, “Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania, Vol. III” (John W. Jordan, 1913) (Source [1607]), also discusses the CLENDENIN family, starting on p.919. A few differences are present. It gives John’s birth date as 7-JUN-1748, consistent with the reference found in the 1800 Septennial census. Rebecca’s birth date is given as 1768, with death in 1847 (22 Dec 1847 according to the pension file). This book goes into more detail about some of John & Rebecca’s descendants, but again, the mention of Margaret CLENDENIN and John ALLEN, ends with their names. Neither book tells us Margaret’s date of birth or anything about their children. For that we have to look at DAR applications which claim descent from John CLENDENIN.

John CLENDENIN is listed in the DAR ancestors database (Source [3531]) as Ancestor #: A023044. There are five DAR membership applications (National Nos. 20068, 21307, 76082, 77611 & 162223), which specify lineage through his daughter, Margaret and her husband, John ALLEN. All of them claim descent through Margaret & John's daughter, Mary ALLEN (1806-1871) who married Samuel REED (1797-1864; Memorial# 92909117). Thomas ALLEN (son of Margaret SMITH) is not known to have had a sister named Mary (the John ALLEN will did not mention a Mary amongst his children), but if this Mary was his sister she would have been 20 years older than him and would have probably been the first child born to Margaret. Samuel REED’s wife definitely was “Mary” (see 1850 census, Lock Haven, Clinton Co., PA — Note: Clinton Co. used to be part of Lycoming Co.), but no proof of her maiden name has been found. They had a daughter, Mary REED, whose death certificate is available (d.12-MAR-1916 as “Mary T. MUSSINA” ) but it does not reveal the name of her mother. None of the DAR references to John ALLEN provide any dates or places of birth and death. One application did state that Margaret was born in 1779, but that clearly conflicts with the marriage date of Margaret’s parents, and may simply be an inference from the marriage date given by Meginness. There is also a SAR application 88441, which also claims descent through Mary ALLEN as outlined above. It says Margaret CLENDENIN was born in 1780.

Contradicting all this, four other DAR members (National Nos. 25548, 849893, 849894, 849895) have claimed that Margaret CLENDENIN married Moses MAHAFFEY (1781-1851) [1785-1830 according to the DAR lineages], but the published genealogy of that family says he married Mary REYNOLDS (“Mahaffey Descendants” (Davis, 1914), p.14, 17, Source [4061]); this would have been circa 1811, as Moses’ first child was born in 1812. These DAR lineages also include a daughter, Isabella MAHAFFEY, born June 1811. But no such daughter is mentioned by Davis. Meginness (p.724) also documents Moses MAHAFFEY with essentially the same details. Three of these DAR lineages have Margaret also dying in 1830 (they appear to be identical applications and are numbered sequentially; possibly submitted together by sisters). Isabella can be seen (literally) in Findagrave Memorial# 21000139 (it does claim she was MAHAFFEY before she was TYLER, but there is no source provided to back this up). A newspaper article was published about Mrs. David TYLER, just 8 months before she died, noting her as the “oldest subscriber to the Gazette and Bulletin” (Daily Gazette & Bulletin Centennial Edition, Dec. 1901). The article gives a more precise date of her birth: 29-JUN-1811. And it claims her brother-in-law was Samuel REED, implying Isabella was a sister of the Mary ALLEN in the above John ALLEN version of the DAR lineages. However this is the only reference to family other than her husband. Another detail that appears inconsistent, is the death certificate of Isabella’s daughter, Mary A. PACKER (d. 3-JAN-1913, Clinton Co., PA), which says her mother’s name was Esebell [sic] ALLEN (though of course this could be a misspelling of Isabella).

Looking at census data, there was a Moses MEHAFFEY [sic] in 1820 in Lycoming Twp., age 26-44, wife same range, with 5 children [same page as a John ALLEN - see discussion of 1820 ALLENs above].
1830 census, Lycoming Twp., Moses MAHAFFEY, age 40-49 (b. 1781-1790); presumed wife was in the same age bracket; 3 male children; 3 female children.
Moses MAHAFFEY in 1840 is in Lycoming Twp., age 50-59; wife, 50-59. The 1850 census has “Mary MEHAFFY” [sic], 64, as wife of “Moses (indexed as “Mose”) MEHAFFY” [sic], 70,(Lycoming Twp.). The “Gazette & Bulletin” of 30-MAR-1877 contained a death notice for a “Mary (Mrs. Moses) Mahaffey” (Meginness has her dying in 1879). Moses’ grave can be seen at Findagrave Memorial# 55801235, which gives his date of birth as 28 Aug 1781; his wife, Mary is Memorial# 55801348, which gives her maiden name as Reynolds and that she married Moses on 3 Apr 1811.

