From: KyArchives [Archives@genrecords.org]
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 2:09 PM
To: Ky-Footsteps
Subject: Allen.Alfred.b1814.Breckinridge.BIOS


Alfred Allen September 25 1814 - unknown
Breckinridge County KyArchives Biography

Author: Kentucky Genealogy and Biography Volume 1, 
Kentucky:  A History of the State by Battle - Perrin - Kniffin, 3rd edition 1886. 

HON. ALFRED ALLEN, a statesman by nature and a lawyer by profession, is a 
master spirit of the age in which he lives. His intellectual gifts are of a 
high order, and his social qualities have called about him troops of sincere and
admiring friends. Of the many lawyers that have adorned by their genius and
intellect the bar of Kentucky, Mr. Allen will go into history a conspicuous
and pre eminent figure. He was born September 25, 1814, in Hardinsburg, and
is a son of Joseph and Margaret (Crawford) Allen, natives of the "Old
Dominion", and the former a son of James Allen, who came from Ireland in an
early day and settled in Pennsylvania. Spending some time in Pennsylvania,
he then went to the West Indies, but shortly after returned to America and
settled in Rockbridge County, Va. He immigrated to Kentucky in 1780, and
located near Danville, in the present county of Boyle, where, with another
pioneer, Mr. Daviess, the father of the distinguished Col. Joseph Hamilton
Daviess, they made a settlement a few miles from the station, leaving the
fort on account of the profanity of the garrison and others; he was a strict
Presbyterian. He lived there for three years, and then went to what is now
Nelson County, and made a settlement near where the village of Bloomfield
now stands. He put up a small cabin and returned for his family, but upon
taking them to his new home, he found the Indians had burned his cabin
during his absence. Winter was at hand; but endowed with the energy of the
frontiersman, he went to work and with the aid of his wife soon constructed
another cabin. Here he lived until his death, at the beginning of the
century, and the place is still in the possession of his descendants; his
wife, Mary (Kelsey) Allen, was a native of Virginia, but died in Nelson
County, Ky., in May, 1808. Two of their sons were Joseph and John. The
latter, Col. John Allen, was one of the ablest lawyers of his day
- the rival of Henry Clay in the court of appeals. He was a colonel in the
war of 1812, and fell at the battle of the River Raisin. His name is
perpetuated in that of a county. (See historical sketch of Allen County).
Joseph Allen (the father of the subject) was born in Rockbridge County, Va.,
September 20, 1774. He came to Kentucky with his parents when a small boy.
His early years were passed in Nelson County; and about 1790 (the time of
the formation of this county) he came to Breckinridge. In the organization
of its legal machinery, he was chosen county and circuit clerk of the new
county. No other evidence of his official integrity is required than the
fact that he held both offices for a period of fifty-eight years. He was a
lawyer and practiced his profession in early times when the duties of his
office would permit; he served in the war of 1812. He married Margaret, a
daughter of Samuel Crawford, of Irish descent, and who came from Virginia to
Kentucky toward the close of the last century, and settled in the western
part of Breckinridge County, where he died in 1821. The children of Mr. and
Mrs. Allen were Jane, Horace, Mary, Ellen and Alfred (the subject of this
sketch). All except the last are dead. He remained with his parents until
grown, receiving his education in the schools of Hardinsburg. A large part
of his youth and early manhood was spent as deputy clerk under his father.
With him he read law, and received license to practice about 1836. He at
once entered upon the duties of his profession in the courts of Breckinridge
and adjoining counties, and soon won his way to the front rank of the bar.
He acquired a large practice in the district, and his recognized ability, as
a criminal lawyer, led to his appointment, in 1840, by Gov. James Clark, as
commonwealth's attorney, which position he held by successive appointments
until 1851, when, under the new constitution of the State, the office was
made elective. He was elected to the same position in 1851, and during his
term the celebrated Ward trial (see sketch of Judge Kincheloe) came up at
Elizabethtown. As the leading prosecutor of Ward, his speech was, perhaps,
one of the ablest he ever made, and indeed, has few equals in the history of
criminal prosecution. At the close of his term of office, in 1855, he
resumed the practice of law at Hardinsburg, in which he continued until the
breaking out of the civil war. He was elected to represent Breckinridge and
Hancock Counties in the Legislature in 1839, and served one term. In 1859 he
made the race for lieutenant-governor of the State on the Whig ticket, or as
then called, American ticket, with Joshua F. Bell. He made a brilliant
canvass of the State, and though unsuccessful, received a flattering vote.
He declined several nomination for Congress at a time when a nomination was
equivalent to an election.  When the civil war came on, without any
hesitation he took his stand for the Union, and maintained it until the end
of the struggle. He was elected to the Legislature in 1861, and served until
1865-66, a period when that body comprised more talent and intellect than
any other, perhaps, since the organization of the State. He was one of that
coterie of patriotic spirits such as Garrett Davis,  Dr. Robert
Breckinridge, James Speed, John M. Harlan, Judge Goodloe, C. C. Burton,
Joseph Holt and others, who were willing to make any sacrifice to support
the government in the struggle for life. In 1866 he was appointed State
treasurer by Gov. Bramlett, and held the office for two years, when, in
1868, he was appointed by President Johnson, consul to Foo-Chow, China, in
which position he remained until recalled by President in 1869. For several
years after his return to the United States, he resided in Louisville,
engaged in the tobacco business, but in 1877 removed back to Hardinsburg,
where he has since lived. He has retired from the active practice of the
legal profession, after a long and brilliant career. He was married, June
28, 1853, to Mary E. Jennings, a daughter of Jefferson and Mary (Allen)
Jennings, of this county; the former a prominent lawyer of the Breckinridge
bar. Six children were born to this marriage, viz.: Stewart, Anna G.,
Jennings, Graham, Horace and Mary E. Mrs. Allen died in 1864. Mr. Allen is a
member of the Masonic fraternity, and of the Methodist Church. He was
originally a Whig but now votes with the Republican party.


Submitted by: Sandi Gorin
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00002.html#0000404



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