History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 76

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158

USA > Pennsylvania > Lehigh County > History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I > Part 76

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In business, Allen was the partner of Joseph Turner, the councillor, and the profits from com- mercial enterprise, with the money which Allen and his wife inherited and the advance in value of land in which he had invested, made him at the death of his father-in-law, one of the rich men, and in after years, notwithstanding his charities, perhaps the richest man in Pennsyl- vania. He left the Assembly in 1739, thinking with Hamilton, that no important questions were likely soon to present themselves.

Allen often acted as judge of the Orphans' Court and Common Pleas, and continued in the important judicial office of recorder of the city until October 2, 1750, when having been ap- pointed chief justice of the Supreme Court of the province, he resigned the recordership as incompatible with his new duties. He was the only chief justice before the Revolution who was a native of Pennsylvania. For nearly a quarter of a century he presided over the court, says Edward F. DeLancey, in his sketch ( Penna. Mag. Vol. I, p. 202), "with a dignity, learning and impartiality and intellectual force, equalled by few and exceeded by none of those great jur- ists, who have ever adorned the ermine of Penn- sylvania and made immortal the renown of her supreme judiciary. In the Supreme Court chamber is now preserved with care, the very bench upon which he sat, when before him pleaded the gifted fathers of that illustrious bar "

At the same time he continued in business and from 1756 until the Revolution was a represent- ative from Cumberland county in the assembly. His city residence was on King (now Water) street, adjoining his wharf and stores, the prop- erty being about seventy-six feet in breadth and his stables and coach house being across the street and on the east side of Front. About 1750, he established his country seat at "Mt. Airy," a mansion with forty-seven acres beyond German- town, since owned by the late James Gowan, where the Lutheran Seminary is now located.

Although a politician often leading a faction greedy for office, Allen was throughout life a man of large public spirit, thinking of the needs of the colony, giving his influence, his time and his pecuniary aid for its advancement. He was a large contributor to the Pennsylvania Hospital, to the college of which he was one of the original

399

ALLENTOWN FROM 1762 TO 1811.

trustees, and to the expedition in search of the North West Passage.

Governor Thomas, writing to the Bishop of Exeter, on the 23d of April, 1748, relative to some funds the bishop had raised to aid the German Palatines, says, "If I might be permit- ted to advise, the money raised for this purpose should be lodged in a safe hand in London, sub- ject to the draft of Mr. Wm. Allen, a con- siderable merchant, and a very worthy honest gentleman of Philadelphia, that he might see it regularly apply'd to the uses intended."

that he painted the picture to preserve its re- membrance, and presented it to the governor, saying as he did so, "that he had never executed a better painting." These facts were told Mr. E. F. DeLancey by Mr. John Penn Allen, the governor's nephew, one of the twin sons of Andrew Allen, when showing him the picture at his home in London in 1867.

Besides the money for the Gouldney mort- gage and the purchase of the State House grounds, Allen advanced on one occasion a good part of the tax payable by the Proprietaries under

CHIEF JUSTICE WILLIAM ALLEN, FOUNDER OF ALLENTOWN.

Allen also assisted Benjamin West, the paint- er, in his early struggles. There is still pre- served, among the chief justice's descendants in England, a splendid picture by West, of a fam- ily fete in the grounds of Governor John Penn's magnificent seat of "Lansdowne," " upon the Schuylkill, which contains portraits of the gov- ernor and his wife, Ann, the eldest daughter of Allen, of all the Allen family, and of West him- self. The latter was present on the occasion, and the beautiful, joyous scene so impressed him,

a bill proposed for raising revenue, there being a deadlock between the lieutenant governor and the Assembly, the former pressing for money for military uses and not feeling free to consent to a law which taxed the Proprietary estates, and the Assembly refusing to vote the means of defence unless the taxation were agreed to. The gentlemen of Philadelphia made up the sum which it was estimated would have been due from the Proprietaries and the Assembly passed the necessary money bills.

400

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Samuel Foulke, in his diary, tells us that when Sir William Johnson's conduct in connection with the Indian treaty of 1762 was criticised in the assembly, "Ye Judge bellowed forth such a torrent of obstreperous jargon as might have been heard in a still morning to ye Jersey shore in vindication of Sir William's conduct, in which combat he was extremely chafed, and his lungs so exhausted that he left the house and appeared no more this year."

Nevertheless in the Assembly and in the City corporation, Allen was active not merely in carrying out the views of a party, but in pro- moting objects of general utility; and as Chief Justice, Mr. DeLancey tells us, he gave his services gratuituously, receiving his salary (£120 yearly) only to appropriate it to charities.

