J. K. Allen is listed in the 1880 Census as a sawmill owner, employing many people in a large mill. He lived in Precinct 6 at Res. 884. He may have been in business with Sam Allen by 1882. A lumbermen's directory noted in 1880 that the firm of Noble & Allen an a sawmill near the tracks of the Houston East & West Texas, south of the Trinity River, in 1880.