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Allen, William (Clergyman college president)

clergyman, college president, author, was born Jan. 2, 1784, in Pittsfield, Mass. In 1802 he graduated at Cambridge; and two years later was licensed to preach.

During 1804-10 he was a regent in Harvard college; and devoted much of his time to the preparation of the American Biographical and Historical Dictionary. For two years he was president of Dartmouth university; and in 1820 was inaugurated president of Bowdoin college. He resigned in 1839, and moved to Northampton, Mass., where he devoted himself to literary work. He was the author of An Account of Remarkable Shipwrecks; A Collection of Psalms and Hymns, many of which were original; a second and enlarged edition of the Biographical Dictionary; and a work entitled Junius Unmasked. He died July 16, 1868, in Northampton, Mass.