Jolley Allen

Jolley Allen

Jolley Allen was a loyalist who literally lost everything due to his unshakable allegiance to King and England. The story of Jolley Allen's shipwreck takes on a different tone depepnding on who is telling the story.

Jolley Allen had come to Boston from England in 1754, and there he set up a shop which sold goods from England and India. Jolley also had an inn and a stable. He prospered and was happy there for over twenty years. He owned a pew in King's Chapel, and a tomb there as well.

Jolley says in his manuscript that his first "mistake" was to purchase tea from Governor Hutchinson's sons. After that, Jolley opened his inn to accommodate British officers. Boston's Town Committee couldn't legally punish him for this, so instead they "injured his trade."

Jolley decided to leave Boston with a fleet of British ships. He hired a sloop named Sally, and hired also a captain, Robert Campbell, to pilot it. Henry C. Kittredge, in Cape Cod, It's People and Their History, says this captain did not know one end of a vessel from the other and soon wrecked the sloop on Peaked Hill bars behind Provincetown. The Captain was also inneffective in trying to save the ship. The British fleet was soon out of sight, and on top of that, one of the Allen party was discovered to have smallpox.

Soon, the people of Provincetown found out what had happened. Some townsfolk who had already had smallpox appeared with a cart and canoes, and soon the Allen family was transported to a "wretched hovel through which wind and weather blew with perfect freedom." The Sally was floated, the Allen goods were "stored", and the townspeople discovered that the guests in the pitiful cottage were "some of those vermin which have been so destructive to the peace and good order of the Colony" and sent a message to the General Court to find out what should be done with them.

The Allen family was kept in Provincetown that spring of 1776. On April 19, Mrs. Allen, who "was a good wife and as tender a mother as children ever had", died: "wanting the common necessaries of life, and seeing all her effects taken from her, she fell a sacrifice to their barbarity." Jolley Allen had her buried on Sunday April 22, 1776, on Cape Cod.

Meanwhile, while awating instruction, the Provincetown men looted the Allen goods, under the pretext of saving this payload for the Colonial authorities. They may have received some instruction, for on the 27th of April, Jolley and his oldest son (also Jolley) were removed from the cottage and transported to Truro, where they were held in the guard house for eight days. After that, with no charges brought forth on which to hold them, they were sent back to the cottage and the children. And there they all lingered, until the 24th of May. At that time Jolley Allen finally obtained a pass, and the Jollys Jr. and Sr. set off to Watertown, where the General Court was sitting.

Nothing appears to have been accomplished in Watertown. Jolley says in his manuscript that they left there on June 14. The father and son couldn't even purchase bread to eat; one night they slept in the woods. It took them two days to reach Shrewsbury where Jolley Sr. had a brother, Lewis, who lived on the farm that had belonged to their father Nathaniel Allen. The two Jolleys remained there, regrouping, until August, when Jolley Jr. was ordered by the General Court to go get his brothers and sisters and whatever was left of the Allen household goods. Provincetown locals refused to give up anything they had plundered, with the exception of four feather beds and bedding. The Allen genealogy says that Jolley Allen, Jr. went back to Cape Cod after delivering his siblings to safety, and died there September 18, 1776, "of a broken heart", according to his father.

Jolley's nephew, Thomas Allen Jr., recorded that his Uncle Jolley stood out from the crowd physically - he was over six feet in height, with dark eyes, handsome features, and a dignified bearing. On February 8, 1777, Thomas was able to transport his Uncle to New London, and on the 18th of February 1777, Jolley was able to secure passage to England. He arrived there a month later. Jolley Allen died in London and was buried June 7, 1782 at St. John's, Wapping, London, England, where several of his relatives are also buried. In his will he mentioned his desire to be disinterred and reburied in his crypt at King's Chapel, boston, after the war was over. Did this happen?

Jolley Allen's Ancestors

Other ancestors are unknown, but Jolley was the son of Captain Nathaniel Allen, who emigrated to Massachusetts in 1754.

Jolley Allen's Children
Jolley Allen (1718-1782) m. Eleanor Warren (d. 19 Apr 1776)

• Jolley (bp. 1757 - 18 Sep 1776)
• Eleanor (1 Dec 1758 - 1779/80)
• Henry Warren (11 May 1760 - 24 Aug 1762)
• Johanna (12 Aug 1762 - 22 Mar 1765)
• Ann or Nancy (19 Mar 1765 -1782)
• Sarah (b. 15 Oct 1769)
• Nathaniel (b. 27 Oct 1770) - lived in New London CT and went to sea. He owned ship and cargo, went to the West Indies, but nothing more is known.
• Charlotte (bp. 13 May 1772)

Sources for Anecdotal and Genealogical Information

• Kittredge, Henry C. Cape Cod, It's People and Their History. Cambridge: The Riverside Press, pg. 130-131 online at Internet Archive
• Jones, E. Alfred. The Loyalists of Massachusetts: Their Memorials, Petitions, and Claims. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1995. Pg. 5-6.
• Stoddard, Francis M. Genealogical Dictionary of the Allen Family. Boston: Privately published, 1891.