USA > Pennsylvania > The provincial councillors of Pennsylvania : who held office between 1733-1776, and those earlier councillors who were some time chief magistrates of the province and their descendants > Part 23
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Issue (surname Kuhn) : Ellen Lyle, d. y.,
ELLEN, m. Manlius G. Evans of Phila., son of Cadwalader Evans,
Issue (surname Evans) :
Cadwalader, of New York, d. Jany. 1880, m. Angelina B. Corse,
Issue (surname Evans) : Lena, Edith,
Ellen Lyle, d. y.,
Ellen Lyle, m. Alfred T. Mahan, Capt. U. S. N., Issue (surname Mahan) : Helen Evans, Ellen Kuhn, Lyle Evans.
Rosalie, unm., Julia, d. y.,
Hartman Kuhn, now in Wyoming Territory,
ELIZABETH, d. y.,
ROSALIE, d. Dec. 20, 1841,
HARTMAN, grad. A. B. (U. of P.) and LL. B (Harv. 1852),
d. near Rome, Italy, Jany. 1870, m. Grace Carey of Boston, Issue (surname Kuhn) :
Hamilton,
ELIZABETH, m. George C. Morris, see Shippen,
SOPHIA, unm.,
JAMES HAMILTON, grad. A. B. (U. of P.) 1857, was First Lieut. in Pa. Vols., d. s. p. killed in battle 1862.
REBECCA HAMILTON, b. Nov. 7, 1783, dau. of Andrew and Abi- gail Hamilton, p. 137, d. Feb. 2, 1842, m. Nov. 28, 1809 Francis
-
140
Hamilton-O' Beirne branch.
Lewis O'Beirne, son of the Most Rev. Thomas Lewis O'Beirne, Lord Bp. of Meath. He d. July 7, 1840.
Issue (surname O'BEIRNE) :
THOMAS ORMSBY, Capt. 25th Regt. N. I. Bengal, d. in India Oct. 25, 1839 unm. s. p.,
JAMES HAMILTON, of Royal Navy, d. Aug. 19, 1869, m. Henrietta Frances
Issue (surname O'Beirne) :
Francis Stuart, m. Charlotte Stubbs,
Lewis Ormsby,
Armine James,
Emily Jane, m. Francis Henry Thomas, Capt. Bengal Inf.,
Annette May, d. y. Dec. 29, 1850,
Charles Burgoyne Wren,
William Henry De Lacy, m. Rose , Eveline Fanny Amelia,
REBECCA JANE, d. 1839, m. June, 1837 Armine Simcoe Henry Mountain, Lt. Col. 26th Regt. (Cameronians),
Issue (surname Mountain) : Jeannie, d. infant.
MARGARET HAMILTON, daughter of the Councillor, d. May 13, 1760. She m. Xt. Ch. Feb. 16, 1733-4 William Allen, son of Wil- liam Allen of Phila., merchant, who seems to have been a native of Ireland, as he mentions in his will his sister Catherine Cally living at Dungannon in Ireland and his uncle William Craige of the same place. William Allen the elder married about 1700 Mary, dau. of Thomas and Susanna Budd, and sister of Rose Budd who m. Joseph Shippen (see Shippen). William Allen's will, dated July 3, 1725, probat. Sep. 13, 1725, mentions only two children, although he had had two others, Thomas and James, baptized in the Presbyterian Church. The eldest surviving son, John, died, it seems, soon after his father and without issue, his mother, who d. Phila. Apr. 20, 1760, not men- tioning him in her will, but leaving everything to William except a few legacies to collateral relations &ct.
