Pvt. David Allee

Patriot Ancestor:  David Allee 

Born:  25 Apr 1762, Pittsylvania County, VA

Died:  03 Jan 1835, Cooper County, MO

Rank:  Private, Virginia Militia

Years Served:  1777 – 1780

GGW Chapter SAR Member: David Allee

David Allee first volunteered for the Virginia Militia when he was 13 years old.  He served as a Private in Capt. Peter Hairston’s Company with Lieut. William Ferguson during the Spring of 1777.  They joined with other companies to march through Botetourt County and Washington County in Virginia to French Broad (now in Tennessee), under the command of Col. Evan Shelby and Col. William “Christy” Christian.  Here the companies divided to pursue the Cherokee.  David Allee marched with the Company to the towns of Choto, Chilhowee and Tuckalucky then onward to present-day Kingsport, TN.  There the Company disbanded upon the signing of the Treaty of Long Island on July 20, 1777.  After six months of service, David Allee returned home to Virginia.

One year later, in July 1778, David Allee volunteered again as a Militiaman under the command of Col. Charles Lynch of Bedford and Capt. Thomas Cummings.  They marched against the Tories, whom they encountered at the head of Little River in Bottetort County, and they took two Tory Captains as prisoner: Capt. Job Hale and Capt. William Terry.  The troop then marched through Virginia, disarming Tories for three more months, at which time David Allee was discharged from the Militia by the Col. of Beford, Charles Lynch (who later became a Senator), and he returned home.

Next, he served a third time, in 1779, as a militiaman under the command of Capt. Matthew Arbuckle, as a Ranger.  They started at Dan River Bottom and worked their way to the junction of New River (now the Kanawha River) and the Ohio River.  David Allee was discharged by Capt. Arbuckle after six months of service.

David Allee’s fourth time of service lasted for six months, under the command of Col. Joseph Cloyd and Capt. Arbuckle.  He rejoined this time in 1779/80 and marched to Point Pleasant to guard the frontier.  He returned home to Virginia after being discharged by Col. Cloyd.

Finally, he served a fifth time for three months as a volunteer militiaman under the command of Col. Abraham Penn and Capt. Joshua Martin.  He was discharged directly after the Battle at Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781, when the troop had marched to Dan River and discovered that the British were not in Virginia as they had expected.  David Allee was discharged by Capt. Joshua Martin.

On December 4, 1786, at age 24, David Allee married Charity Delilah Bybee in Franklin County, VA.  They had eleven children together.  He worked as a farmer after the Revolution, moving the family from Virginia to Kentucky.  His heritage was French Huguenot (known as “Protestant Reformed”), and David Allee became an ordained Baptist Minister in 1806 at age 44.  It is said that he was very pious and included much Scripture in his sermons.  The family moved their household via covered wagon to the Missouri Territory in 1820 near present-day Clarksburg, Missouri where David Allee rode a circuit of surrounding counties and started several Baptist churches, some of which still exist today, and several generations of his descendants helped to lead the church congregations he had begun.

One year later, August 10, 1821, Missouri was admitted to the United States of America’s Union.

Altogether, David Allee served about two years as a volunteer militiaman during the Revolutionary War.  He began to collect a Pension about 1833, as a resident of Cooper County, Missouri, at age 71.  Two years later, after a long illness of cancer, he died at age 73, and was laid to rest next to his wife on the hill beside one of the Baptist churches he had helped to establish.