Draft:Peyton Austin Allen

Peyton Austin Allen (May 1867 – November 1936) was a teacher, principal, and lawyer in the United States. He provided legal services to African Americans.

He was born in Blackshear, Georgia. He took the surname of his stepfather Joseph Allen rather than his father Peyton Austin Bowden who he never knew. He graduated from Atlanta University in 1887. He received a law degree from Sprague Correspondence School of Law in Chicago, IIIinois.

He worked on turpentine production during the day and studied at night. He taught in the summers. He taught in Perry, Georgia, served as principal of the Mitchell Street School in Atlanta, and then taught in Newnan, Georgia for 15 years.

He married to Willie Maud Reese of Summerville and they had five daughters (Elsie, Muriel, Fannie, Julia and Willie) as well as two sons (Edmund and George). He was killed after being struck by a car November 13, 1936 and succumbed to his injuries after being taken to Grady Hospital. The Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History has a collection of his papers including photographs.

He belonged to the Odd Fellows, Knights of Tabor, and Knights of Pythias. He was also a Good Samaritan. He lived at 152 Beckwith Street.