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ALLEN, LEWIS 1794-1886
Major Lewis Allen, a descendant of Ethan Allen, the leader of the " Green Mountain Boys," was born in Weston, Mass., July 25, 1794:, and died just before midnight of November 14, 1886, in the ninety-third year of his age. When he was but four years of age his father died; and, being the eldest of three children, he was called upon, in his very early boyhood, to labor for the support of his widowed mother. His early education was necessarily limited. He was obliged to walk two and a half miles to a district school, which was kept only six weeks in the winter season. In 1806 (his mother being married again), he started from home to seek his fortune, and removed to Salem, where he served eight years as a shoemaker's apprentice, assisting the family meantime.
When, twenty-one years of age his accumulated capital amounted to fifty dollars. He began, business in 1817 in South Danvers, now Peabody, and was very successful. In 1827 he opened a store in New York city, and a branch factory in Zanesville, Ohio. In 1830 he returned to Peabody and built the original Allen block, which in 1873 was greatly enlarged. He was a director in the Warren Bank, of Peabody, from 1832, and President for thirty-five years. He was Selectman of Danvers, also of South Danvers; County Commissioner for three years, representative in the. State Legislature in 1837 and 1838; Trustee of the Peabody Institute from 1871 to 1877, and at one time held a commission in the State militia.. He was made a Mason in Jordan Lodge, of South Danvers, in 1821, and continued his interest in the Lodge and Order to his latest years. He was of a kindly and genial nature, upright in business, and manifested true benevolence toward all his fellow-men. He bore his last, prolonged illness without a murmur, sustained to the end by a deep religious faith and Christian fortitude.
ATWELL, JOHN BRYANT 1787-1883
From Proceedings, Page 1883-231:
I cannot close these brief memorials without an allusion to the death of one ofthe signers of the Declaration of 1831, who was probably the oldest Mason in the State at the time of his death.
John Bryant Atwell was born in Lynn, February 15, 1787, and died in Wakefield, his place of residence, October 27, 1883, in the ninety-seventh year of his age. His life extended through the administrations of all the Presidents of the United States, or the whole constitutional history of the country. He was raised a Master Mason in Mount Moriah Mount Moriah Lodge, of Wakefield, in 1810, and was the last surviving member of that Lodge, which is now extinct. He was at one time W. Master of the Lodge. It will be seen that his career as a Mason, like that of Bro. Dewing, just mentioned, covered the extraordinary term of seventy-three years. What vicissitudes had these veteran Masons seen the Institution pass through during that period, and how interesting would be a record of their Masonic experience!
I regret that I have few data for a proper notice of Bro. Atwell's career; but I learn that he was an active and public spirited citizen, who during his life received proofs. of the confidence of his fellow-townsmen in his election, to several public offices. He represented Wakefield in the General Court in 1852. It is said of him that he never missed casting his ballot in a general election from the time he came of age, — a proof of his just estimate of the duties of an American citizen.