William Allen who married Margaret Hamilton was born Aug. 5, 1704, baptized Aug. 17 at the First Presbyterian Church in Phila. The positions which he obtained at a time when lawyers had become numerous in the colony should only have been given to men of legal
141
Hamilton-William Allen.
education. That he received this, has been conjectured from the direction in his father's will that £500 sterling be remitted to him in London for his expenses there. He was then 21, perhaps studying at the Temple. And Judge Huston in his work on Land Titles, speak- ing of Penn's mortgage of the Province to Gouldney for £6600, of which a deed of Apr. 30, 1724 recites that one-fourth then remained unpaid, tells us, p. 231, "I have heard more than once many years ago that Wm. Allen, a distinguished barrister in London and afterwards Chief Justice of Pennsylvania had furnished money which finally paid off this mortgage, and the books of the Land office show many grants of large tracts of land to him between the year 1733 and 1740." Allen never practised law for any length of time, but, returning to America before Sep. 21, 1726, the date of the merchants' and chief citizens' agreement to take the money of the Lower Counties at their face value, to which his signature appears, he engaged in trade. On Oct. 3, 1727, he was elected a Common Councilman of Phila., but, whether then in the city or not, did not attend until May 16, 1728, the third meeting afterwards. In 1731, he became member of the Assembly, serving until 1739. He joined Andrew Hamilton in the project of making the square on Chestnut Street between Fifth and Sixth the site of the State House, and advanced the money for the purchase of certain of the lots, taking title in his own name until the Province re-imbursed him. In October, 1735, he was chosen Mayor of the City ; and at the end of his term, the Hall of Assembly, just fin- ished, was opened with the collation customary from an out-going Mayor. The Pennsylvania Gazette of Sep. 30, 1736 says, "Thursday last William Allen Esq. Mayor of this city for the year past made a Feast for his citizens at the Statehouse, to which all the Strangers in Town of Note were also invited. Those who are Judges of such Things say That considering the Delicacy of the Viands & the Ex- cellency of the Wines, the great Number of Guests, and yet the Easi- ness and Order with which the whole was conducted, it was the most grand and the most elegant Entertainment that has been made in these Parts of America." In business, Allen was the partner of Joseph Turner the Councillor, and the profits from commercial enter- prise with the money which Allen and his wife inherited, and the ad- vance 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, not- withstanding his charities, perhaps the richest man in Pennsylvania. He left the Assembly in 1739, thinking with Hamilton that no im-
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Hamilton-William Allen.
portant questions were likely soon to present themselves. The war with Spain, however, followed, and the very important question of voting supplies presented itself. Allen became the head of the anti- Quaker party, contended with Norris for a seat in the Assembly, bringing on the " bloody election of 1742," and with difficulty clear- ing himself of responsibility for the riot (see sketch of Isaac Norris the younger), and, having failed before the people, held the City Cor- poration, of which he had been chosen Recorder on the death of Ham- ilton, to a policy that might strengthen the Governor in his struggle against Norris's friends in the Assembly.
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 Oct. 2, 1750, when, having been appointed 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 be- fore the Revolution who was a native of Pennsylvania, and the only one before or since excepting Shippen and Sharswood who has been a native of Philadelphia. For nearly a quarter of a century he pre- sided over the Court, says Edw. F. deLancey in his sketch (Pa. Mag. Hist. &ct., Vol. I, p. 202) " with a dignity, learning, impartiality, and intellectual force, equalled by few, and exceeded by none of those great jurists who have ever adorned the ermine of Pennsylvania and made immortal the renown of her supreme judiciary." At the same time he continued in business, and from 1756 until the Revolution was a representative from Cumberland County in the Assembly. His city residence was on King (now Water) Street adjoining his wharf and stores, the property being about 76 feet in breadth, and his stable 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 47 acres beyond Germantown, since owned by the late James Gowen. In 1765, being owner of 3370 acres in Northampton Co., he laid out the town of Northampton, afterwards called Allentown, Pa., conveying in 1767 the whole estate to his son James. Although a politician often leading a faction greedy for office, Allen was through- out 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 Hos- pital, to the College, of which he was one of the original trustees, and to the expedition in search of the North West Passage. Besides the money for the Gouldney mortgage and the purchase of the State
143
Hamilton-William Allen.
House ground, he advanced on one occasion a good part of the tax payable by the Proprietaries under a bill proposed for raising revenue, there being a dead-lock between the Lieut .- Governor and the Assem- bly, 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 such 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.
