In the work of laying the foundations of public education in Tazewell County during the 1800s, the most important and notable figure was Lemuel Allen (1818-1905), a native of the Commonwealth of Virginia who came to Pekin in 1846.
Allen traveled from Virginia to Illinois on horseback in 1839, attending a preparatory school at Waverly in Morgan County, Illinois. He began his career in education as a school teacher in St. Louis County, Missouri, then returned to Illinois and worked in Springfield as the assistant to the school superintendent, a man who had been his own former teacher in Waverly. After a year in Springfield, Allen became a school teacher in Decatur, where one of his students was Richard J. Oglesby (1824-1899) who later went on to become a three-time governor of Illinois. In addition to his teaching, Allen was also engaged in farming in the Decatur area.
Allen came to Pekin in 1846, establishing a farm on the east end of Pekin on land that would later become the Pekin Country Club and — very fittingly — the location of the present Pekin Community High School. In Pekin, Allen and his wife Margaret were some of the founding members of First Baptist Church, where Lemuel served as a long-time Deacon.
When Allen first arrived, Pekin did not have a building solely set aside as a school. After arriving in Pekin, Allen opened a “subscription” (private) school in the old Lindley Hall at the corner of Court and Second streets. Around 1849, a brick building was erected to serve as a school house and a Masonic hall, with the Freemasons meeting for a while on the second floor, then later the entire building being used as a school. Former students of Allen later affectionately remembered the building, which was located behind the Smith Wagon Works, as “the Old Brick.” For his active promotion of education in Pekin and Tazewell County, in 1850 Allen was elected Tazewell County Superintendent of Schools, a position he would hold for 10 years. He also served as County School Commissioner, and from 1855 to 1858 he was Superintendent of Public Schools at Pekin.
Besides his achievements in local education, Allen also was one of the original members of the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois in Champaign, serving on the board from 1867 to 1870. He was appointed to the board by his former student and old friend, Governor Oglesby.
Allen engaged in farming on his Pekin property and also planted orchards there. However, he was prepared to sell his farm to Tazewell County in the summer of 1866, when the county was investigating the creation of a Poor Farm. The county board voted against purchasing Allen’s farm for $7,000, though, instead opting to look further east and pay $4,550.10 for the James Smith farm in Elm Grove Township — the current site of the Tazewell County Emergency Management Agency, Animal Control, and Health Department.
A few years after Allen’s death, 60 acres of his estate were acquired by the Pekin Country Club on 1 April 1916, and the farm house on that site was remodeled to being the club house. A few decades later, in a development that would have brought a smile to Allen’s face, in 1962 construction began on Pekin Community High School’s East Campus, built on the land of the original Country Club golf course.
Allen never had any children of his own, but he was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in Decatur on 14 Sept. 1843, was Margaret (Robinson) Pratt (1803-1894), daughter of Col. John Robinson of Pickaway County, Ohio, and widow of William Pratt, a native of Maryland who had died in 1841. William and Margaret had a daughter — Lemuel Allen’s step-daughter — named Annie A. Pratt (1834-1907). In 1893, Lemuel and Margaret celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, but Margaret passed away the following year on 7 July 1894 at the age of 90. Four years later, on 28 Dec. 1898 in Tremont, Lemuel remarried to Miss Josephine Goodheart (1854-1922), a long-time Pekin school teacher who had been member of Pekin Community High School’s first graduating class, the Class of 1873, later becoming the high school’s principal.
Lemuel Allen passed away at his home on 8 Aug, 1905. His obituary was carried in newspapers across the country. For example, the Boston (Mass.) Evening Transcript’s edition of Friday, 11 Aug. 1905, page 11, announced the death of “Lemuel Allen, Educator,” saying, “Mr. Lemuel Allen, one of the pioneer educators and religious workers of Illinois, is dead at Pekin, aged 87.” He was buried by the side of his first wife Margaret in Lakeside Cemetery, where Margaret’s daughter Annie would also be buried in 1907. Lemuel’s widow Josephine survived him by almost 17 years and was also buried in Lakeside Cemetery.
A brief biographical sketch of Lemuel Allen’s life was included in Charles C. Chapman’s “History of Tazewell County, Illinois” (1879, page 594:
Lemuel Allen was born in the State of Virginia, March 23, 1818. His parents, James and Elizabeth (Lee) Allen, were also natives of that State. He came to Tazewell Co. in 1846. Previously he received a good education in Virginia and in Morgan Co., Ill., and adopted school teaching as his chosen profession. When he first came to Pekin, [he] opened a school in the old Lindley Hall, corner of Court and Second streets. This was quite an historic old house in the early days of Pekin. This was a subscription school, as all schools here were at that time. About 1849, a brick building, yet standing in the rear of Smith’s wagon factory, was erected as a school-house and Masonic hall; the Masons occupying the upper story; soon the entire building was used for school purposes. During the years from 1855 to ’58, inclusive, he was Superintendent of Public Schools at Pekin, and for ten or twelve years served as County Commissioner of Schools. He was married Sept. 14, 1843, to Mrs. Margaret Pratt. He has been a member of the Baptist Church since 1841, and has been a Trustee and Deacon since the organization of that Church here. In politics Mr. Allen is a Republican.
