Robert Allen (Virginia)

Robert Allen (July 30, 1794 – December 30, 1859) was an American lawyer and politician from Woodstock, Virginia. He represented Virginia in the United States House of Representatives from 1827 to 1833.

Biography

Allen was born in the village of Woodstock and started college at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. After two years he transferred to Washington College (now Washington and Lee) in Lexington, Virginia where he graduated in 1815. He returned to the family farm and read law, was admitted to the bar and established a law practice in Woodstock.

Allen was elected to the Virginia state Senate in 1820, and served there from 1821 until 1826. In 1826 he was elected to the U.S. Congress as a Democratic-Republican. He would serve there for six years, winning two more elections.

Allen moved to Bedford County, Virginia and resumed farming. He died in 1859 at Mount Pleasant in Essex County, Virginia and is buried in the Longwood Cemetery in Bedford. His brother John James Allen also served in the Congress.

External links

• Biographic sketch at U.S. Congress website