Allen Townsend was born 21 November 1801 in Marlboro, Co., South Carolina. He was the sixth child of thirteen known children of John Townsend and Kiziah Hays. Allen married Sarah Briant 30 May 1821. They moved to Irwin Co., Georgia ca. 1825 where they began farming and by the mid part of the 1830s moved and settled in Madison Co., Florida. Allen was the father of at least eleven children and died 10 May 1880 in Madison Co., Florida. Descendants lived primarily in Florida, Georgia and elsewhere.