During his visit to England in 1763, he achieved a victory for all the American colonies in regard to the bill in Parliament for taxing them. A letter from London to the Pennsyl- vania Gazette, dated March 24, 1764, says, "The 15th Resolution relating to the Stamp Duty, will certainly pass next session, unless the Americans offer a more certain duty. Had not William Allen, Esq., been here and indefatigable in opposing it, and happily having made ac- quaintance with the first Personages in the King- dom and the greatest part of the House of Com- mons, it would inevitably have passed this Ses- sion."

With other prominent citizens and followed by his three eldest sons, Allen joined the Amer- ican Philosophical Association soon after its re- suscitation.

He was a great friend of Benjamin West, but a strong hater of Benjamin Franklin, and after the latter attained celebrity, spoke of him as "that Goliath." He charged him with playing double on the stamp act while in England. It was natural antipathy; Allen belonged to the wealthy, office-holding coterie, whom Franklin had supplanted in public favor; Allen in time became the father-in-law of Penn; Franklin the leader of the populace; Allen was a merchant prince inclined to nepotism and exclusive; Franklin was a satirist and a leveller. In the contention preceding the Revolution War, Allen his family, and his friends sided with the Col- onies; and, in October, 1775, he went so far as to donate a quantity of cannon shot to the Coun- cil of Safety, which body "returned thanks for his generous donation"; but he was anxious to maintain union with Great Britain, and labored as a member of the Assembly for that end.

In 1774 he published a pamphlet of seventy- two pages in London, England. A copy of this very rare pamphlet is in the Congressional Li-

brary, and the title-page reads as follows: "The American Crisis: A Letter, addressed by per- mission to the Earl Gower, Lord President of the Council, etc., etc., on the present alarming Disturbances in the Colonies Wherein various important Points, relative to Plantation Affairs are brought into discussion; as well as several Persons adverted to of the most distinguished characters, and an Idea is offered towards a com- plete Plan for. restoring the Dependency of America upon Great Britain to a state of Perfec- tion. By William Allen, Esq., London: Print- ed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1774.'

In 1897 Mr. L. Burd Walker published copies of and extracts from letters of Allen taken from his letter book which contains copies of 187 let- ters from 1753 to 1770. This book fell into the hands of Edward Shippen, later became the property of Edward Burd, from whom it de- scended to Mr. Walker. We quote further on from this book, and only mention now two en- tries, one, on December 3, 1761, when he writes that he had "returned from the Back Country where I had been trying some criminals," and the other on June 29, 1762, when he says, "At Easton at an Indian treaty, and have a smart fit of gout."

He resigned the Chief Justiceship in 1774. He was in his seat in the Assembly in the month of June, 1776, when, Bancroft says, "John Dickin- son promised him before the house that notwith- standing the recall of the instructions to that effect, he and his colleagues in Congress would continue to vote against Independence." After the Fourth of July, Allen seems to have kept quiet, and he may have been out of town when "disaffection" was taken note of by the new government.

E. F. DeLancey says that not long before his death he went to England. He may have gone abroad in 1776, and returned during the British occupation of Philadelphia. He was in the city on October 10, 1778, when a pass was granted to his daughter Mrs. DeLancey to visit him there with her small children. His will was dated April 26, 1769, and witnessed by Edward Shippen, Jr., the councillor, and Townsend White and Nathaniel Allen. In view of the death of his sons, John and James, and in order to protect his property from the operation of the attainder of his other sons, he executed in the presence of Townsend White, John White, and Blair McClenachen a codicil bearing date De- cember 1, 1779, in which he devised John's, James', and Andrew's shares to their respective children, and William's share to James Hamil- ton absolutely. He moreover freed all his slaves.

In the early part of 1780, the American army

401

ALLENTOWN FROM 1762 TO 1811.

needing horses, those of the "disaffected" were seized first and Allen lost four. On June 8 following, "for divers good causes and consid- erations," he deeded to Edward Shippen, Jr., and Tench Coxe, all his messuages and lots within the city square bounded by Arch, Sassafras, Sec- ond and Third streets, reserving to himself an estate for life.

It is frequently stated that Chief Justice Allen died in England, but recently facts have come to light which prove that he died at his country seat at Mt. Airy. This is proven by a note occurring in the "History of Bethlehem," by Bishop J. M. Levering (1903), which quotes the following extract from a letter written by Rev. Daniel Sydrich, the Moravian pastor in Phila- delphia, to Bishop Nathaniel Seidel, of Bethle- hem, September 12, 1780: "Wednesday, the 6th inst., good old William Allen departed this life quite unexpectedly at his country seat Airy Hill (Mt. Airy) and his body was buried here the next day."

