William S. Allen was born c. 1823 in Connecticut. In September 1845, he married Roxalena Abbey, daughter of Roswell Abbey and Sarah Olmstead. The couple had one daughter, Sarah A. Allen (b. 1849), but the pair eventually separated. William S. Allen eventually moved to Key West, Florida, while Roxalena married Judge William Barnes of Warehouse Point, East Windsor, Connecticut, in 1853. Sarah remained in Connecticut with her mother, stepfather, and several other relatives, including Fannie Olmstead. She spent the first months of 1869 visiting her father in Key West. Sarah A. Allen later married Samuel J. Allen, a doctor.
From the guide to the William S. Allen letters, Allen, William S. letters, 1869, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)
