Biography from Rick B Tuesday, June 20, 2006 HISTORY OF INDIANA FROM ITS EXPLORATION TO 1922 BY LOGAN ESAREY, Ph. D., ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY FROM ITS ORGANIZATION EDITED BY JOHN B. STOLL (Volume III). "BIOGRAPHICAL", published in Dayton, Ohio by Dayton Historical Publishing Co., 1923, page 189-190. Frank H. Allen, manager of the South Bend Bread Company, is a native of St. Joseph county, having been born at Mishawaka on August 18, 1875, the son of William W. and Martha (Weber) Allen. The father was born March 4, 1849 and died August 23, 1903, while the mother passed away in 1907 at the age of forty-eight years. Frank H. Allen was educated in the common schools and was graduated from the Mishawaka High School in 1893. When he had completed his schooling he worked for three years with the Roper Furniture Company in his home city, where, in addition to a salary of six dollars a week, he received much valuable business training in the office. He resigned that position to become sales manager of the Michigan district for the American Malt Cream Company of Detroit, but when, after two years, that company failed, he returned to Mishawaka to enter the shoe business, going into business at the corner of Church and Second streets, his establishment being known as Allen'! s Shoe Store. After four years failing health forced him to sell out his business, and he then traveled for one year on the road selling shoes. He next became connected with the South Bend Bread Company. His experience in salemanship made him a valuable acquistion to the organization of the company, and in 1912 he was made sales manager. He is now manager of the company, and much of his success is due to his ability in this position. Mr. Allen was married on October 2, 1915 to Hazel R. Pepple of Michigan City, Indiana, the daughter of old and honored residents of that community. Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Allen, Frank H., Jr., born June 9, 1917, and George Wintrop, born October 9, 1919. Mr. Allen is a Republican in politics, and belongs to the Chamber of Commerce and the Kiwanis Club. Mr. Allen was reared by his grandmother, Mary A. Strong, who came to this section of the country from Kentucky, her native state, by ox team, settling at Mishawaka whe! n the main street of that city was only a cow path through the woods. She was the oldest resident of that place and farmed land that is now contained in the city limits. She lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven years, passing away in 1914. On Mr. Allen's paternal side his family history is equally as interesting. His grandfather, Wintrop Allen, was half owner of a sailing vessel on Lake Erie, and was lost in a lake storm when Mr. Allen's father was but four years old. This disaster was so tragic that a noted artist made a picture depicting the episode, and this painting now hangs in the art museum at Buffalo. Mr. Allen has in his posession a newspaper clipping of 1862 giving a description of this painting. The history of the entire family is thoroughly and vigorously American, and Mr. Allen may well be proud of it.