Allen, William

Born: 1803-12-XX Edenton, North Carolina

Died: 1879-07-11 Ross County, Ohio

William Allen moved from his native state to Lynchburg, Virginia and attended private schools. He moved to Chillicothe, Ohio in 1819, and attended Chillicothe Academy. He studied law, earned admittance to the Ohio bar in 1827, and started a practice in Chillicothe. Allen won election, as a Jacksonian, to the U.S. House of Representatives, serving from 1833 to 1834. He ran unsuccessfully for reelection. Allen secured a seat on the Democratic ticket to the U.S. Senate in 1837, serving until 1849. Allen married Effie McArthur Coons in 1840, and they had one daughter. Allen retired to his private estate, "Fruit Hill," near Chillicothe and engaged in farming and stock raising.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 571; Gravestone, Grandview Cemetery, Chillicothe, OH; Jean H. Baker, "Allen, William," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 1:345-46.