Samuel Foulke, in his Diary, tells us that when Sir William John- son's conduct in connection with the Indian treaty of 1762 was criti- cised 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 ye house and appeared no more this year." Nevertheless in the Assem- bly and in the City Corporation, Allen was active, not merely in car- rying out the views of a party, but in promoting objects of general utility ; and as Chief Justice, Mr. deLancey tells us, he gave his services gratuituously, receiving his salary 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 Pennsylvania Gazette, dated Mch. 24, 1764, says : "The 15th Resolution relating to the Stamp Duty, will certainly pass next Sessions, unless the Americans offer a more certain duty. Had not William Allen, Esq : been here and indefatigable in opposing it, and happily having made Acquaintance with the first Personages in the Kingdom and the greatest part of the House of Commons, it would inevitably have passed this Session." With other prominent citizens, and followed by his three eldest sons, Allen joined the American Philosophical Society soon after its resuscitation. He was a great friend of Benjamin West, but a strong hater of Ben- jamin 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 a natural antipathy : Allen be- longed to the wealthy, office-holding coterie, whom Franklin had sup- planted 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 Revolutionary War,
144
Hamilton-William Allen.
Allen, his family, and his friends sided with the Colonies ; and he went so far as to donate cannon shot to the Council of Safety ; but he was anxious to maintain union with Great Britain, and labored as member of Assembly for that end. He resigned the Chief Justice- ship in 1774. He was in his seat in the Assembly in the month of June, 1776, when, Bancroft says, John Dickinson (see Norris) pro- mised him before the House that notwithstanding 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 notice of by the new government. E. F. de Lancey says that not long before his death he went to Eng- land. 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. de Lancey to visit him there with her small children. His will was dated Apr. 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 presence of Townsend White, John White, and Blair McClenachan a codicil bearing date Dec. 1, 1779, by which he devised John's James's and Andrew's shares to their respective children, and William's share to. James Hamilton absolutely. He moreover freed all his slaves. In the early part of 1780, the American army needing horses, those of the " disaffected " were seized first, and Allen lost four. On June 8th fol- lowing, "for divers good causes and considerations" he deeded to Edward Shippen Jr. and Tench Coxe all his messuages and lots within the city square bounded by Arch, Sassafras, Second, and Third Streets, reserving to himself an estate for life.
It has been said that Chief Justice Allen died in London, but he probably died in Philadelphia or at Mt. Airy, from the early date at- which his death was known to his friends in the city. He died on Sep. 6, 1780 (Tilghman's Estate, 5 Wh. 44). On the 10th, Jasper- Yeates, writing from Lancaster to Col. Burd, says, " By a letter re- ceived 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. His reverse of fortune is a. noble lesson of morality in the most prosperous seasons of life." On the 16th of the month, his will and codicil were proved in Philadel --
145
Hamilton-Allen branch.
phia by the oaths of all the witnesses except Nathaniel Allen, who was deceased.
Issue of CH. JUSTICE WILLIAM and MARGARET ALLEN :
several d. y., JOHN, m. Mary Johnston, see below,
ANDREW, b. June, 1740, also Councillor, see p. 147,
JAMES, m. Elizabeth Lawrence, see p. 151,
WILLIAM, b. about 1751, became Lieut. Col. of a Pennsyl- vania Regiment at the breaking out of the Revolutionary War, serving under St. Clair, but after the Declaration of Independence resigned his commission, and joined the Brit- ish,-In 1778, he raised a corps called the Pennsylvania Loyalists, and, with the rank of Lieut .- Colonel, was the commanding officer. Sabine's American Loyalists says, "From the influence of his family and from his own per- sonal standing, he expected to make rapid enlistments, but was disappointed. At the siege of Pensacola," where one of the men who attempted to desert received the cruelest pun- ishment, " a shell was thrown into the door of the magazine as the men were receiving 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 included in the Act of Confis- cation of March, 1778 ; and after the War lived in England, -d. unm. in London July 2, 1838 aged 87 years,
ANNE, d. s. p., m. May 31, 1766 John Penn the Councillor, MARGARET, m. James de Lancey, see p. 153.