From the accounts of David Evans, cabinet- maker, of Philadelphia, from 1774 to 1811. we find under date of September 7, 1780, "Est. Wm. Allen, late Chief Justice, making his cof- fin of mahogany with plate, horse hire and at- tendance on the corpse from Mount Airy, £13."

He died on September 6, 1780 (Tilghman's Estate, 5 Wh. 44). On the 10th, Jasper Yeates, writing from Lancaster to Col. Burd, says, "By a letter received from Mr. Parr in Philadelphia we have advice that old Mr. Allen is gone to his long home. Poor gentleman. He is at length happily removed from all his troubles."

OWill Allen SIGNATURE OF WILLIAM ALLEN.

On the 16th of the month his will and codicil were proved in Philadelphia by the oaths of all the witnesses except Nathaniel Allen, who was deceased.

William Allen had four sons and two daugh- ters who grew to maturity :

John Allen, born about March, 1739.

Andrew Allen, born about June, 1740.

James Allen, born about 1742.

Anne Allen, who married John Penn.

William Allen, born about 1751.

Margaret Allen, who married James De- Lancey.

John Allen, the eldest son, was a student at the College of Philadelphia, which he entered May 25, 1755; began the study of law under Tench Francis at Philadelphia, but finished at

the Temple, in London. He was elected a com- mon councilman of Philadelphia at the begin- ning of the Revolution; was a member of the Committee of Inspection and Observation for the city and Liberties; and was a delegate to the Provincial Convention of New Jersey in 1776, but was opposed to Independence. In De- cember, 1776, he put himself under the pro- tection of the British army under Gen. Howe. The act of confiscation of 1778 required him to surrender himself for trial for high treason be- fore the 20th of April following. His death February 23, 1778, before the act was passed, saved his estates. He was married in New York, April 6, 1775, to Mary, daughter of David Johnston, of New York. His children were William and John, twins, born in 1776. John Allen lived near Red Hook, N. Y., and died in 1809. The elder, William, died in 1850. He married a Miss Verplanck, and lived at Fishkill Point, Hyde Park, N. Y. Hon. Francis A. Channing, M. P., of 40 Eaton Place, London, England, is his grandson.

Andrew Allen, the second son, was born in June, 1740. He was educated at the College of Philadelphia, since become the University of Pennsylvania, which he entered May 25, 1755, and from which he graduated in 1759 with his brother James, William Paca, of Maryland, aft- erwards a Signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence, Samuel Powel, afterward Mayor of Philadelphia, and some six others, the second class which proceeded from the institution. He then studied law under the direction of Benja- min Chew, at the time attorney general, and about July, 1761, went abroad to finish his edu- cation at the Temple.

Returning home almost exceptionally well ed- ucated, Andrew at once took the position in the community placed at his hand by the social and political influence of his father. He was admit- ted to practice in the Supreme Court, April 20, 1765. The corporation of Philadelphia chose him as a common councilman in October, 1768. On the resignation of Mr. Chew, he was ap- pointed attorney general of the Province and held that office until the Revolution, about seven years. He was invited to a seat in the Provincial Council by his brother-in-law, John Penn, qual- ifying December 24, 1770.

In May, 1774, he was sent by the council with James Tilghman to Virginia to induce the gov- ernor of that colony to unite in a petition to the King for a settlement of the boundaries. He was appointed recorder of deeds of Philadelphia, June 25, 1774, serving until 1776.

About this time, the dispute with Great Brit- ain on the subject of taxing the colonies became

402

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

the all absorbing topic, and Allen was in uni- son with the popular feeling to prepare for re- sistance.

He was one of the founders of First Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry. On November 2, 1774, some twenty-eight citizens, who, it is said, had often met for fox hunting, formed them- selves into this company of Light Horse. They were all men of substantial means, who had something at stake in the fate of their country, and who needed not pay to keep them in the field. Some of them were representatives of the elite, and others afterwards attained such prom- inence in public affairs as shed lustre on the organization; but at that time Andrew Allen was the most distinguished man among them.

The officers first chosen were: Captain, Ab- raham Markoe, (formerly of the Danish Island of St. Croix) ; Ist lieutenant, Andrew Allen ; 2d lieutenant, Samuel Morris (previously sher- iff of Philadelphia county) ; cornet, James Mease, etc. The company after serving at its own expense throughout the war which ensued has since maintained perpetual succession and is now commonly known as the Ist City Troop.

