The Family of Francis Marion Shaw, Volume 5 Number 2, May 1996. From the Berrien County Historical Foundation Collection at Valdosta State University Archives and Special Collections.

This newsletter focuses on Barzilla Allen and Rachel Moore Allen, highlighting their early family life and the subsequent life of their first son, William Barzilla Allen. Barzilla Allen, born November 29, 1837, in Lowndes County, Georgia, married Rachel Moore around 1856, and they had two sons, William and John, before the Civil War. Barzilla was conscripted into the Confederate army in April 1862 and tragically died from measles on June 24, 1862, in Virginia, barely two months after enlisting, leaving Rachel pregnant with their third child, Ann Eliza. Rachel later married Francis Marion Shaw in 1866. Their son, William Barzilla Allen, married Rachel V. Futch on December 20, 1877, and they established a farm in Berrien County, Georgia, having eight children. The family endured significant tragedies, including the deaths of their sons, Charlie E. Allen, who died from a burst appendix in 1900, and six-year-old Lacy V. Allen, who tragically scalded to death in boiling grease the same year. William Barzilla Allen eventually moved to Ray City and passed away in 1924 after suffering from severe diabetes complications, including multiple amputations.