ALLEN, LAURA ELEANOR PEYTON (1856 ~ 1934). Confederate widow Laura Eleanor Peyton Allen was born December 17, 1856, in Hinds County, Raymond, Mississippi to Harry Peyton of Mississippi and Mary Elizabeth Brown of South Carolina.
At the age of four, Laura was living with her parents, grandfather, aunt and siblings on the plantation home owned by her grandfather, Austin Barnet Brown. Her father and mother helped run the day-to-day operations of the land and home and Laura grew up there until she turned 6. Laura and her family then moved to Texas in 1862.
There, she met and married Virgil Stanly Allen on March 3, 1895, in Navarro County, Texas. Virgil was a Confederate Veteran and Laura had one known daughter by him -- Mary Allen High. Mary Allen married Rebel G. High. He died after 1910.
There is evidence that Laura may have had another daughter. In 1910, there is an eleven year old sister-in-law to Rebel High named Laura underneath his mother-in-law, Laura, Sr. In 1920, Laura, Sr., at the age of 63, was raising a boy named Eugene Peyton Miller in Dallas County, Dallas, Texas. Eugene was two years old and possibly the son of Laura, Jr. There is no evidence of Laura, Jr. after 1910.
Virgil died on June 2, 1915, in Tarrant County, Texas and was buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in Fort Worth. After his death, Laura moved to Dallas and then eventually to Galveston in 1930, where she lived with her daughter Mary Allen High and her three sons.
Shortly thereafter, on July 6, 1931, Laura moved to the Confederate Women's Home in Austin, Texas. She lived there, in the home, until her death on June 12, 1934. She was buried in the State Cemetery the following day.
Sources: Death Certificate, Confederate Home Roster, www.familysearch.org, 1860, 1900, 1910 (s.v. Laura Allen), 1910 (s.v. Reb High), 1920 (s.v. Mary High), 1920 (s.v. Laura Allen), and 1930 US Census Records, Confederate Pension Application for Widows, Soldiers Application for a Pension.
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