Mr. Peyton Austin Allen was a pioneer citizen of Atlanta. He graduated from Atlanta University, and later from the Sorague Law School in Chicago, III.

In the early 1890s, Mr. Allen taught schools in Atlanta, where he was directly in touch with the common youth. He became principal of one of the city schools (name of school was not mentioned). It was during his labors here that he took up the study of law and passed the bar in 1887.

Attorney Allen began practicing law in 1898, and maintained an office at 78 1-2 Auburn Avenue, in Atlanta, Georgia. Over a period of twenty years he addressed himself to almost every line of legal practice for his people. He often worked hard without a fee, and gave the best of his talent and intellect to causes he believed were just, to the African American community.

Mr. Peyton Austin Allen was outstanding in civic duties, as well as in religious activities. He was a member of the First Congregational Church for more than thirty years. On Friday, November 13, 1936, an automobile struck Mr. Peyton Austin Allen. A white man named Mr. Emory Morgan took him to Grady Hospital. Shortly after, Mr. Allen died in the emergency clinic. He is survived by his wife Mrs. Willie Maude Allen, five daughters: Elsie, Muriel, Fannie, Julia and Willie; two sons, Edmund and George, and one sister, Mrs. Anna Murray, of Blackshear, Georgia.