After considerable research, I’m prepared to offer what information I’ve managed to compile regarding Edward Tracy Allen and his business concern, The E.T. Allen Co. of San Francisco, relevant to us as a significant west coast seller of Parker shotguns. The following is interspersed with opinion and conjecture, and some of it is blatantly copied from available sources. As it’s not presented as an original work or with intent for any form of monetary gain, I do hope you’ll overlook my taking such “artistic license.” It's my hope that anyone else seeking information about Mr. Allen or his business concerns will stumble across this post and find what they are looking for, avoiding at least some of the searching and compiling I undertook.
Although I’m told Parker only produced around four hundred of the big 8 gauge doubles, it seems a number of them were sold through The E.T. Allen Company, with what I understand to be several accounts of these guns being shipped in multiples. Considering the market hunting present in California’s Central Valley wetlands at the time, where ducks and geese all but blotted out the sun on occasion, the value of the 8 gauge can be easily understood.
Results of a morning hunt in the Central Valley wetlands just after the turn of the 20th century. Reportedly taken in the area around Willows, California, which lies about 125 miles due north of San Francisco.
Cpt. Edward T. Allen in an undated photo, probably around 1863-64.
Edward Tracy Allen was born November 1, 1838 in Windham County, Connecticut, the oldest of three brothers. His father was Edwin Allen, a manufacturer of wood printing type. His brother Edwin R. served alongside Edward as a 1st lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of Rhode Island Volunteers and eventually as lieutenant governor of Rhode Island. His brother Charles N. worked as a manufacturer in Connecticut and at one time was acting assistant engineer of the United States Navy. His early education was obtained in the district schools of his town and finished at Hall's Academy, Ellington, Conn. At the age of eighteen he entered the store of S. Robinson & Son, Wakefield, R.I., and continued there until enlisting in the military on or about September 4th, 1862.
Another version of the prior photo showing both Edward and his brother Edwin R., future lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, during their period of military service in the Civil War.
Originally joining the Narragansett Guards, Allen was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and given the job of recruiting men for what became Company G of the 7th Rhode Island Volunteer Infantry in August 1862. In January of 1863, Allen was promoted to First Lieutenant and reassigned as commander of Company A after the company's previous commander was wounded. He was officially promoted to the rank of Captain in May 1863. Allen was soon temporarily reassigned to a unit which would be involved in the pursuit and capture of Confederate Brigadier General John Hunt Morgan during his July 1863 raid north. Afterwards, Allen returned to the 7th Rhode Island where he served until June 1864, when he was seriously wounded on June 18th, 1864 by a musket ball in his left leg on the march to Petersburg. He was conveyed to the Armory Square Hospital, Washington, D. C., whereupon he was honorably discharged for resulting disability on July 29th, 1864.
In 1865 he was employed at a hardware and gun house in New Haven, CT, whereabouts he remained for the following decade. For a third of that time, at least, he was connected with a machinery manufacturing company, and in such a manner as to frequently necessitate visiting the Provinces. The year 1866 was spent, however, in California. On April 30 1867, he married Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of Col. Geo. W. and Ann Frances Cady Sheldon, of Wakefield, Rhode Island. No children were born to them, but in July of 1886, he informally adopted those of Mrs. Allen's sister Emma, who died Oct. 12, 1886, leaving twin daughters Emma S. and Anna C., only two days old, and a son, George W., born June 8, 1885. Their father, William Allen Kenyon, died Dec. 16, 1887, at Wakefield. Edward’s health, having been shattered by the exposures of prolonged campaigns and the bullet wound suffered near Petersburg, did not fully return. Seeking a more favorable climate he moved west to San Francisco in October, 1875. He brought with him samples of various arms, guns, pistols, cutlery, and other articles representing the Whitney Arms Company and John P. Lovell and Sons. He rented a store at 515 Market Street, but soon outgrew these quarters and moved to 416 Market Street, eventually becoming one of the important suppliers of sporting goods on the West Coast.
He was an agent for the following companies: John P. Lovell’s and Sons, Boston; N.R. Davis & Sons, Freeport, Mass.; Whitney Arms Company, New Haven, Conn.; Excelsior Cutler Co., Northfield, Conn.
He also manufactured hunting clothes, loading tools, and other items along these lines. English guns and gunware were imported and all American styles and makes were stocked. Though Allen was not a gunsmith, he always employed a gunmaker, undoubtedly for making special orders using the English gunware. One of the more noted gunmakers that worked for him was David Thom.
A period ad for the "Davis Gun" offered by the E.T. Allen Co., San Francisco.
Allen’s name first appears in the San Francisco City Directory (Langley) of 1877. He is listed first on p.94 as follows: “Allen, Edward T., commission merchant, 330 Sansom, 35 South Park.” I’m left to assume the Sansom address was his office and 35 South Park was his residence, in accordance with how later addresses were formatted in the city directory. The 35 South Park address is today residential in nature with what may be surviving period structures and lies approximately six blocks SSE of the Market Street address. He is again listed on p. 991 of this directory under the “Merchants-Commission (*Importers)” section as follows: “Allen Edward T., 330 Sansom(e).” The modern spelling is Sansome, but numerous entries of the period lead me to believe it was originally spelled without the e.
