The Allen Family:
An American Odyssey
The Allen family’s journey — anchored by Maud Hall Allen’s strength — offers a window into American life in the 1900s. This family biography explores:
• Historical challenges faced by everyday Americans
• Immigrant and rural life in early 20th-century America
• The unbreakable bond between mother and children
• How family legacy shapes future generations
Readers with interests in genealogy research, ancestor stories, and true family histories will find deep value and connection in the Allen family’s experiences.
Notes from family and friends
Notes From Family and Friends
"Pearl Allen Andree brings to life the portrait of her mother, Maud Hall Allen, my Grandmother, of teaching her family to always have faith that God will help you through. Her Faith in God became the binding strength for a family that forged their way west from Oklahoma to Arizona and beyond. The stories of the lives of her children are a testament to who Maud was. Her youngest daughter, Pearl, tells Maud’s story and her own life story, expressing the realization that we all learn from those that came before us. The time frame of this saga goes from the late 1800’s through the earliest decades of the 1900’s, into the late twentieth century. "
-- Margaret L. Scott, retired Vocational Home Economics teacher, 4H Club and Homemakers adviser/leader, Oklahoma State University Extension Services
“As an in-law, by dint of my marriage to Charlotte Allen, Pearl Allen Andree’s niece, I’m blessed to be a part of this wonderful Allen family. I’m happy to recommend this book.
This family has contributed so richly to the development of America, as ordinary citizens doing ordinary things have done since America’s beginning. Pearl’s vivid description of her mother’s and grandmother’s era and her own, and by this, the Allen family’s contribution to the history of our country, is informative, heartwarming and fascinating. It is a wonderful record of a life well lived: a book well worth reading and enjoying.”
--Richard L. Cosby, M.D., retired nephrologist, Sacramento, California
“Maud’s early years on the Catesby, Oklahoma homestead were full of hope and sadness, and this section of the book captivated me. Living on the prairie in a sod house used to seem like a far and distant experience, but my own great grandmother had this life. Maud was brave living there for 10 years with her young children, working hard clearing the land, searching for fuel for the fireplace, hunting, and living as a pioneer woman far away from her relatives. When I traveled to Marlow in 2023 and saw the beautiful rolling green hills and lush trees, I wondered if my Grandpa Pete and Grandma Dorothy missed it after they moved to Arizona and California. Their four-acre farm in Brentwood was beautiful as well.
Through the book I got to know my Allen relatives so much better. My heart goes out to them for all their struggles and hard work. Thank goodness they had each other and their faith. Pearl has had such varied experiences in her family life, her homes, and her socioeconomic status, and she has always been effervescent when I’ve been with her. Pearl has remained down-to-earth over a lifetime that has bridged the pioneer days to the modern era, and she does have a story to tell.”
--Lisa Cosby, daughter of Richard and Charlotte Cosby, granddaughter of Pete and Dorothy Allen, great-granddaughter of Maud.
“After completing active practice, Mom asked me to get her book published. That got complicated. Once I’d gotten into the weeds of it, I asked several older and younger, talented, accomplished cousins to help me. Together, Mom’s tome was completed.
At an early point growing up, I realized that every one of my aunts and uncles loved me, that they were simply good, religious people, clearly irrespective of their modest means. Completing their lives in story was a labor of love. I also changed from believing that Grandma was for cookies and getting away with things, to trying to be like the example that Grandma set.
The heart and soul of what Mom wrote about surprised me: universal meanings that transcend the Allen family, the wisdom to be shared from experiencing life’s adversities, the dry and humorous wit dropped somewhere in a sentence or the start of another, and the subtleties threading the text together from beginning to end.”
— Daniel A. Goggin M.D., retired psychiatrist, Fort Worth, Texas