Charles Allen

Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present

ALLEN, Charles, (son of Joseph Allen and grandnephew of Samuel Adams), a Representative from Massachusetts; born in Worcester, Mass., August 9, 1797; attended the Leicester Academy 1809-1811 and Yale College in 1811 and 1812; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1818 and commenced practice in New Braintree; moved to Worcester in 1824 and continued the practice of law; member of the State house of representatives 1830, 1833, 1835, and 1840; served in the State senate 1836 and 1837; member of the Northeastern Boundary Commission in 1842; judge of the court of common pleas 1842-1845; delegate to the Whig National Convention at Philadelphia in 1848; elected by the Free-Soil Party to the Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1853); was not a candidate for renomination in 1852; resumed the practice of law; member of the State constitutional convention in 1853; chief justice of the Suffolk County Superior Court 1859-1867; delegate to the peace convention held at Washington, D.C., in 1861, in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; died in Worcester, Mass., August 6, 1869; interment in the Rural Cemetery.

Contributed by Anna Newell