Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Allen, Isaac

ALLEN, Isaac, Canadian jurist, b. in 1741 ; d. in 1806. He was a loyalist officer of the revolution, who at the close of the war held the rank of colonel and commanded the 2d battalion of New Jersey volunteers. He was deported to New Brunswick with other tories, and obtained a grant of 2,000 acres above Fredericton. He was one of the first judges appointed in the province, having been made an assistant justice in 1784. In a test case to determine the right to hold slaves, tried at Fredericton in 1800, he decided with Judge Saunders against the master, while the chief justice and another judge upheld the master's right. As a result of this trial, he received a challenge to a duel from an officer in the rangers. His grandson, John C. Allen, became chief justice of New Brunswick.