A possible explanation suggested by at least one amateur online genealogist, is that Margaret CLENDENIN first married Moses MAHAFFEY, gave birth to Isabella Rose MAHAFFEY, divorced Moses, taking Isabella with her and later marrying John ALLEN, becoming the mother of the other known children of John. Moses immediately married Mary REYNOLDS. The dates of these events paint an interesting picture. Because it appears that Mary REYNOLDS married Moses MAHAFFEY on 3-Apr-1811. But Isabella Rose MAHAFFEY was born in June 1811, suggesting Moses & Margaret split while Margaret was still pregnant. Margaret was probably not as quick as Moses at getting married again, so Isabella was given the MAHAFFEY surname in the mean time. A divorce in that era would be rather surprising, though if true, it could be a reason it wasn’t mentioned in the MAHAFFEY book.

The DAR lineages said that Isabella married David TYLER, and I was able to follow that clue and find that couple in the census, but without a clear indication that Mrs. TYLER was originally a MAHAFFEY. But going back to the discovery that Mary PACKER’s mother was Esebell [sic] ALLEN, this could be interpreted as Isabella being adopted by John ALLEN, or at least being closely enough associated with John as to give the impression she was an ALLEN, if Margaret had obtained custody of Isabella. Or, stretching it a bit further, that perhaps she was an ALLEN all along and there was no MAHAFFEY involved. Then I located another child of Mrs. TYLER, James A. TYLER and saw that his death certificate was on Ancestry (d. 28-JUL-1919). It says that his full name was James Allen TYLER, clue #1, and that his mother was Isabella MAHAFFY [sic], who was born at Trout Run, Lycoming Co. Same thing with Martin TYLER (certificate indexed on Ancestry as “Martin Van Buren Tyer” [sic]). So it seems pretty hard to deny that Isabella was a MAHAFFEY that nobody wanted to talk about (with reference to her omission from the book).

This scenario then implies that Elizabeth, James, Jane, Thomas and Margaret ALLEN were half-siblings of Isabella. The problem is that Mary ALLEN REED’s gravestone (Memorial# 92909127) implies a birth date of 12-SEP-1805. This is too early, if Margaret CLENDENIN married John ALLEN after separating from Moses in 1811. Or was she married to John ALLEN all along and just had an affair with Moses MAHAFFEY? That also would have been left out of the biography. And is perhaps more believable than the divorce scenario. It just gets more and more interesting.

Of course, for me, the only problem with this result, is that it doesn’t fit with the John ALLEN will that says the mother of his children was Margaret SMITH. Which, in a way, puts me back at square one. Again recall that the language of the will strongly suggests that Mary SMITH was not married to John ALLEN, which is its own mystery.

At this point I guess I have to conclude that Margaret CLENDENIN did have two husbands (or lovers), even if the biographers of the first husband wouldn’t admit it (or were kept in the dark about it). But it still begs the question, was her 2nd husband, “my” John ALLEN? Or was she married to John ALLEN all along and just had an affair with Moses MAHAFFEY? That also would have been left out of the biography. But it would explain the existence of Mary ALLEN REED, unless John had a wife before Margaret. Speculation abounds.

What if Margaret CLENDENIN was John ALLEN’s first wife and Margaret SMITH was the second (though apparently not legally)? It would appear that John was in his late 20s or early to mid 30s when the first child was born (Elizabeth ca.1818). So perhaps Margaret SMITH was his 2nd wife, and because both wives were named Margaret, he explicitly mentioned the maiden name of the mother of his children. If there were children of the marriage to Margaret CLENDENIN, they were not mentioned in the will.
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NOTE-1:
A transcription of the records of the Methodist Church Williamsport Circuit Station, Lycoming Co., PA, mentions a baptism of a Mary ALLEN, on 23-MAY-1858, and that she was born, 12-AUG-1842; she resided in Loyalsock Twp., at the time of this baptism. Looking for Mary in the 1850 census, the best match is a Mary ALLEN, age 7, (the only Mary ALLEN of that age group in Lycoming Co.) who was the daughter of Abraham & Emily ALLEN (Emily is possibly Amelia THOMPSON), who lived in Williamsport that year. This suggests the possibility that Abraham was a brother or cousin of John ALLEN (Jane’s father). The only problem with this theory is that in the 1860 census there is still a Mary ALLEN, 18, living with Abraham ALLEN. I have certainly seen duplicate census records for the same individual before, so this still could be the same girl. She was enumerated with Abraham on 3-AUG-1860 and in the THOMPSON household on 27-AUG-1860 (Source [162]). Ironically, the 1860 J. C. THOMPSON household includes three persons who are known to have been enumerated 11 days later in Sauk Co., Wisconsin! But another circumstantial clue is that Abraham ALLEN is listed in that same Methodist document as a member of “Williamsport Circuit 1837 Classes” and the “1851-2 WILLIAMSPORT CLASS 1 LIST.” Find A Grave Memorial# 16125993 for Abraham, links to daughter Mary Allen HENNINGER, Memorial# 131982205. The birth date given there is 17-AUG-1844. Her husband was Isaac HENNINGER, a Civil War veteran, b. 1842, d. 1929, Memorial# 122619459. He apparently remarried, as his wife at the time of his death was named Elizabeth.