Frank D. Allen

ALLEN, GILBERT

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 5/13/2009 at 11:04:19

1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO

pages 714-715

FRANK D. ALLEN is a member of the
firm of Allen & Crane, proprietors of
the Audubon County Advocate, the
oldest paper in the county. This firm suc-
ceeded the firm of Crane & Crane, Mr. Allen
purchasing an interest in the paper in Octo-
her, 1888. Frank D. Allen was the former
proprietor and founder of the Western Bliz-
zard at Gray, Iowa, a semi-weekly, success-
fully managed by Mr. Allen for a time, and
then moved to Audubon and consolidated
with the Advocate. Previous to his starting
the Blizzard Mr. Allen had been traveling
correspondent for several of the leading
Omaha papers for a period of two years, vis-
iting all the important towns and cities from
the Missouri River to the Pacific Coast.
Mr. Allen a native of the State of Iowa,
born in Jones County, in November, 1867.
He received his earlier education in the com-
mon schools, and then entered the Western
Normal College at Shenandoah, Iowa, where
he pursued his studies for one year. On
leaving school he began his career as an ed-
itor. Although the father, A. E. Allen, was
a prominent farmer and stock-raiser, the son
preferred to wield the pen. A. E. Allen was
an old settler of Jones County, Iowa, and
owner of nearly 1,000 acres in Audubon
County; he moved to the county in 1882,
and is one of the substantial farmers of Vi-
ola Township. The mother of Mr. Allen was
Miss Mary Gilbert, of Jones County, Iowa, a
native of Ohio, and a daughter of Russell Gil-
bert, now a prominent merchant of Wyoming,
Iowa. She died in 1872, leaving four sons,
three of whom still survive. Frank D. Allen
started his first paper at Dedham, but it was
not a success, and he took Horace Greeley's
advice, and turned up at the Black Hills in
Dakota. After he had been there three
months he secured a position with the
county attorney, as secretary and corre-
spondent, for two months; after that he se-
cured a position on the Omaha Bee as local
correspondent; he traveled in the interest of
the paper and wrote up many important
towns and cities in Nebraska and Southern
Dakota. At one time he was correspondent
for the Chicago papers, among which we
mention the Chicago Sunday National, one
of the leading humorous papers of the west.