The genealogy of Thomas ALLEN is confusing.
In his will of 1715 Thomas ALIN left the following bequests:
- One shilling to son Thomas, son John and daughter Ann CUMBERLIDG
- The remainder of his estate (worth £18) to sons Humphrey and William and daughter Esther ALIN, who were also his executors.
No baptismal record for John ALLEN has been found, but Thomas and Ann were born 1669-1671.
No baptismal records for Humphrey, William and Esther can be found with the surname ALLEN, but are under the surname JENEWAY with parents Thomas and Francis JENEWAY, which appears to be an earlier family. In total there were seven JENEWAY children: Esther, Humphrey and William II, who were mentioned, Frauncis and William I who died in infancy and Hugh and Thomas. It looks like Thomas JENEWAY married Anne CODEN in 1688 in Kimcote so if this is the right family it's odd he wasn't mentioned in the will, unless he only received the 1 shilling.
This isn't as simple as a surname alias though. Anna ALLEN was baptized in Mar 1669 in Misterton and William JENEWAY was baptized in Nov 1670 in Kimcote. This overlap suggests that these were initially different families (living 2 miles apart) which subsequently merged. Perhaps the widow Francis JENEWAY married the widower Thomas ALLEN (bringing the assets of her dead husband in Kimcote which were entailed to his children), and her children received their step-father's surname at that time. Unfortunately no marriage or license record has been found to confirm this theory.