Allen may be presumed to have favored the compromise suggested early in 1775 by the Brit- ish House of Commons; viz., any colony to vote a proper supply and in consideration to be ex- cepted from each act of Parliament taxing Amer- ica; for he was present at the meeting of the Provincial Council which commended it to the favor of the assembly. This compromise was not accepted; being addressed to the colonies sep- arately, instead of through Congress, it asked them to desert each other. It was, probably, however, Allen's influence as much as John Penn's incapacity and love of quiet, which kept the Penn government from taking a forcible stand against the Whigs.

Allen was one of the Committee of Safety ap- pointed by the Assembly, June 30, 1775, for the defence of the Province; and he was appointed one of the delegates to the Continental Con- gress. When, however, after active service on the Committee and in Congress, he saw that the latter body was only making ready to declare Independence, he withdrew from the cause. He resigned from the Troop in April, 1776, and after June 14, 1776, no longer attended the meetings of Congress, although had he been present on the Ist and 2d of July, he could have prevented the vote of Pennsylvania being given for Independence. His last public office was burgess from Philadelphia to the assembly, which he was chosen in May, 1776, running as a Moderate, or one in favor of reconciliation with England. There were four to be chosen,

and the vote stood: Samuel Howell, 941, An- drew Allen, 923, George Clymer, 923, Alex- ander Wilcocks, 921, Thomas Willing, 911, Frederick Kuhl, 904, Owen Biddle, 903, Daniel Roberdeau, 890. Clymer was the only one elect- ed of those wished for by the advanced Whigs.

These figures show how evenly divided was the populace on the question of independence. Its advocates, some of the voters having gone to war, could not get a majority over a good con- servative ticket, although Galloway's state- ment that not one-fifth of the people desired in- dependence is evidently wrong as to Philadelphia at least.

Christopher Marshall says in his diary: "I think it may be said with propriety that the Quakers, Papists, Church, Allen family, with all the Proprietary party, were never so happily united as at this election, notwithstanding the Friends' former protestation and declaration of never joining with that party since the club or knock down election of 1742. Oh, tell it not in Gath, or publish it in the streets of Askalon, how the testimony is trampled upon !"

After the Declaration of Independence, Allen attached himself to the British army and was with it at its entry into Philadelphia. In March, 1778, the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an Act of Attainder against him, in consequence of which much of his property was sold. The treaty of Peace prohibited any future confisca- tions, and provided that any persons could come to the United States and remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavors to obtain restitu- tion. Allen went to England about the close of the war, but visited Pennsylvania in 1792 and remained a few years. The treaty of 1794 with Great Britain provided that British sub- jects holding land in America, or American cit- izens holding land in England should with their heirs and assigns hold and dispose of the same as if natives, and that the United States make restitution for losses occasioned by the non-pay- ment of debts to British subjects contracted be- fore the Peace, to be ascertained by commission- ers to be appointed. He endeavored without success to collect the money paid to the state on his land contracts. He seems to have resided aft- erwards with his daughter, Mrs. Hammond.

He died (Gent. Mag.), March 7, 1825, in Montagu street, Portman Square, London, aged 85. He married, April 24, 1768, Sarah, eldest daughter of William Coxe, alderman of Phila- delphia, by his wife, Mary, daughter of Tench Francis, Esq., Attorney General of Pennsyl- vania. William Coxe was a son of Col. Daniel Coxe, Chief Justice of New Jersey.

403

ALLENTOWN FROM 1762 TO 1811.

Mrs. Allen was called "the beautiful Sally Coxe," in Philadelphia. Their children were:

Andrew, founder of the Anchor Club, in Phil- adelphia. British Consul in Boston. Died without issue at Clifton, near Bristol, England, December 3, 1850. He married Maria, daugh- ter of Charles Coxe, of Sydney.

Ann, who died unmarried.

Elizabeth, who died unmarried.

Margaret, who married May 20, 1793, in Philadelphia, George Hammond, the first Brit- ish Minister to the United States. He was for some time Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. He died in Portland Place, London, April 23, 1853, aged 90. Mrs. Hammond died December 8, 1838.

Maria, who died unmarried.

John Penn, born October 25, 1785. M. A. (Univ. Oxon.), died unmarried.

