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This article is from the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, 6 volumes, edited by William S. Powell. Copyright ©1979-1996 by the University of North Carolina Press. Used by permission of the publisher. For personal use and not for further distribution. Please submit permission requests for other use directly to the publisher.

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Allen, William

by Mattie Erma E. Parker, 1979

fl. 1677–95

William Allen, colonial official of North Carolina, was in Albemarle by 9 June 1677, when he witnessed the signatures on two bills of debt to New England traders.

In November 1681, Allen was a member of the council and ex officio justice of the general court. That he held his council seat by vote of the assembly indicates that he was also a member of the assembly. In April 1695 he was the presiding justice of Currituck Precinct Court. Because of the sparseness of surviving records of the period, his tenure in these offices cannot be determined.

Allen had at least 450 acres of land, apparently in Currituck Precinct. Seven of his headrights were assigned him by a New England trader, Mordecai Bowden; he may have had business connections with Bowden. Nothing more is known of his private life.

References:

Albemarle Book of Warrants and Surveys, 1681–1706 (North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh), for proof of Allen's headrights.

J. R. B. Hathaway, ed., North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, 3 vols. (1900–3).

Mattie Erma Edwards Parker, ed., North Carolina Higher-Court Records, 1670–1696 (1968).

Subjects:

Biographies

Law and legal history

Authors:

Parker, Mattie E. E.

Origin - location:

Currituck County

From:

Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, University of North Carolina Press.

1 January 1979 | Parker, Mattie E. E.