Place of Birth: Chautaugua, New York
Date of Death: November 26, 1900
Age at Death: 81
Interment source:
Bay View Cemetery Association, Corpus Christi, Texas. Record of Interments
NO HEADSTONE
Biography and Obituary
In an article on Old Bayview Cemetery from the January 22, 1924 issue of the Corpus Christi Caller, Eli T. Merriman lists among those buried in the cemetery Thomas Allen. For that reason he is listed among those probably buried in Old Bayview even though in the recent past his name was not among those usually listed as buried because there was no stone, surviving obituary, or record of internment. However, the verification that Mary A. Allen, who has a surviving tombstone, is the wife of Thomas Allen may further the argument that Thomas too is indeed buried in Old Bayview. Mary A. Allen’s obituary is not found in a Corpus Christi paper because the pertinent issues are not extant. However, a report of her death is found in the Laredo Morning Times because she was living with her daughter there at the time of her death. That article documents her birth in Chatauqua, New York, September 19th, 1819. As Miss Gregory she was married to Thomas Allen of Ohio on the 22nd of February in 1836 (see celebration of their golden anniversary in Caller of 2-28-1886 as quoted in Caller of 2-28-1926, 3rd Section, page 6, col. 2). The couple must have moved to Canada for a time because the older children are all reported as born in Canada in all the census records of 1860, 1870, and 1880. According to her death announcement in Laredo, Thomas and Mary Allen came with their children to Texas the first of January 1839. Mary Ann Gregory-Allen was the mother of eight children, but only three survived her. Her husband Thomas died August 16, 1889 (his birthday would have been January 10, 1800). Her sons Ronald, Albert, and Alexander are known to have preceded her in death as well as two of her daughters. Her daughter Eliza (Mrs. S. F. Stevenson) died in 1893 and most likely was buried also in Old Bayview Cemetery. Mary Allen was survived by her son Edward Allen who lived in Corpus Christi at the time (1900), her daughter Miss Amanda Allen of Laredo, and her daughter Mrs. J. V. Benavides of Laredo. The grandchildren who survived her were Annie Stevenson, H. F. Stevenson, Thomas A. Stevenson, and Juanita T. Benavides. The announcement in the Laredo paper notes that her remains were shipped to Corpus Christi for interment “in the family burial groundâ€. This is clearly a family plot in Old Bayview Cemetery as the Bayview Cemetery Association records her death and burial in their records. Mary Ann Allen nee Gregory died in Laredo on the morning of 26 November 1900 at 5:30 a.m. (see obit in Laredo Morning Times of that date) and was buried with other family members in Old Bayview Cemetery at over 81 years of age.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell