Methodist preacher about 1782, and in 1798, at Philadelphia, organized the first church for colored people in the United States. He was ordained in the Methodist ministry in 1799, and was elected bishop of the newly formed African Methodist Episcopal church in 1810.
ALLEN, Richard L., agricultural writer, b. in Hampton co., Mass., in October, 1803; d. in Stockholm,
Sweden, 22 Sept., 1869. He abandoned
mercantile business in New York and followed
literary pursuits, then studied law in Baltimore, but
was obliged to seek a more active life on account
of his health, and settled on a farm on Niagara
river in 1832. In 1842 he started, in partnership
with his brother, the “American Agriculturist.”
In 1856 the brothers opened a warehouse for
supplying improved agricultural implements. He
published “History and Description of Domestic
Animals” (New York, 1848); “The American
Farm Book” (1849); a valuable treatise on
“The Diseases of Domestic Animals” (1848); “American Agriculture”; and “American Farmer's Muck-Book.”
ALLEN, Robert, soldier, b. in Augusta co.,
Va., in 1777 ; d. near Carthage, Tenn., 19 Aug.,
1844. He was a merchant, and after settling in
Carthage about 1804 became clerk of the county
court. In the war of 1812 he served with distinction as a colonel under Jackson. From 1819 till
1827 he was a' member of congress.
ALLEN, Robert, soldier, b. in Ohio about 1815 ;
d. in Geneva, Switzerland, 6 Aug., 1886. He was
graduated at West Point in 1836, and was 2d lieutenant in the Seminole war. In the Mexican war
he served on the march to Monterey as assistant
quartermaster, and was present at the siege of
Vera Cruz. For gallant conduct at the battle of
Cerro Gordo he received the brevet rank of major.
He was present at the battles of Contreras and
Churubusco, and at the taking of Mexico. After
the Mexican war he was chief quartermaster of the
Pacific division, and, after the breaking out of the
civil war, of the department of Missouri, with
headquarters at St. Louis, where he had charge of
supplies and transportation for the various armies
in the Mississippi valley. He was promoted major
in 1861, colonel in 1862, brigadier-general of volunteers in 1863, and was brevetted brigadier-general
in the regular army in 1864. From November,
1863, to 1866 he was chief quartermaster of the
Mississippi valley, with headquarters at Louisville,
and furnished transportation and supplies to Gen.
Sherman's command for the march across the
country to join Gen. Grant at Chattanooga, and he
fitted out the Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina expeditions. He received the brevet rank of
major-general in 1865. After the war he served
again as chief quartermaster of the Pacific, and
was retired 21 March, 1878.
ALLEN, Samuel, patentee of New Hampshire, b. in England in 1636; d. in Newcastle, N. H., 5 May, 1705. He was a London merchant, and in
1091 purchased from the heirs of John Mason their grant of land from the English crown. The purchase included Portsmouth and Dover, and extended sixty miles from the sea-coast. The original settlers, whose titles had not been disputed by the Mason heirs, resisted Allen's claim, as governor and proprietor, under the royal commission, and
litigation followed, before the conclusion of which
Mr. Allen died, leaving his heirs a legacy of suits,
which were carried through the courts with all
sorts of incidental chicanery—records destroyed,
forged Indian deeds, and the like—until in 1715,
on the death of his son Thomas, the heirs abandoned their claim in despair. Mr. Allen's personal character is recorded as above reproach. See Allen vs. Waldron, Belknap's New Hampshire, and Savage's Winthroji, New Hampshire collections.
ALLEN, Solomon, preacher, b. in Northampton, Mass., 23 Feb., 1751; d. in New York, 28 Jan., 1821. He was a brother of Moses and Thomas Allen, who were chaplains in the revolutionary army, while he fought as a soldier and rose to the rank of major. As lieutenant he commanded the guard that took Major Andre to West Point. After the war he was engaged in suppressing Shays's rebellion. At the age of forty he became a religious convert, and at fifty began the life of a missionary preacher. For twenty years he circulated among the new settlements of western New York, where he was greatly respected for his zealous devotion and self-sacrifice. A "Sketch of the Last Hours of Solomon Allen" was written by J. N. Danforth.
ALLEN, Thomas, clergyman, b. in Northampton, Mass., 17 Jan., 1743; d. in Pittsfield, Mass., 11 Feb., 1810. He was a brother of Moses Allen, was graduated at Harvard in 1762, and became the first "minister of Pittsfield, where he was ordained in 1764. He went as a volunteer chaplain twice during the revolutionary war, and participated as a combatant in the battle of Bennington. His ministry at Pittsfield lasted forty-six years.
ALLEN, Timothy Field, physician, b. in Westminster, Vt., 24 April, 1837. He was graduated at Amherst college in 1858 and at the medical school of the university of the city of New York in 1861. From 1861 to 1863 he practised in Brooklyn, N. Y., and during 1802 was acting assistant surgeon in the U. S. army. Since 1863 he has followed his profession in New York. He became professor of materia medica in the New York Homoeopathic medical college in 1867, and since 1882 has been its dean. He is also surgeon to the New York ophthalmic hospital. He has published "Encvclopædia of Materia Medica" (10 vols., New York. 1874-'79); "Index" to the same (1881); "Ophthalmic Therapeutics" (1878), and "Characeæ Americanæ" (Boston, 1880).
ALLEN, William, jurist, b. in Philadelphia about 1710; d. in England in September, 1780. He succeeded his father-in-law, Andrew Hamilton,
as recorder of Philadelphia in 1741, and from 1750
to 1774 he was chief justice of Pennsylvania. Benjamin West was aided by him, and Dr. Franklin was enabled to establish the college of Philadelphia with his cooperation. He was a loyalist, and in 1774 went to England, where he published "The American Crisis," setting forth a plan for restoring the dependence of the American colonies. His son Andrew became attorney-general, and was afterward a member of congress and of the committee of safety, but deserted the national cause in 1776. Williani, another son, served as lieutenant-colonel
in the continental army, but raised a regiment of
loyalists in 1778.
ALLEN, William, clergyman and author, b. in Pittsfield, Mass., 2 Jan.. 1784; d. in Northampton, Mass., 16 July, 1868. He was a son of the Rev. Thomas Allen, and was graduated at Harvard in 1802, and licensed to preach in 1804. He preached
in western New York for some time, and was then elected a regent and assistant librarian of Harvard college. At Cambridge he prepared the first edition of the "American Biographical and Historical Dictionary," containing sketches of about 700 Americans (1809). A second edition was printed in 1832 with 1,800 names, and a third in Boston in 1857 containing nearly 7,000. In 1807 he wrote-
