Joseph Allen (son of Emery Arthur Allen and Esther Williams Allen) and his wife Rebecca Tabourn/ Taburn/ Taborn).  They were married in Northampton County, North Carolina.  Joseph was born January 28, 1803 in Southampton County, Virginia, and died July 20, 1891.  Rebecca was born in 1805 and died in 1884.  They moved from North Carolina to Columbiana County Ohio then to Logan County, Ohio, and finally to Porter Township, Cass County Michigan in 1848.  Both Joseph and Rebecca were freeborn.

They were charter members of Mt Zion AME Church, Calvin Township, Cass County, Michigan. Their names are on a grave marker at Mt. Zion Cemetery.

They were the parents of fifteen children: Susan (born July 11, 1825), James (born April 9, 1827), John (born  April 2, 1829), Fanny (born May 1, 1831), William (born November 24, 1832), Axum (born July 25, 1834), Bennett (born April 13, 1836), Sarah Jane (born November 1838), Elizabeth (born April 9, 1840), Joseph (Jody) (born August 18, 1842), Rachel Rebecca (born April 15, 1844), Angeline (born March 15, 1846), Nathaniel (birth date unknown) and two children who died in infancy.

Marshall H. Sanders, Jr., owner of the photo, can be contacted at: sanmarjr@sbcglobal.net

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Mount Zion AME Church

 

Family and charter members of Mt. Zion AME Church. Photo taken in front of Church in 1918. Cass County, Michigan. Next to the church is the cemetery where many members of the Allen and Sanders families are buried. The photo belongs to Maurice W. Sanders, author of "Descendants of Allen-Sanders, 1985. He can be contacted at  mauricews@att.net

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