Civil War Soldier Found in the Woods

By Valorie Zimmerman

This is not April Fools joke! A few years back, my husband was walking through the forest near our cabin outside Mt. Rainier National Park when he came across a grave for a Civil War soldier.

Henry C Allen grave site

Astonished, he took us there to honor the soldier and find more about him. Just a hundred feet or so off Highway 410, we saw a beautiful grave site with a headstone of marble, covered with flags and other remembrances. Reading part of his story on signs at the site was fascinating, and Bob created a web page about the site and the man: http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bobofwa/family/HCAllen_grave.htm

Henry C. Allen, 16 Wis. Inf. 1848-1896

Last year there was a notice in the Washington State Genealogy Blog about a group gathering information about all Civil War soldiers buried in Washington State, so I wrote to report this grave site in case they had not heard of it. They had not, and asked me to find out more about this veteran. Being a genealogist, of course I started a tree for him, as a way to keep the information organized.

See him on FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L2MG-RHJ

Henry C Allen was born and grew up in Wisconsin, ran away at age 16 to join the army at the beginning of the Civil War, and served for 14 months as a private in Company A, 16th Wisconsin Infantry. After being wounded, he returned home and married Melissa Stewart. He applied for a pension while in Wisconsin. Henry and Melissa had three daughters, and then Melissa died in 1888. Henry then moved out to the Washington Territory. By 1892 he is enumerated with his two youngest daughters Kate and Ina, in Orting. He's reported to be a surveyor.

1892 Washington state census

Henry's oldest daughter Blanche is in the new state as well, marrying Phillip J Dieringer 22 December 1890 in Seattle. She is enumerated with her husband in 1892 living in rural Pierce County. By 1901 they are in British Columbia, Canada, then in 1910 living in Auburn. When Phillip died in Tacoma in 1912 at age 53, Blanche returns to B.C. and marries Lyman Onias Annable in 1918 in Vancouver, B.C. She was widowed again when Lyman Annable died in 1930 in New Westminster, B.C. Blanche Louise Annable, Washington pioneer, died 24 February 1963 in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

Blanche and Phillip Dieringer had one child, a son Phillip Roy Dieringer born 31 May 1892 in Puyallup. It is possible he remembered his grandfather Henry. Phil married another pioneer, Winnifred McKinnon who was born in Nova Scotia, Canada and arrived in Black Diamond, Washington in time to be enumerated in the 1900 US census with her parents and four of her five siblings. Her father, John McKinnon, was a coal miner.

Winn and Phillip married 7 March 1914 in Ravensdale. Their daughter Patricia was born 20 April 1915 in Auburn, and then they moved north to Everett where their son John is born. In May 1925 they all moved to Vancouver, B.C.

May 1925 British Columbia Manifest

Washington pioneer Winnifred died 15 March 1936 in Vancouver, B.C. Washington pioneer Phillip Roy Dieringer married twice more and died 25 July 1963 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Their daughter Patricia married and moved to North Carolina where she lived the rest of her life, and son John Philip Dieringer ended up in southern California. None of Patricia's children or grandchildren seem to have ever lived in Washington state.

So Blanche's family perhaps was living in the area when her father went missing in the forests between Buckley and Mount Rainier, but they moved north soon after his body was found, so perhaps never visiting his lovely grave site. His story fascinated one of the Forest Service rangers who did some research and published an article to be posted at the grave. Bob transcribed it on his page linked above.

For more than 70 years, passersby have paused briefly to reflect on the monument's who, how and why. In 1969, Nevin McCullough decided to find out. 

McCullough, a retired Forest Service ranger and perennial lover and historian of the White River wilderness, soon learned that a relative of Allen was still living in the area. Granddaughter Mrs. Blanche Conway Smith consented to an interview, and at the home of Chris Slott, she told McCullough the story of her grandfather's death, as related to her by her mother, Jenny Allen Conway.

Jenny Kate Allen was Henry and Melissa's second child, born 6 June 1875 in Berlin, Green Lake, Wisconsin. After her mother's death, she moved with her family to the Orting area and was enumerated with her father and younger sister there in 1892. Later that year she married John James Conway in Buckley. Their daughter Alice Isabelle Conway was born 24 December 1893 in Buckley. Alice was only three years old when Henry died. Continuing the story as told by Alice's daughter:

"Grandfather was of the habit of hunting and fishing many months out of the year," said Mrs. Smith. "He also did some surveying and locating homestead and timber claims. This particular time he was due to return home on a certain date. When he did not arrive on schedule, my mother had a dream that he was dead. She awoke my father and said she knew something had happened to her dad."

Her father was John James Conway, who was also born in Wisconsin and by 1892 was also in Pierce County where he was enumerated in a Washington State Census. To continue her story:

The following day Conway and a friend set out to find Allen. Arriving at his cabin three days later, they found no trace of him, and decided to search along his trap line. 

"They found him sitting against a tree just as natural as could be. He had spit tobacco juice and the stain was still on the snow. They couldn't determine if he froze to death or died of heart trouble. It was impossible to bring his body out. They had to build a fire to thaw out his body to straighten it out." 

The two men made a shovel of cedar and buried Allen in a shallow grave. They made the shovel into a cross to mark the spot, and intended to remove the body to Buckley the following spring.

The sisters referred to in the next part of the story would be Jenny Kate and her younger sister, Ina Dell Allen, and possibly their older sister Blanche, if she was still in the state.

"When that time came his daughters decided their father was resting in the hills he loved. He had always told them how beautiful this country was and how much he loved being in the hills," said Mrs. Smith. 

A headstone was eventually erected at the site, and the White River Ranger District plans to install a permanent metal sign there to provide visitors with a brief description of Allen. 

Many trips to his grave have been made by the family. 

Henry C. Allen 1848-1896

The headstone was ordered many years later, according to the application for the headstone. In fact it was not shipped to Enumclaw until 1941!

None of his family rest beside Henry Allen, however his two youngest daughters are buried in Enumclaw Evergreen Memorial Park in Enumclaw along with one husband and many of their children and grandchildren. Search for Conway, Slott, Smith, or Julien at https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/76774/enumclaw-evergreen-memorial-park or see the whole tree at Ancestry

More:
http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~bobofwa/family/HCAllen_grave.htm

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9742788/henry-clay-allen