JOHN ALLEN, as above, began the study of law under Tench Francis at Philadelphia, but finished at the Temple. He was elected a Common Councilman of the City. At the beginning of the Revo- lution, he was member of the Committee of Inspection and Obser- vation for the City and Liberties, and was a delegate to the Provin- cial Convention of New Jersey in 1776, but was opposed to Independ- ence. In December, 1776, he put himself under the protection of the British army under Gen. Howe. The Act of Confiscation of 1778 required him to surrender himself for trial for high treason before the 20th of April following. His death, in Feb., 1778, before the Act was passed, saved his estates. He m. New York Apr. 6, 1775, Mary, dau. of David Johnston of New York.
K
146
Hamilton-Allen branch.
Issue (surname ALLEN) :
JOHN, b. Jany. 14, 1776 (?), m. Christina L. Jones, see below, WILLIAM, b. Jany. 14, 1776, m. Maria C. Verplanck, see below.
JOHN ALLEN, b. Phila., Jany. 14, 1776 (?), as above, was of Dutch- ess Co., N. Y., d. Feb. 18, 1809, m. Sep. 7, 1802 Christina Livingston Jones, grddau. of Philip Livingston the Signer, she d. Aug., 1812.
Issue (surname ALLEN) :
MARY, b. July 3, 1803, d. May 1, 1865, m. Feb. 19, 1829 Richard Tylden Auchmuty,
Issue (surname Auchmuty) : Margaret Allen, b. 1829, m. Richard Sands Tucker, Issue (surname Tucker) : Mary Auchmuty, b. Mch. 24, 1859, Allen, b. June 29, 1869, Samuel Auchmuty, b. Apr. 29, 1868,
Richard Tylden, b. 1831, m. Ellen Schermerhorn,
Mary Christina, b. Sep. 17, 1833, m. Barnard Mackay Issue (surname Mackay) : Archibald Kennedy Kearney, b. Nov. 3, 1866, Margaret Auchmuty, b. Nov. 10, 1872, Richard Tylden, b. Nov. 3, 1874, Henrietta Isabella, b. Aug. 21, 1839, d. April 1, 1842, MARGARET, b. Nov. 16, 1804, d. Dec. 3, 1826, m. Oct. 28, 1824 Charles Ludlow Livingston,
Issue (surname Livingston) :
Catherine Clinton, b. Oct. 10, 1825, m. Walter Langdon.
WILLIAM ALLEN, b. Phila., Jany. 14, 1776, as above, resided at Hyde Park, Dutchess Co., N. Y., and afterwards in Ulster Co., d. Rondout Mch. 10, 1850, m. Maria Cornelia Verplanck.
Issue (surname ALLEN) :
several d. s. p.,
FRANCES ANNE, d. July 12, 1835, m. Oct. 16, 1832 Rev. Jared Sparks, D. D. (Harv.), Pastor of " First Independent Church of Baltimore" (Unitarian), Chaplain to U. S. Ho. of Reps., Pres. of Harvard University, editor of Writings of Washington &ct.,
Issue (surname Sparks) :
Maria Verplanck, d. y. Cambridge Jany. 3, 1846, JULIA MARIA, m. Rev. William H. Channing, who succeeded Martineau as Pastor of the Hope Street (Unitarian) Chapel in Liverpool, England,
Issue (surname Channing) :
Francis Allston, in England, m. - Bryant of Boston.
147
Hamilton-Andrew Allen.
