San Francisco County
TRUMAN H. ALLEN
T. H. ALLEN, United States Pension Agent at San Francisco,
is a native of Keeseville, Essex county, New York,
born November 16, 1831, and is a direct descendant of General Ethan Allen of
Revolutionary fame. The father of our subject was Truman Allen, a native
of Brattleboro, Vermont, and is still living. The present Mr. Allen
received his education in his native State, and learned the blacksmith trade.
After
the breakout of the Rebellion he entered the army as Captain of the
Twenty-second New York Cavalry, and participated in all the battles of the
Wilderness, and was extra escort to General Grant on the night of May 7, the
day General Sedgwick was killed. He was also in the battle of
Fredericksburg, and at Brandy Station; his battalion burned the
station. He participated in the battle of Cold Harbor and through Wilson’s
raid; was wounded and confined to the hospital. After his recovery he was
ordered to Springfield, Illinois, on special duty as Provost-Marshal. He
held fourteen commands, in three different States. After the war he
engaged in wagon-manufacturing at Corry, Pennsylvania, and carried on a large
business. He raised the first company of the National Guards in
Pennsylvania, in the old Twentieth, now the Seventh, at Corry, commanded by
Major-General H. S. Huidecooper. He afterward
raised four other companies in the same town, and was Senior Captain in command
of the battalion. He was afterward commissioned Division Quartermaster on
the staff of General Huidecooper, and resigned that position
to come to the Pacific coast. After arriving here, on account of the Denis
Kearney trouble, he assisted in raising the Oakland Light Cavalry, and, though
a comparative stranger, was commissioned Junior Second
Lieutenant.
In 1882 he received the Democratic nomination for County
Clerk and Auditor in the Republican county of Alameda, and was
elected. After holding that office two years he engaged in wagon-making
and blacksmithing. Previous to this he was appointed Division Paymaster on
the staff of General Turnbull, N. G. C., and was promoted as Division Inspector
on his staff, and held that position until the resignation of General
Turnbull. He was appointed Pension Agent by President Cleveland, August
17, 1885, and since then he has held that position. In the Grand Army he
has filled all the chairs; has been Commander of Lyon Post, No. 8, Oakland,
Department Inspector under Commander J. M. Davis, and National Inspector under
Paul Vandever, the Commander of the National
Encampment.
Transcribed
by Donna L. Becker.
Source: “The Bay of
San Francisco,” Vol. 2, Pages 472-473, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2006 Donna L.
Becker.