Early Life
Eliza Allen was born January 27, 1826, to one of the most prominent families in Maine and enjoyed a comfortable early life on the family's estate. Eliza was well-educated and enjoyed reading. A Canadian family by the name of Billings moved into the area and he and his oldest son, William, worked as day-laborers to support a large family. William Billings often worked for Eliza's father. The two met secretly, and Eliza and William fell in love. Eliza promised herself to William, though she knew her parents would not approve. When they found out, her parents threatened to disinherit her and throw her out of their home.
William decided the Mexican-American War afforded him an opportunity to better himself in the eyes of his fiance's parents and volunteered for the U.S. Army. Eliza, who says in her autobiography that she had read about Deborah Sampson in the American Revolution and Lucy Brewer in the War of 1812, determined that she would follow him and volunteered herself under the alias George Mead the next day.
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