ANDREW ALLEN, b. June, 1740, son of Chief Justice Allen by his w. Margaret, dau. of Andrew Hamilton the Councillor, see p. 145, and himself a Councillor, was educated at the College of Phila., since become the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1759 with his brother James, and William Paca of Md., a Signer of the Declara- tion of Independence, Samuel Powel, who was afterwards Mayor of Phila., and some six others ; the second class which proceeded from the institution. He then studied law under the direction of Benjamin Chew, at that time Attorney-General, and about July, 1761 went abroad to finish his education at the Temple. Returning home almost exceptionally well educated, he at once took the position in the com- munity placed at his hand by the social and political influence of his father. He was admitted to practice in the Supreme Court Apr. 20, 1765. The corporation of Philadelphia chose him as a Common Councilman in October, 1768. On the resignation of Mr. Chew, he was appointed 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, qualifying Dec. 24, 1770. In May, 1774, he was sent by the Council with James Tilgh- man to Virginia to induce the Governor of that Colony to unite in a petition to the King for a settlement of the boundaries. He was ap- pointed Recorder of Phila. June 25, 1774. About this time, the dis- pute with Great Britain on the subject of taxing the colonies became the all-absorbing topic, and Allen was in unison with the popular feeling even to preparing for resistance. He was one of the founders of the First Troop, Phila. City Cavalry. On Nov. 2, 1774, some twenty-eight citizens, who, it is said, had often met for fox-hunting, formed themselves 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 prominence in public affairs as shed lustre on the organi- zation ; but at that time Andrew Allen was the most distinguished man among them. The officers first chosen were : Captain, Abra- ham Markoe (formerly of the Danish island of St. Croix); First Lieutenant, Andrew Allen; Second Lieut., Samuel Morris (previ- ously Sheriff of Phila. Co.) ; Cornet, James Mease ; &ct. 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 First City Troop. Allen may be presumed to have favored the
148
Hamilton-Andrew Allen.
compromise, suggested early in 1775 by the British House of Com- mons, viz : any colony to vote a proper supply, and in consideration to be excepted from each act of Parliament taxing America ; 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 separately instead of through Con- gress, it asked them to desert each other. It was, perhaps, however, Allen's influence as much as John Penn's incapacity or love of quiet which kept the Penn government from taking a forcible stand against the Whigs. Allen was one of the Committee of Safety appointed by the Assembly June 30, 1775 for the defence of the Province : and he was appointed one of the delegates to the Continental Congress. When, however, after active service on the Committee and in Con- gress, 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 1st and 2nd 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 Eng- land. There were four to be chosen and the vote stood : Samuel Howell, 941 : Andrew Allen, 923 : George Clymer, 923 : Alexander Wilcocks, 921 : Thomas Willing, 911 : Frederick Kuhl, 904: Owen Biddle, 903 : Daniel Roberdeau, 890. Clymer was the only one elected 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 the war, could not get a majority over a good conservative ticket, although Galloway's state- ment that not one fifth of the people desired Independence 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 seemingly so happily united as at this election, notwithstanding 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, nor publish it in the streets of Askalon, how the testi- mony 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 Assem-
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Hamilton-Andrew Allen.
bly passed an Act of Attainder against him, in consequence of which much of his property was sold. The Treaty of Peace prohibited any future confiscations, and provided that any persons could come to the United States, and remain twelve months unmolested in their endea- vors to obtain restitution.
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 subjects holding land in America, or American citizens 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-payment of debts to British subjects contracted before the Peace, to be ascertained by commissioners to be appointed. He endeavored without success to collect the money paid to the State on his land con- tracts. He seems to have resided afterwards with his dau. Mrs. Ham- mond. He d. (Gent. Mag.) March 7, 1825, in Montagu Street, Port- man Square, aged 85.
He m. Apr. 24, 1768 Sarah, eldest dau. of William Coxe, alderman of Phila., by his w. Mary, dau. of Tench Francis, Esq., Attorney-Gen- eral of Pennsylvania. William Coxe was a son of Col. Daniel Coxe, Chief Justice of New Jersey, by his w. Sarah Eckley of Phila.
Issue of Andrew Allen the Councillor :
ANDREW, founder of the Anchor Club in Phila., British Con- sul in Boston, d. s. p. Clifton near Bristol, Eng., Dec. 3, 1850,
m. Maria, dau. of Charles Coxe of Sydney,
ANN, d. unm., ELIZABETH, d. unm.,
MARGARET, m. George Hammond, see below,
MARIA, d. unm.,
JOHN PENN, b. Oct. 25, 1785, M. A. (Univ., Oxon.), d. unm., THOMAS DAWSON, b. Oct. 25, 1785, M. A. (Univ., Oxon.),
Rector of North Cerney, Gloucester, d. s. p., m. Aug. 26, 1840 Jane, wid. of Rev. E. C. Henry, and dau. of E. H. Mortimer.
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