The Biographical Dictionary of America/Allen, Charles (representative)

ALLEN, Charles, representative, was born in Worcester, Mass., Aug. 9, 1797. He was admitted to the bar in 1821, was a representative in the state legislature in 1829, 1834, 1836 and 1840, and was a state senator, 1835, 1838 and 1839. He was a commissioner to negotiate the Webster treaty in 1842 and a judge of the court of common pleas, 1842-'44. He represented his district in the 31st and 32d congresses, 1849-'53, as a Freesoil Whig, was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1853, was chief justice of the superior court of Suffolk county, 1858-'67, and a delegate to the peace congress of 1861. He received the honorary degree of A.M. from Yale in 1836 and that of LL.D. from Harvard in 1863. He died in Worcester, Mass., Aug. 6, 1869.