OSCAR ALLEN, M.D.
Among those who have been contributing to the nation’s war efforts on the home front is Dr. Oscar Allen of McHenry and Beaver Dam, Ohio County, Kentucky. Instead of curtailing his professional efforts during these critical years, Dr. Allen has increased his efforts even though his length of years in active practice would entitle him to a well-earned retirement. When several of the physicians in Ohio County entered the services, Dr. Allen moved his office from McHenry to Beaver Dam where he would be more accessible and has since made Beaver Dam the focal point of his professional activities.
Dr. Allen was born at Round Hill, Butler County, Kentucky, on April 5, 1882. His parents were C. Y. Allen, who was a native of Ohio County and a farmer, and Mary Elizabeth Colburn, who was a native of Butler County. Mrs. C. Y. Allen’s father came to Kentucky from Connecticut and was killed during the War Between the States.
Oscar Allen spent his boyhood days in Butler County where as a farm boy he attended the rural schools and later went to school in Morgantown. After completing the courses of study offered by the schools in his community, he took an examination for a teacher’s certificate and being successful, taught school in the fall and continued to attend school in the winter until he had completed his education. He entered the medical college of Kentucky University, which was then a department of Transylvania University and was located in the city of Louisville. He graduated from this institution on June 30, 1905, receiving his M.D. degree. It was not until March 1906 that the young Dr. Allen began his practice. At that time he located at Cromwell, Ohio County, Kentucky, and there started his active life as a country doctor. That was almost forty years ago. In 1922, Dr. Allen moved to McHenry, Kentucky, where he entered into a partnership with Dr. Willard Lake. This partnership has continued throughout the years, even though Dr. Lake has been an officer in the Medical Corps of the United States Army during the years of World War II. In 1940, Dr. Allen established his office on the main street of Beaver Dam but has continued his residence in McHenry. Dr. Allen has not allowed time or the discoveries of science to relegate him to the rear but has kept well abreast of the times by extensive post graduate courses from time to time. In 1920, he took a post graduate course at the Chicago Postgraduate Medical School and in 1927 he was again a student, this time at Columbia University where he took post graduate work in general medicine and laboratory. Other post graduate courses include one at the University of Louisville. His post graduate work also includes extensive study in surgery.
Dr. Allen is a complimentary member on the staff of the Owensboro-Davies County Hospital. His professional associations include the Ohio County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. In 1907, Dr. Allen was married to Miss Vander Haynes, who was a native of Round Hill, Kentucky, and a daughter of Charles and Alice Haynes. Dr. and Mrs. Allen have become the parents of five children, the first-born of which is Ainsworth, now a resident of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Ainsworth Allen has just returned to civilian life after three years spent in the United States Army, during which time he served on the battlefields of Africa, Italy, France and Germany. He married Beulah Kane and they are the parents of two children, Billy Russell and Charles Stevens. His second marriage was to Miss Dorothy Maddox. The first daughter in the Allen family is Lucile, who married Ernest Fuller and now lives in Buffalo, New York. They have one son, Kenneth Howard. Estill Owen Allen married Miss Lois Rhoades of Daviess County and now resides in Owensboro.
Charles Lucian Allen married Miss Frances Meisel and is now a member of the United States Army stationed on the Hawaiian Islands. Margaret, the youngest child of Dr. and Mrs. Allen, married Fred Westerfield, who is a farmer in Ohio County. They are the parents of four children: David Allen, Larry Haynes, Jerry and Oscar Frederick. In former years Dr. Allen was quite active in the Masonic Order, having been advanced through the chairs to the position of Worshipful Master of his Lodge at Cromwell. Although he has retained his membership in the Lodge, he is not now active in its affairs. His political affiliations are with the Republican party and he worships at the Christian Church where the various members of his family are quite active. Dr. Allen himself was formerly very active in church work. Mrs. Allen takes an active and interested part in the affairs of the Parent-Teachers Association. Dr. Allen receives both revenue and diversion from the ownership of two farms in which he and Dr. Lake are partners.
Dr. Oscar Allen is a man of genial disposition and makes friends readily. The almost forty years that he has spent in a compact community with a radius of not more than fifteen miles is the best record that could be shown attesting his sincerity of purpose. During these years he has held the standards of his profession high and has contributed materially to his community through his citizenship therein.
Source: A Sesqui-Centennial History of Kentucky; by
Frederick A. Wallis. Published 1945.
It seems Dr. Allen was the attending physician at my birth in January of 1948. I was adopted by a couple in Louisville and now, belatedly, hope to, at least discover some medical history of my birth parents.
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