William Allen (loyalist)

Infobox Celebrity
name = William Allen


caption =
birth_date = August 5 1704
birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
death_date = September 6 1780
death_place = Mount Airy, Pennsylvania
occupation = Merchant, Jurist
salary =
networth =
spouse = Margaret Hamilton
website =
footnotes =

William Allen (August 5 1704 – September 6 1780) was a wealthy merchant, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, and mayor of Philadelphia. At the time of the American Revolution, Allen was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Philadelphia. A loyalist, Allen agreed that the colonies should seek to redress their grievances with British Parliament through constitutional means, but he disapproved of the movement towards independence.De Lancey, Edward F. "Chief Justice William Allen." "The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography" 1877: 202-210.]

Life and career

Born in Philadelphia in 1704, Allen was the son of William Allen, Sr., a successful Philadelphia merchant of Scotch-Irish descent who had immigrated to America from Dungannon, County Tyrone, Ireland. The elder Allen had risen to prominence through close ties to William Penn, proprietor of Pennsylvania.Norman S. Cohen. "Allen, William". "American National Biography Online", February 2000.] As a youth, Allen spent much of his time in England. In 1720, he was admitted to the Middle Temple in London to study law, and later became a pensioner at Clare College, Cambridge.

Upon his father's death in 1725, Allen returned to Philadelphia to manage the family's business interests. In 1730, he purchased, at his own expense, the property on which the Pennsylvania State House, later known as Independence Hall, was to be erected. He was made mayor of the city of Philadelphia in 1735, and celebrated the opening of the nearly complete State House the following year by having a feast for all citizens and guests of the city—a celebration that was described as "the most grand, the most elegant entertainment that has been made in these parts of America."

In 1734, Allen married Margaret Hamilton, daughter of Andrew Hamilton, famed defense lawyer in the 1735 Zenger case, and brother of James Hamilton. William and Margaret had six children: John, Andrew, James, William, Anne, and Margaret. Like their father, Allen's sons became loyalists in the American Revolution.

Allen served as Chief Justice of the colony's Supreme Court from 1750 to 1774, at which time he resigned due to increasing tensions resulting from his loyalist beliefs and health concerns. He was succeeded by Benjamin Chew.

In 1760, encouraged by William Smith, Allen sponsored the young painter Benjamin West's trip to Italy, establishing a £100 line of credit on which West could rely and, in a letter of introduction in 1760, calling him "a young ingenious Painter of this City, who is desirous to improve himself in that Science, by visiting Florence & Rome." A year later Allen and his brother-in-law, the Governor James Hamilton, provided more money for West, who would turn out to be one of the century's most important painters and, from 1792 until his death in 1820, the president of Britain's Royal Academy. West referred to Allen as "the principal of my patrons." [William Allen to David Barclay & Sons (March 10, 1760)and William Allen to David Barclay & Sons (August 19, 1761), William Allen Letterbook, 113, 137-38, in Shippen Family Papers 1749-1860, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Benjamin West to William Allen (September 1, 1763), quoted in E. P. Richardson, "West’s Voyage to Italy, 1760, and William Allen," "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography" 102, no. 1 (January 1978): 3-26 (quotation, 24)]

Allen was a Freemason and a member of St. John's Lodge No. 1, "Moderns," Philadelphia, known as the Tun Tavern Lodge. He was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Pennsylvania, "Moderns" on June 24, 1731, and is recognized not only as the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, but also the youngest (he was 26 years old when installed). Allen served two terms as Grand Master, the first from 1731-32, the second from 1747-61. [ [http://www.pagrandlodge.org/gmaster/history/index.html The Past Grandmasters Gallery] - Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, accessed September 19, 2006]

A loyalist, he went in 1774 to England, where he published "The American Crisis: A Letter, Addressed by Permission of the Earl Gower, Lord President of the Council, on the present alarming Disturbances in the Colonies", which proposed a plan for restoring the American colonies to crown rule. Allen returned to Philadelphia in 1779, and died at Mount Airy, his mansion outside Philadelphia, the following year.

Legacy

Founding of Allentown, Pennsylvania

Allentown, Pennsylvania was laid out as Northampton Town in 1762 by Allen. The property was part of a convert|5000|acre|km2|sing=on plot Allen purchased in 1735 from his business partner Joseph Turner, who had acquired the land from Thomas Penn, son of William Penn. Allen hoped that Northampton Town would displace Easton as the seat of Northampton County and also become a commercial center due to its location along the Lehigh River and its proximity to Philadelphia. Allen gave the property to his son James in 1767. Three years later, in 1770, James built a summer residence, Trout Hall, in the new town, near the site of his father's former hunting lodge.Cite Journal | last = Roberts | first = Charles R. | title = William Allen, the Founder of Allentown, and His Descendants | journal = Proceedings of the Lehigh County Historical Society | issue = 1st | pages = 22–43 | publisher = Lehigh County Historical Society | location = Allentown, Pennsylvania | format = pdf | url = http://www.libraries.psu.edu/do/dbwholepdfs/30866700_whole.pdf | date = 1908 | accessdate = 2008-05-30] On March 18, 1811, the town was formally incorporated as a borough. On March 6, 1812, Lehigh County was formed from the western half of Northampton County, and Northampton Town was selected as the county seat. The town was officially renamed "Allentown" in 1838 after years of popular usage. Allentown was formally incorporated as a city on March 12, 1867.Cite Web | url = http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/counties/pdfs/Lehigh.pdf |title = Lehigh County - 4th class | accessdate = 2007-06-03 | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission ] Today, Allentown is the third largest city in Pennsylvania.

Allentown's William Allen High School, Pennsylvania's third largest public high schoolcite web| url=http://www.pde.state.pa.us/k12statistics/lib/k12statistics/0607PubEnrCtySchGra.xls | title=Pennsylvania Department of Education: 2006-2007 Public Enrollment by County, LEA, School, and Grade | accessdate=2007-11-11 ] , is named in his honor.

Mount Airy, Pennsylvania

Allen built a mansion and country estate on Germantown Avenue in 1750, and the area eventually took the estate's name, Mount Airy, as its own. [cite web| url=http://www.phila.gov/phils/Docs/otherinfo/pname2.htm | title=Philadelphia Neighborhoods and Place Names, L-P | accessdate=2006-11-06 ] The estate stood on what is today the campus of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Allens Lane, a street in Mount Airy, is also named in his honor.

References

External links

* [http://www.archives.upenn.edu/histy/features/1700s/people/allen_wm.html Brief biography and portrait] at the University of Pennsylvania.
* [http://cip.cornell.edu/DPubS/Repository/1.0/Disseminate/psu.ph/1113319690/body/pdf "William Allen, Provincial Man of Affairs", by Ruth Moser Kistler, "Pennsylvania History", Vol. 1, pp. 165-174, 1934]
* [http://www.csm.uwe.ac.uk/~rstephen/livingeaston/local_history/Penn/Penn_family_Index.html Penn Family History in Bucks County, PA]