THE ALLEN-BREAUX PAGES

THE ELLIS AND MABLE ALLEN FAMILY PAGE

Mable And Ellis Allen

Mable Johnson Lashbrook Allen of Houston, Texas (affectionately known as Bim) married Ellis Allen Sr. of St. James Parish, Louisiana (called Gramp by his grandchildren) sometime after the turn of the last century in Houston. Mable already had a child, Marguerite, who Ellis raised as his own. Mable and Ellis moved to Oakland, California to join other members of Ellis' family who had migrated there from Louisiana. They eventually had four other children: Ellis Jr., Ernest, Elaine, and Audrey.

Ellis Jr., Mable, Ernest, and Marguerite (clockwise from top)

Their longtime home was on 29th Avenue in Oakland, in the section known as Jingletown. That home was later destroyed in the building of Interstate 880 (later known as the Nimitz Freeway).

Ellis Jr., Elaine, and Ernest
(The location is unknown, although a good guess is that the photograph was taken at the Allen home on 29th Avenue in Oakland)

After they left Jingletown, the Allens moved further east to Tevis Street, below E. 14th Street (now International Boulevard) and a couple of blocks from Seminary Avenue. Their house on Tevis reflected their Southern roots: it had a large backyard complete with an enormous weeping willow tree, gardens, and a horse named Trixie whom some of the grandchildren characterized as "evil."

The story of Trixie was indicative of the kind of life they lived, which seemed to accumulate an enormous number of things along the way which some people may have considered "clutter," but which their grandchildren always believed was a source of delight and wonder. According to the story, a man came through the neighborhood with a pony who the man said was pregnant. He offered her to Ellis for a fair price, considering Ellis was going to eventually get two horses for the price of one, so Ellis bought the pony and brought her home. Months passed and Trixie's belly remained big, but no colt ever came. Eventually, Ellis discovered that Trixie was not big with foal, merely big with a tumor.

Despite the tumor, Trixie lived for many years, and was a fixture at the Allen home on Tevis Street, giving the grandchildren many harrowing rides (Trixie had a habit of running under the low-hanging branch of the weeping willow tree, trying to dislodge the rider). There is also a story that Trixie gave Uncle Joe (husband of Audrey Allen, father of Wayne, Joanne, and Chris) a kick in the head. Uncle Joe's reaction is not documented, though knowing Uncle Joe, it can be imagined.

Ellis Allen (Gramp) was a compulsive builder, and the grounds around the house in Jingletown and at Tevis Street reflected that compulsion. At the Jingletown house, he built a miniature golf course. Gramp would often get the urge to build something and begin construction before the plans had been fully formulated. He once decided to build a second story to the house, and began with a set of stairs running up the outside. It took considerably longer for him to begin work on the second story than it did to complete the stairs, so that for some period of time, the house on Tevis Street had a stairway to nowhere.

Mable (Bim) was a voracious reader, with stacks of magazines and books around the house that the grandchildren loved to borrow. She was a "liberated woman" far ahead of her generations, so that some of the material was considered risqué for her day (though it would be tame by today's standards).