Entries in the city directory are relatively consistent over the following years; a few random samples are included below:
• Listed in the 1879 Langley directory as “Allen Edward T., manufacturer’s agent hardware, cutlery, and firearms, 515 Market, r. 19 Guy Pl”
• Listed in 1881 Langley Directory on p. 105 as “Allen Edward T., mnfrs agent, hardware cutlery, and firearms. 416 Market, r. cor Fifth Av and Eleventh, E. Oakland.” Also listed on p. 1109 under “Merchants-Commission” as Allen Edward T., 416 Market”
• Listed in 1886 Langley Directory as “Allen Edward T., mnfrs agent, hardware cutlery, and firearms. 416 Market, r. 2204 Jackson.” The structure currently standing at 2204 Jackson is a nine-story building that may be the one in which he lived. Not being a student of period architecture, the building’s appearance strikes me as being of a design school and height that could potentially be of the period. According to the 1920 census record commented on later, he would have occupied a dwelling on the second floor of this structure.
• Listed in 1905 Langley Directory as “Allen E. T., office 414 Market, r 2204 Jackson” although Allen apparently sold out all or a significant portion of The E.T. Allen Co. to H.E. Skinner sometime in 1900.
No listings for him were found in the 1906 directory forward, although Allen and all members of his immediate family appear to have survived the ’06 earthquake with no mention of undue hardship or loss that I’ve been able to uncover. I’m left to speculate he either retired from the business around this time, only dabbled in the background with other firms, or perhaps shifted his focus to other interests. There is some mention as to his involvement with a team in the early Pacific baseball league as a primary sponsor, but I was unable to find additional details concerning this.
Edward also served as a director of the Miller & Lux Corporation in the late-1800’s. Henry Miller was one of the largest land owners in U.S. History, being in possession of approximately 1.4 million acres throughout California, with the corporation primarily concerned with the raising of cattle. Hints of a scandal involving Allen were found in several newspaper reports of the time, but after viewing additional records it appears there was not much to this. Something similar to a bench warrant was issued for his and the other directors’ arrest due to non-payment of award to a plaintiff that resulted from a lawsuit. I could find no additional information regarding the outcome of this incident, so am left to assume it was a matter quickly dealt with and dismissed.
He and his wife seem to have been socially active based on newspaper accounts of the day. He was a long-time member of the George H. Thomas Post, No. 2, Grand Army of the Republic, at San Francisco, and of the California Commandery of the Loyal Legion, and was listed as an officer of the organization for many years. His wife was found to be included among the attendees of numerous ladies’ social functions.
Edward’s wife, Elizabeth C. Allen, passed away March 5, 1912. ID confirmed by residence at 2204 Jackson Street, San Francisco, and survivors. Obituary from “San Francisco Call” (Volume 111, No. 98) dated March 7, 1912:
Allen-In this city, March 5, 1912. Elizabeth C., beloved wife of Edward T. Allen, and aunt of George W., Emma S., and Anna C. Kenyon, and sister of Mrs. Mary C. Hubbard and Georgiana L. Langworthy and Jerry and John Sheldon, and niece of Mrs. Sarah Loveland of Rhode Island, a native of Rhode Island.
Funeral services will be held today (Thursday), March 7, 1912, at 10:30 o’clock a.m., at her late residence, 2204 Jackson Street. Interment private. Please omit flowers.
An entry from the 1920 United States Federal Census, California, San Francisco Assembly District 31, District 0151 shows Allen was still a resident of San Francisco and still at the 2204 Jackson St. address at this time, although he was now eighty-one years old: “Edward Tracy Allen, 2204 Jackson Street, Dwelling 266, Family Number 303, Head of Household, Homeowner, Home Free (no mortgage), Male, White, Age 81, Widowed, Attended School-No (incorrect, as Edward’s schooling is documented), Able to read and write-Yes, Birthplace-Connecticut, Father’s Birthplace-Connecticut, Mother’s Birthplace-Rhode Island, Able to Speak English-No (This must also be an entry error), Occupation-Merchant, Industry-Hardware, Employment Field-Own Account.”
No obituary or specific date of death could be found for Edward, but he finally passed from this mortal coil in 1926. He is interred at Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. The photos below are of his grave markers there.
My youngest daughter saw this post and pointed out something she referred to with "Awww, that's so sweet!" It didn't occur to me at the time but in the last grave marker photo above, the names shown are Allen and Kenyon. Edward Allen had no connection to the name Kenyon that I encountered, aside from it being the name of his "informally adopted" children's deceased father. That alone may speak deeply to the man's character, that these children would choose to be buried alongside the man who took them in, if that is indeed the case.
10-23-2015, 11:05 AM
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