Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/87

ALLEN.ALLEN. of the academy at Maquoketa, Iowa, 1854; professor of natural sciences in Alexander college, Dubuque, Iowa, 1855-'58; principal of Bowen collegiate institute, 1858-'61; founder and president of Lenox college, Hopkinton, Iowa, 1861-'68. He was the organizer of normal institutes in Iowa and was one of the charter members of the Iowa state teachers' association, and also for a time, editor of the Iowa Journal of Education. He was institute conductor in New York state in 1869-'70; professor of natural sciences, state normal school, Geneseo, N.Y., 1780-81 [sic]; editor of Barnes's Educational Monthly, 1876-'80; president of the New York state teachers' association, 1880; president of the normal section of the National educational association, 1880; president of the State normal school, St. Cloud, Minn., 1881-'84; editor of the School Journal and Teachers Institute, New York, 1884-'90; one of the founders of and dean of the school of pedagogy, University of the city of New York, 1890-'94, and professor emeritus, 1894. He received the honorary degree of Ph.D. from Lenox college in 1881. He published "An Elementary Grammar," "National System of Map Drawing," "Laboratory Practice in Chemistry," "Short Studies in English," "Lectures on the History of Education," "Mind Studies for Young Teachers," "Training of Teachers in Scotland," and articles in periodicals and cyclopædias. He died in Brooklyn, N.Y., May 26, 1894. ALLEN, Joel Asaph, naturalist, was born at Springfield, Mass., July 19, 1838. He studied at Lawrence Scientific School, Cambridge, and accompanied Agassiz on the expedition to Brazil in 1865. In 1870 he was elected assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoölogy, Cambridge; was awarded the Humboldt scholarship in 1871; became a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and of the National Academy of Science in 1876, and received the degree, Ph.D. from Indiana university. From 1885 he was curator of the American Museum of Natural History of New York. He made numerous geological surveys for the government; edited the "Auk" and "The Bulletin" of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, and published, "Mammals and Winter Birds of East Florida" (1871); "The American Bison, Living and Extinct" (1872); "Monographs of North American Rodentia" (with Elliott Cowes, 1877); "History of North American Pinnipeds" (1880); and "The American Ornithologist's Union" (1891); besides shorter works. ALLEN, John Beard, senator, was born at Crawfordsville, Ind., May 18, 1845. He was prepared for college and entered at Wabash, but left to enlist in the 135th Indiana volunteers as a private. When the war ended, he studied law and was admitted to practice in 1870. Removing to Washington territory the same year he opened a law office, and in April, 1875, was appointed by President Grant United States attorney for the territory, holding the office until 1885. He was reporter of the supreme court from 1878 and delegate to the fifty-first Congress. When Washington was admitted as a state he was elected to the United States senate 1893. He died at Seattle, Jan. 29, 1903. ALLEN, John Henry, mariner, was born at St. Andrews, West Indies, in 1836. In 1861 he joined the navy as an ensign, and served in the western gulf blockading squadron, winning for his gallant action in the battle of Mobile the command of the Selma. At the close of the war he became a ship-master and owner. From 1880 he resided in Brooklyn, N.Y. He published "The Fruits of the Wine Cup: a Drama in Three Acts"; "Decline of American Shipping: its Cause and Remedy" (1884); "The Spanish-American Reciprocity Treaty" (1885); and "The Tariff and Its Evils; or, "Protection Which Does Not Protect" (1888). On Dec. 8, 1889, he sailed for Queenstown in his ship Bridgewater, and was drowned on the voyage, probably in January, 1890. ALLEN, John M., representative, was born in Tishomingo county, Miss., July 8, 1847. He received a common-school education, and at the age of fifteen enlisted in the Confederate army, in which he served as a private throughout the civil war. He then studied law at the Cumberland university, Tenn., and at the University of Mississippi, where he was graduated in 1870. He opened a law office at Tupelo, Lee county, and in 1875 was chosen district attorney for the first judicial district of Mississippi, and served for four years. In 1884 he was elected to represent his district in the 49th Congress, and was returned to the 50th, 51st, 52d, 53d, 54th, 55th and 56th Congresses. He became universally known as "Private Allen," through a happy repartee which he made in a political speech during the canvass for his first election to Congress. In a joint debate his competitor opened his speech with: "Fellow citizens, I slept one night in a tent on the mountainside, awaiting the battle on the morrow." When he had finished his speech, Allen rose to his feet and said: "Friends and fellow citizens, what General Tucker has told you about sleeping in his tent that night before the battle is true. I know, for I was guarding that tent all night long in the cold and the wet. Now, I want to say to all of you who were generals in the war, and slept at night in your guarded tents, vote for him; but all you fellows that guarded the generals' tents in the wet and cold, like me, you vote for 'Private Allen.'" Allen was triumphantly elected. In Congress he showed himself a ready and effective debater.