Allin, James

Born: 1788-01-13 North Carolina

Died: 1869-05-05 Bloomington, Illinois

Alternate name: Allen

In 1798, Allin's family moved to Kentucky, and a year later to Indiana, where James married Catherine Livingston in 1817. In 1819, they moved to Illinois, settling first in Edwardsville and then Vandalia. In 1829, Allin moved north with a stock of goods, and he settled in the area of what became Bloomington, Illinois, and opened a store. Allin was one of the original settlers of Bloomington and worked to make it the seat of the newly formed McLean County. He served as the town's first postmaster and in 1836, he was elected to the Illinois Senate, where he served for two terms. In 1860, Allin was a merchant with real estate valued at $15,000 and personal property valued at $600.

E. Duis, The Good Old Times in McLean County, Illinois (Bloomington, IL: Leader, 1874), 212-15; Portrait and Biographical Album of McLean County, Ill. (Chicago: Chapman Brothers, 1887), 399-400; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 2, Bloomington, McLean County, IL, 161; Gravestone, Evergreen Memorial Cemetery, Bloomington, IL.