Eugene Narron ALLEN and Elizabeth RAY

Eugene Narron ALLEN and Elizabeth RAY were married on July 2, 1904 in Wake County, NC.  He was 24, she was 17.  He was called Bud and she Sissy by their families. Their first child, my grandfather Atlas ALLEN, was born 11 months later. 

Sissy continued having children on a fairly regular basis about every 2 or 3 years until her last child was born in 1928 for a total of 8 children. There would have likely been more children, but Sissy died in childbirth with Marvin Eugene ALLEN.

I imagine Bud and Sissy had a tough life. Both were from poor farming families. To make ends meet, Bud was quite active in the moonshine business, a common endeavor at the time in Wake and Granville County, NC. He served some time in jail and on a road crew - on a couple of occasions - leaving his wife at home with the children for long periods. When he wasn't in jail or running moonshine, Bud was a sharecropper farming cotton.

They lived in the New Light area of Wake County, NC which is in the far northern part of the county near the Granville County line.

They were married by WH CHAPPEL, Justice of the Peace at the home of Al WILSON. Al also served as a witness along with HF CHAPPEL and JW PERRY.