Thomas Dawson, born October 25, 1785. M. A. (Univ. Oxon.). Rector of North Cerney, Gloucester. Died without issue. Married Au- gust 26, 1840, Jane, widow of Rev. E. C. Henry, and daughter of E. H. Mortimer.

Anne Allen, daughter of William Allen, mar- ried May 31, 1766, John Penn, Lieutenant Gov- ernor of Pennsylvania, son of Richard and grand, son of William Penn. He was born in Phila- delphia in 1728, from which circumstance he was called the "American Penn." He was Gov- ernor of the Province from 1763 to 1771, and also from 1773 to the end of the Proprietary government in 1776. He continued in the coun- try during the Revolution, and, in 1777, having refused to sign a parole, he was confined by the Whigs at Fredericksburg, Va. Governor Penn died at the country seat of Andrew Allen, in Berks county, February 9, 1795.

William Allen, fourth son of William Allen, was born about 1751. He became a Lieutenant Colonel of a Pennsylvania regiment, January 4, 1776, and at the breaking out of the Revolu- tionary War served under St. Clair, but after the Declaration of Independence resigned his commission and joined the British. In 1778 he raised a company called the Pennsylvania Loyal- ists, and with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel was the commanding officer. Sabine's "Ameri- can Loyalists' says: "From the influence of his family and from his personal standing, he ex- pected to make rapid enlistments, but was dis- appointed. At the Siege of Pensacola, where one of the men who attempted to desert received the cruelest punishment, a shell was thrown into the door of the magazine as the men were re- ceiving powder, and forty-five of this regiment were killed and a number wounded. In 1782, and near the close of the contest, though still in

service, the Pennsylvania Loyalists were of but little consequence in point of numbers." He was very witty, affable, and of remarkably fine manners, and. as much a favorite with his of- ficers and men as he was in society. It was of him, and not of his father, the chief justice, after whom he was named, of whom it was said, when he resigned his command under Congress to that body, that he did so, "not because he was to- tally unfit for it, but because the Continental Congress presumed to declare the American states free and independent, without first asking the consent and obtaining the approbation of himself and wise family." He was included in the Act of Confiscation of March, 1778, and after the war lived in England. He died un- married, in London, July 2, 1838, aged 87 years.

Margaret Allen, daughter of William Allen, died at Tunbridge Wells, England, October 18, 1827. She married at Shrewsburg, N. J., Au- gust 19, 1771, James DeLancey. He was born in 1732; graduated at Cambridge, England ; was aide-de-camp to General Abercombie at Ticon- deroga; and represented New York city in the Colonial Assembly. He died at Bath, England, April 8, 1800. He was the leader of the "Con- servative or "DeLancey Party" in the Province down to the end of British rule. He was the eldest son of James DeLancey, chief justice and governor of New York, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Colonel Heathcote, of New York.

James Allen, the third son of William Allen, and the one in whom the residents of Allentown are most interested, was born about 1742. He entered the College of Philadelphia with his brother Andrew, May 25, 1755; graduated in 1759; studied law with Shippen, the Provincial Councillor ; and in July, 1761, went to London, England, to complete his law studies at the Tem- ple, where he remained until 1765. In his let- ter book, his father writes under date of July 20, 1761, to his agent in London that Andrew and James have gone to London to the Temple to study law; and that their expenses are not to ex- ceed £200 a year, and adds that "they are honest lads, and of more vivacity and higher spirits than John, and particularly Andrew, whose temper is rather too quick, of which I have frequently cautioned him." On September 26, 1764, he writes, "My sons' expenses much exceed any- thing I could have imagined."

It was a son of William Allen, and probably James, who accompanied Benjamin West, a pro- tege of his father's, to Italy in 1760, in one of Judge Allen's vessels. They landed at Leghorn, and thence went to Rome.

James was admitted to practice in the Su- preme Court, September 26, 1765; was elected

404

HISTORY OF LEHIGH COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

a common councilman of Philadelphia on October 6, 1767, and in May, 1776, was sent to the assembly from Northampton county, where he served with ability and courage. After the house adjourned he returned to his country seat in that county, where he lived in retirement a non-combatant. In 1768 he became a member of the American Philosophical Society.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Lehigh county, Pennsylvania and a genealogical and biographical record of its families, Vol. I, Part 76

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society Publication date: 1914 Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1158

Author: Roberts, Charles Rhoads; Stoudt, John Baer, 1878- joint comp; Krick, Thomas H., 1868- joint comp; Dietrich, William Joseph, 1875- joint comp; Lehigh County Historical Society
Publication date: 1914
Publisher: Allentown, Pa. : Lehigh Valley Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1158