ALLEN, Henry, founder of a sect, b. in Newport, R. I., 14 June, 1748 ; d. in Northampton, N. H., 2 Feb., 1784. In 1774 and succeeding years he made many converts in Nova Scotia to his peculiar mystical religious ideas. He believed that human souls are emanations from a single great spirit, and that the Bible is to be interpreted not literally, but in a spiritual sense. He published a book of hymns and several treatises and sermons. The Allenites became numerous under his eloquent preaching, but declined after his death.
ALLEN, Henry Watkins, soldier and statesman, b. in Prince Edward co., Va., 29 April, 1820;
d. in the city of Mexico, 22 April, 1860. His father,
a physician of note, removed to Lexington, Mo.,
while Henry was young. The latter, at his solicitation, was taken from the shop where he was employed and placed in Marion college, Mo., but, in
consequence of a dispute with his father, he ran
away and became a teacher in Grand Gulf, Miss.
Then he studied law, and was in successful practice
in 1842 when President Houston called for volunteers in the Texan war against Mexico. He raised a company, and acquitted himself well during the
campaign, then resumed his practice in Grand
Gulf, and was elected to the legislature in 1846.
He settled a few years later on an estate in West
Baton Rouge, and was elected to the Louisiana
legislature in 1853. A year later he went to Cambridge university to pursue a course of legal studies.
In 1859 he went to Europe with the intention of
taking part in the Italian struggle for independence, but arrived too late. He made a tour through Europe, the incidents of which are recounted in
"Travels of a Sugar Planter." He was elected to
the legislature during his absence, and on returning
took a prominent part in the business of that body.
He had been a whig in politics, but had joined the
democratic party when Buchanan was nominated
for president in 1856. When the civil war broke
out he volunteered in the confederate service, was
commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and was stationed
for some time at Ship island. He was subsequently
made colonel of the 4th Louisiana regiment, and
was appointed military governor of Jackson. He
fought gallantly at Shiloh, where he was wounded.
At Vicksburg he rendered important service in the
construction of fortifications, a part of the time
under fire. At the battle of Baton Rouge he commanded a brigade, where he was badly wounded in both legs by a shell. On his recovery he was commissioned a brigadier-general, in September, 1864,
and almost immediately afterv/ard was elected governor of Louisiana. He arranged to have the cotton tax to the confederate government paid in
kind, and opened a route by which cotton was exported through Texas to Mexico, and medicine,
clothing, and other articles introduced into the
state. These necessities were sold at moderate
prices and given to the poor. In the suppression
of the manufacture of liquor and other similar
measures Gov. Allen exercised dictatorial powers.
After the war he settled in Mexico and established
an English paper, the "Mexican Times." See
"Recollections of Henry W. Allen," by Sarah A.
Dorsev (New York, 1867).
ALLEN, Ira, soldier, b. in Cornwall, Conn., 21
April, 1751 ; d. in Philadelphia, Pa., 7 Jan., 1814.
He was a younger brother of Ethan Allen, and was
associated" with him in the dispute between New
York and New Hampshire over the land grants.
He was a member of the Vermont legislature in
1776-77. and also of the constitutional convention
of Vermont. He was the first secretary of the
state, then treasurer, and surveyor-general. During
the revolution he served in the militia and participated in the battle of Bennington. In 1780-81 he
was a commissioner to congress in behalf of Vermont, in opposition to the claims of adjoining
states. In 1789 he framed the memorial that
led to the organization of the university of Vermont. He was a delegate to the convention that
in 1792 ratified the constitution of the United
States. In 1795, having become senior major-general of the militia, he went to France and purchased arms, which he expected to sell to the state
of Vermont , but on his return voyage he was
seized and carried to England, where he was
charged with furnishing arms to the Irish rebels,
and litigation in the court of admiralty followed,
where, after eight years, a decision was finally rendered in his favor. He suffered imprisonment in France in 1798, and returned home to the United
States m 1801. He was the author of "The Natural and Political History of Vermont " (London, 1798), and also of "Statements Appended to the
Olive Branch" (1807).
ALLEN, Isaac, Canadian jurist, b. in 1741 ; d. in 1806. He was a loyalist officer of the revolution, who at the close of the war held the rank of colonel and commanded the 2d battalion of New Jersey volunteers. He was deported to New Brunswick with other tories, and obtained a grant of 2,000 acres above Fredericton. He was one of the first judges appointed in the province, having been
made an assistant justice in 1784. In a test case to determine the right to hold slaves, tried at Fredericton in 1800, he decided with Judge Saunders against the master, while the chief justice and another judge upheld the master's right. As a result of this trial, he received a challenge to a duel from an officer in the rangers. His grandson, John C. Allen, became chief justice of New Brunswick.
ALLEN, James, clergyman, b. in Roxbury,
Mass., in 1692; d. in Brookline, Mass., 18 Feb.,
1747. He was ordained in 1718 and became the
first minister of Brookline, remaining in that
charge until his death. His remarks concerning
the religious revival of 1743 drew upon him severe
animadversion. He published a Thanksgiving sermon (1722); a discourse on Providence (1727); a discourse entitled "The Doctrine of Merit Exploded, and Humility Recommended" (1727); a "Fast Sermon f)n the Earthquake" (1727) ; etc.
ALLEN, Joel Asaph, naturalist, b. in Springfield, Mass., 19 July, 1838. He studied first at the Wilbraham academy, and then at the Lawrence scientific school under Agassiz, where he devoted special attention to zoology, and was one of the assistants that accompanied Agassiz on the expedition to Brazil in 1865. He visited Florida in 1869, and the Rocky mountain region in 1871, with scientific exploring parties, and in 1873 was the chief of an expedition sent out by the Northern Pacific railroad. In 1870 he became assistant in ornithology at the museum of comparative zoology at Cambridge, and in 1871 received the Humboldt scholarship. Since 1885 he has been curator of the department of mammals and birds in the American museum of natural history. New York. In 1871 he was made a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences, and in 1876 a fellow of the national academy of sciences. He is also a member of the American association for the advancement of science, and of the American philosophical society. From 1883 to 1886 he was president of the American ornithologists' union. He is the author of numerous reports and scientific papers, among which are "On Geographical Variation in Color among North American Squirrels" (1874); "Notes on the