A much more extensive biographical sketch of Lemuel Allen’s life and career was included in the “Portrait and Biographical Record of Tazewell and Mason Counties” (1894), pages 419-420 — published just months before the death of Lemuel’s first wife Margaret:
LEMUEL ALLEN, ex-County Superintendent of Schools of Tazewell County, and one of the highly respected citizens of Pekin, was born March 23, 1818, in Loudoun County, Va., within sight of the Blue Ridge Mountains and of the Bull Run Battle ground. His father, James Allen, was born in 1769 in Virginia, and the grandfather, William Allen, was a native of Ireland. When a boy he crossed the briny deep, locating in New Jersey, where he worked for a time as a farm hand. On his removal to the Old Dominion he located upon the farm which was the birthplace of our subject, and there spent his remaining days. James Allen was reared in that state, purchased the old homestead and subsequently became the owner of six hundred and twenty acres of valuable land. He married Elizabeth Lee, a native of Prince William County, Va. Her father owned part of the land upon which the battle of Bull Run was fought. Both parents died in Loudoun County.
Lemuel Allen was the youngest in a family of thirteen children, four of whom are yet living. His educational privileges were very limited. He remained at home until he had attained his majority, and in 1839 came to Illinois on horseback. It was his intention to educate himself, and for a year he was in the preparatory school in Waverly. He then taught his first school in St. Louis County, Mo., thus entering upon the work which he has followed through life. He became assistant to his former teacher in Waverly, who was then Principal of the schools in Springfield, Ill., and after a year he taught in Decatur, where he numbered among his pupils Richard J. Oglesby, afterward Governor of the state. In the spring of 1843, in connection with Mr. Oglesby, he rented land and engaged in farming, but when the summer was over he sold out to his partner.
In the fall of 1843, in Decatur, Mr. Allen wedded Mrs. Margaret Pratt, daughter of Col. John Robinson, a merchant and stock-dealer of Pickaway County, Ohio. Her father was born in Delaware, and at an early day removed to Pickaway County. He married Mary Short, a native of Delaware, and their third child, Margaret, was born on the 10th of November, 1803. In Ohio she became the wife of William Pratt, of Maryland, and on the 15th of September, 1835, they located in what is now Piatt County, Ill., but afterward removed to Decatur, where Mr. Pratt died, leaving a daughter, Annie A.
After his marriage Mr. Allen engaged in farming until 1846, when he came to Pekin. There was no schoolhouse here, but he rented a room and engaged in teaching for three years. A small brick schoolhouse was then erected and he held the first school therein. After six months he removed to the farm and continued its cultivation for three years, when he once more took charge of the school in this place. In 1850 he located upon the site of his present home, where he had eighty acres situated on the bluff, and now has one hundred and twenty-eight acres.
In the same year Mr. Allen was chosen County Superintendent of Schools, and was elected four times, filling the office for ten consecutive years, after which he returned to the farm. He then served as County School Commissioner, and also taught several terms, but of late years has been engaged in the cultivation of his property. He planted all the trees upon it, set out two orchards, and also engaged in raising grain. About forty acres of his farm is probably underlaid with coal. Through his friendship with Governor Oglesby Mr. Allen was appointed a member of the first Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois at Champaign, and held the office for four years. He was a member of the Washingtonian Society and Sons of Temperance, and is a stalwart Republican. He voted for William Henry Harrison, and also for his illustrious grandson, Benjamin Harrison. He aided in organizing the Baptist Church at Pekin, and for a half-century has been one of its Deacons. On the 18th of October, 1893, their many friends celebrated the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Allen, for during fifty years this worthy couple have traveled life’s journey together. All who know them esteem them highly, and it is with pleasure that we present to our readers this record of their lives.
Finally, a short sketch on Lemuel’s life was also included in Ben C. Allensworth’s “History of Tazewell County, Illinois” (1905), page 971, being published just before Lemuel’s death that year.
Lemuel Allen, retired farmer of East Bluff, Pekin, Ill., was born in Londoun County, Va., in 1818, and removed to Illinois in 1839, locating in Macon County, where he attended the Waverly School. He then engaged in farming for a time, but subsequently, taught school, first in Springfield and later in Decatur, until 1846, when he came to Pekin and taught there from 1850 to 1860. Besides teaching, he held the office of county and city Superintendent or schools. In 1862 he removed to a farm at East Bluff, which he had previously purchased, and engaged in agriculture, following that avocation until his retirement from active life. He was one of the original Trustees of the Illinois State University [sic – University of Illinois], serving upon the Board for a period of three years.
In the fall of 1843 Mr. Allen was married to Miss Margaret Robinson of Decatur, Ill. Mrs. Allen was a native of Ohio, and died September 14, 1894. In 1898 Mr. Allen married as his second wife Miss Josephine Goodheart. The father of the subject of this sketch was James Allen, a native of New Jersey, where he was born in 1769. His wife was Miss Elizabeth Lee, who was a native of Virginia, the date of her birth, April 22, 1775.
