"I was a peasant from Preussen in The Holy Roman Empire. My name was Friedrich Otto. It feels so strange saying that name, now. I haven't said it in forever, really. I lived with my father and mother and younger sister, Bruna. She was two years younger than I was. We were Jewish, and studied our faith very seriously. Our culture, too, was a large part of our lives. Now, this was before... well, that, but antisemitism definitely existed. But, we lived on a farm, away from most people, so we were alright. I was always such a strong child. I worked on the farm until I was twenty-two. Then there was a dry spell and our crops were failing and we were all dehydrated. Somebody bought the land not too far from us. He and his family were all strong, muscular and blonde. I remember... His daughter was so beautiful. I admit, I was enamored. I didn't even know her name, but sometimes I would happen to see her go out into the fields and she... she was so beautiful. But their crops failed, too, and they blamed us! They thought we were at fault, that somehow, we were greedily stealing all the water. Of course, this was not true, for our crops were failing as well.
"One morning, I smelled smoke. I woke up with a start. This was not my mother or sister cooking breakfast, no, but this was fire. Before... Before I knew what even happened I was swallowed by the smoke and ash. I lived, though, managing to crawl away from the house fire. My family... they did not live. Not even my sister. Our house and barn were burnt to the ground. I couldn't take it. I couldn't take being without my family and being sick from the dust and ash still in my lungs. About a month after the fire, I killed myself. I strangled myself with my belt, as I had no other means of killing myself. And then... they called me a reaper and gave me a new name; Alan George Humphries. They taught me English and told me to train to be an officer for the London Shinigami Dispatch Society. And so I am."
This is obviously just my headcanons and interpretations, and in no way at all is fact. In fact, I don't think Alan even has a canon middle name, I just made one up.