John Delbert Allen was born in New York State in 1851 and grew up in Paw Paw, Michigan. He began experimenting with taxidermy at the age of 12.
By the time he was 18, John had a business making animal mounts. As a sideline, he also taught himself how to write in shorthand.
In 1879, Allen headed west and started a taxidermy shop in Denver, Colorado. He was accidentally poisoned by arsenic used in his work and had to give up taxidermy for a time. Using his shorthand skills, John secured a position as secretary to Colorado’s Governor, Frederick Pitkin. He later took a secretarial job with the Northern Pacific Railroad in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In 1881, Allen was offered a job in Mandan, North Dakota, as a timekeeper and telegrapher for Northern Pacific. He arrived in May of that year. A year later, he resigned and returned to his true calling—taxidermy. Before long, his business expanded and he employed as many as seven people.
Allen began accompanying nationally prominent sportsmen on big game hunts, preparing their trophies in the field. These included European royalty, the Marquis de Mores, and Teddy Roosevelt. He described Roosevelt to his grandchildren as meticulous but warm—someone who would sprawl out on the living room floor and chat with the family while waiting for John to finish a mount.
His workshop was always cluttered with Indian artifacts and mounts of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. A sign in his shop read, “Order is Heaven’s first law.” Beneath it, John had scrawled, “You are not in Heaven.”
John also became a prolific and accomplished artist, painting scenes of the early Dakota prairies like wildlife, Native Americans, and buffalo hunts, along with landscapes of the Missouri and Heart Rivers. Shortly before his death, he was recognized by the American Artists Professional League for meritorious performance in art—the first North Dakotan to be so honored.
In 1890, John married Nellie Willson. They had one daughter. The Allen family lived in Mandan for 65 years.
On this date, in 1947, John Delbert Allen died in his sleep at the age of 96. At the time of his death, he was the oldest active taxidermist in the country.
Dakota Datebook written by Scott Nelson
Sources:
- Article on John D Allen by Lucille Hendrickson, Bismarck
- Tribune, Nov 22,1980.
- Mandan Historical Society, JD Allen
- Sources: Article on John D Allen by Lucille Hendrickson, Bismarck
- Tribune, Nov 22,1980.
- Mandan Historical Society, JD Allen
