Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/94

ALLIN.ALLISON. American authors. In connection with it he compiled several books of prose and practical quotations and valuable indices to publications of importance. His religious tracts and handbook are also well known. In 1867 he was made book editor and corresponding secretary of the American Sunday school union, retaining the office for six years, and holding it again from 1877 to 1879. His publications, additional to those previously mentioned, are: "A Review by a Layman of a work, entitled, New Themes for the Protestant Clergy" (1852); "New Themes Condemned" (1853); "An Alphabetical Index to the New Testament" (1868); "Explanatory Questions on the Gospels and the Acts" (1869); "Union Bible Companion" (1871); "Poetical Quotations, from Chaucer to Tennyson" (1873); "Prose Quotations, from Socrates to Macaulay" (1876); and "Great Authors of All Ages, being selections from the prose works of eminent writers from the time of Pericles to the present day" (1880). In 1879, when the Lenox library was newly endowed he was invited to become the Librarian. He accepted and removed to New York city, but failing health compelled him to resign his position in 1888, and he died Sept. 2, 1889. ALLIN, Roger, governor of North Dakota, was born at Bradworthy, Eng., Dec. 18, 1848. When he was quite young his parents settled at Oshawa, Canada, and there his boyhood was spent. He was educated in the common schools and high school of Oshawa, and in 1868 he went to Michigan, where he occupied himself in farming until 1878, when he removed to North Dakota, buying a tract of land from the government. Becoming a citizen of the United States, he identified himself with the Republican party, and when the organization known as the Farmers' Alliance was formed, he was, for a number of years, one of its most active leaders. In 1886 he was elected to the territorial council and re-elected in 1888; and in May, 1889, was chosen a member of the constitutional convention for North Dakota, and was active in securing the incorporation of the prohibition law into the constitution. The same year he was elected by the Republicans to represent the 3rd senatorial district in the first State senate, and in 1890 he was chosen lieutenant-governor. In 1894 he was nominated by acclamation for the governorship of North Dakota, was elected, and filled the office 1895-7. ALLISON, Burgess, educator, was born in Bordentown, N.J., Aug. 17, 1753. When but sixteen years old he began to preach in the Baptist church, and after attendance at the college of Rhode Island in 1777 he settled in his native town, where he preached for a short time, and then founded a very successful classical boarding school. In 1879 he received the honorary degree of A.M. from the college of Rhode Island, and that of D.D. in 1804. In 1796 he relinquished teaching, and invented and introduced into use some valuable improvements on the steam-engine in its adaptation to steam navigation. In 1801, he returned to his teaching and preaching, but the condition of his health soon obliged him to discontinue both. In 1816 he was elected first chaplain of the house of representatives, and from 1816 to 1824 held the same position at the U. S. navy yard in Washington. He contributed frequently to magazines, but wrote no books. He died in Washington, D. C., Feb. 20, 1827. ALLISON, John, representative, was born in Beaver county, Pa., Aug. 5, 1812, son of the Hon. James Allison, a member of the 18th Congress. He studied law, but never practised; was a member of the Pennsylvania assembly 1846-47 and in 1849, and was elected a representative in the 32d and 34th congresses as a Whig, serving 1851-53, and 1855-57. He declined a third term; was appointed registrar of the U.S. treasury, April 1, 1869, and held that office until his death at Washington, D.C., March 23, 1873. ALLISON, Joseph, jurist, was born at Harrisburg, Pa., in 1819, and admitted to the bar in 1843. Shortly afterward he located in Philadelphia and soon took a leading position at the local bar. He was first elected to the bench in 1851 by a fusion of the native American and Whig parties. After that he was regularly re-elected on the republican ticket, and in his last two elections was indorsed by the democrats. From 1865 Judge Allison was presiding judge of the court of common pleas. He possessed an essentially judicial mind and his knowledge of the law made his decisions and rulings generally sustained by the higher courts. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 8, 1896. ALLISON, William Boyd, senator, was born at Perry, Wayne county, Ohio., March 2, 1829. He was of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, John Allison, removed from Bellefonte, Pa., where he was born, to the newly settled state of Ohio, in 1823. In 1845 William Boyd was sent to the academy at Wooster, Ohio., where he remained two years; he then studied for a year at Allegheny college, Pa. In 1848 he returned to Wooster, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. In 1855 he was a candidate to the Whig convention that nominated Salmon P. Chase for governor. In 1856 he supported John C. Fremont for President, and was an unsuccessful candidate for the office of district attorney for his county. He married a daughter of Daniel Carter, of Wooster, and in 1857 located in Dubuque, Ia., where he opened a law office and took an active interest in politics, being in 1859 a delegate to the republican state convention. In