Allen Isbell Mountain in Jackson County, Alabama (later taken over by the Belmont Coal Company) was named for him or his double first cousin.
Some say Allen Richardson Isbell.
Some say Allen Richard Isbell.
He had a brother James Richardson Isbell.
Possibly named for his grandmother's father, Alan Alexander Richardson.
Some family trees show his birthdate as Nov. 9, 1810 (as given on the new tombstone), others say 23 MAR 1825 (the birth date of his double-first cousin), and still others show 1 June 1827. The book ISBELL COUNTRY by Odessa Isbell says Nov. 9, 1827. His brother Elijah Miller Isbell's bible gives no dates but says Allen married Jane Williamson. Her name was Mary Jane Williamson, shown as M. Jane Williamson on their joint tombstone. This Allen Isbell is sometimes confused with his double first cousin Allen Isbell, son of James and Elizabeth (Birdwell) Isbell, born March 23, 1825, and some say married a Sarah Jane Williams. The bible of Elijah Miller Isbell, son of Levi and Sarah Birdwell Isbell, shows his brother Allen married Jane Williamson, and censuses show her as Mary J and Mary Jane.

Several references mention a second tombstone that read "James R. Isbell," but probably the same marker erected for his son Richard Jeff (Dick) Isbell who took his uncle's name, Allen's brother James Richardson Isbell. Allen's son Richard Jefford Isbell (or Richard Jefferson, per some) at the age of 14 took the name and identity of his uncle James R. Isbell when he joined the Alabama Infantry during the Civil War. That is the story told by the veteran, his widow and children later and accepted by veterans organizations.


The 1860 and 1870 censuses indicate a birth of 1823/1824. His parents married in 1816. Allen Isbell moved to Mt. Enterprise, Texas, with his uncle Allen Birdwell and grandfather John Birdwell. The Isbell Chapel was named for this family and shown on later maps as Isabell Chapel.