Christina Allen

WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT

Christina B. Allen (1823-1909)
“always giving thanks”
2031 Main Road, Westport Point

Christina was the daughter of William Allen and Phebe Tripp and was born in Westport. She had 8 siblings who married local people so she had many cousins, nieces and nephews. She was deeply religious and very tied to her family. She was a nurse.

Katherine, Basil and Eleanor Hall wrote in 1897 when they were young children. “Another notable character is Christiana (sic) Allen. She lives down a quiet little lane which she calls Thanksgiving Avenue. This name is very appropriate for Christiana because she seems to be always giving thanks.”
She was married to Joseph W. Binford, mariner and sailmaker, in 1852 but divorced in 1867 and took her maiden name. She had no children.

Christina lived right on the water in a house originally built by William Watkins in 1783, a scholar who came from England. That house later came into the mariner Elijah Robinson’s hands and Christina was living with him in the 1850 census. He was 64 and she was 27. Christina inherited the house from Elijah Robinson and that is where the Hall children saw her at the end of the long path Christina called Thanksgiving Avenue.

She died in Somerset on September 11, 1909. She had been living with Christopher A. Davis, her nephew, since 1907. She is buried at Beech Grove and has one of the most beautiful gravestones there. Her parents and other Allen family members are buried in the same plot.

Her will was filed on June 16, 1911 two years after her death. Taunton Docket 28525. There was much dispute over the will. She left money and goods to her family which she lists in detail, but she left the “homestead at Westport Point” to Louisa Hammond Palmer, her niece. Her nephew, Christopher Davis, expected to inherit the house. There was a final court settlement with Christopher Davis and he did not inherit the house.