Allens and Bacons of Kentucky and Virginia

A professional genealogist suggested that I trace my Allen ancestry back to Virginia by building on the Allen family known to have lived in Kentucky. I have exhausted all research on the Allens of Kentucky without finding the one I am looking for... that is, John Watson Allen.

Here is what I know:

1. Augustus D. Allen, born in 1859 in Hancock County, Illinois, is verified as my maternal great grandfather. 
2. Augustus' father is Robert Scott Allen, born 1797 in Virginia, also a verified fact.
3. In brief bio in The History of Hancock County, Rose Nash Spitler claims that "casual research" into her family history revealed that John Watson Allen was the father of Robert Scott Allen, her grandfather. Rose did not know much about her birth family - she was a foster child from a young age. In this biography, Rose claims that according to family lore, John Watson Allen was a childhood playmate to the famous Revolutionary War hero, Ethan Allen. Unverified.
4. Robert Scott Allen lived in Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky, before moving to Illinois. He married a Elizabeth Highlands from Ohio, just across the river. Kenton County is adjacent to Mason County.
5. There is a John Allen, Baptist clergyman, who lived in Mason County in 1850. He lived with a family named Bacon. He is the right age to be Robert Scott Allen's father.

One thing I have learned is that "family lore" is not always reliable. However, even if the stories are obviously wrong, the details are often merely a slight distortion of the facts. In other words, the truth is there, you just have to know how to interpret it.  I have come to the conclusion that the Revolutionary War hero who played with John Watson Allen as a child was actually probably John "Jack" Jouett, who also came from Virginia and lived near the Allens in Kentucky toward the end of his life.  

Today I have had a break-through of sorts. I still have not connected all the dots, but have made some promising discoveries. I started out by writing out a research question. (The quality of one's research is determined by how well the question is written): 

"Is John (Watson) Allen, the father of Robert Scott Allen, the same person as John Allen, Baptist clergyman, who lived in Mason County, KY in 1850 with the Bacon family?"

 In the 1850 U. S. Census for Mason County, KY, John Allen, age 81, lived with Elizabeth Collier Bacon, age 61 (widow of John Glenn Bacon), and two of her children:  John Glenn Bacon, Jr. age 23, and Tyree Lydall Bacon, age 19. Also living with them was a man named George Heft, who appears to be a farmhand. This was a puzzling discovery - there seemed to be no familial relationship between John Allen and the Bacons or to the Colliers. But the name "Lydall Bacon" hit me like a ton of bricks! Definitely an old Virginia family name.

The first step of my research strateby was to trace John Glenn Bacon back to Virginia and see if I could find an Allen connection. Bingo! Here is a partial tree showing the relationships (Roman numerals represent the generations):

I.  John Bacon (1675-1742) m. Susanna Parke (1688-1778) of New Kent County, Virginia
                                         
II. Lydall Bacon (1717-1775) m. Mary Ann Allen (1726-1816) of New Kent County
                                                                             
III. Lucy Bacon (1744-1826) m. Charles Allen (1744-1775) of Lunenburg County, Va.
      Sarah Bacon (1753-1796)  m. Col. John Glenn (1752-1799) of Charlotte County, Va.        
      Langston Bacon (1746-1831) m. Mary Anne Glenn (1749-1823) of Charlotte/Lunenburg

IV. John Glenn Bacon (1782-1846), son of Langston Bacon, m. Elizabeth Collier (1789-1870) of Charlotte County, Virginia; moved to Mason County, Kentucky before 1840.
   
John Allen, clergyman, lived with this last Generation IV family in Mason County, Kentucky. He would be of the same generation as III. above. I checked, and Charles Allen did not have a brother named John, so there must be another Allen-Bacon connection somewhere.

The coolest thing about these discoveries is the fact that I recently visited St. Peters Church in New Kent County and had taken a photo of a memorial gravestone for the Bacon family.

Generation I:  John Bacon and wife Susanna Parke.
This stone reveals two more generations before them.
George Bacon was the original immigrant who came over from London.

The next step in my research strategy was to find a connection to John "Jack" Jouett. Since the Glenn family had multiple connections with the Bacons, I started there. Here is the partial tree showing what I found:

I. James Glenn, Jr (1664-1747) m. Mourning Winn (1668-1750)

II. Tyree Glenn (1704-1763) (son of James) m. Mary Roe
     Mourning Glenn (1702-1755) (dau. of James) m. Col. Robert Harris

III. Mary Anne Glenn (1748-1823) (dau. of Tyree) m. Langston Bacon (1746-1831)
      Mourning Glenn Harris (1732-1805) (dau. of Robert) m. John "Jack" Jouett (1730-1802)

IV. John Glenn Bacon (1782-1846) (son of Langston) m. Elizabeth Collier
      Mary Anne Mourning Jouett (1765-1833) (dau. of Jack) m. Thomas Allin (another Allen connection!)

V. "Tyree Lydall Bacon", born 1830 in Mason County, KY, was a son of John Glenn Bacon and Elizabeth Collier, his name connecting both families' histories back to Virginia.
                                                                                             
Again, John Allen would be of Generation III, the same as Jack Jouett. The "family lore" that Rose related may hold some truth! Now if I can just find out how John Allen is related to all these folks, especially to Elizabeth Collier Bacon. I also need to verify that this John Allen is actually my 3X great grandfather.