{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox person | name = Ira Allen | image = IraAllenEngraving.jpg | image_size = 220 | alt = | caption = Engraving of Ira Allen, c. 1810 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1751|04|21}} | birth_place = [[Cornwall, Connecticut|Cornwall]], [[Connecticut Colony]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1814|01|07|1751|04|21}} | death_place = [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]], [[Pennsylvania]], [[United States]] | other_names = | occupation = Surveyor, politician, military officer | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = | relatives = [[Ethan Allen]] (brother) }}

'''Ira Allen''' ({{OldStyleDate|21 April|1751|10 April}} – January 7, 1814) was an American revolutionary leader, founder of Vermont, and one of the [[Green Mountain Boys]] during the American colonial period. He was the younger brother of [[Ethan Allen]].

==Biography== [[File:Seal of Vermont (B&W).svg|left|thumb|The Great Seal of the State of Vermont]] Ira Allen was born in [[Cornwall, Connecticut|Cornwall]] in the [[Connecticut Colony]] (in present-day [[Litchfield County, Connecticut|Litchfield County]], [[Connecticut]]), the youngest of eight children born to Joseph and Mary Baker Allen.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graffagnino |first=J. Kevin |title=Founding Father: The Story of Ira Allen |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1979 |pages=1–3 |quote=Ira Allen was born in Cornwall, in the Connecticut Colony (now Litchfield County), the youngest of eight children of Joseph Allen and Mary Baker Allen.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=John Howard |title=Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States |publisher=James H. Lamb Co. |year=1900 |pages=66–67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGBkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA66 |quote=Born at Cornwall, Connecticut, the youngest child of Joseph Allen and Mary (Baker) Allen.}}</ref> In 1771, Allen went to Vermont (then part of the British colonial [[Province of New York]]) with his brother Ethan as a surveyor for the [[Winooski River|Onion River]] Land Company.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graffagnino |first=J. Kevin |title=Founding Father: The Story of Ira Allen |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1979 |pages=4–6 |quote=In 1771 Ira Allen accompanied his brother Ethan to the New Hampshire Grants, then under New York jurisdiction, where he worked as a surveyor for the Onion River Land Company.}}</ref> The four Allen brothers established the company in 1772 (dissolved 1785)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Duffy|first=John J.|title=Ethan Allen and his Kin: Correspondence 1772-1819, Volume I|publisher=University Press of New England|year=1998|isbn=0-87451-858-X|pages=xxxii intro}}</ref> to purchase lands under the [[New Hampshire Grants]]. Ira Allen had an almost central role in the dispute with the Province of New York over conflicting land claims in the region<ref>{{cite web | title=Ira Allen (1751–1814) | url=http://www.virtualvermont.com/history/iallen.html | publisher=Virtual Vermont | year=2010 | access-date=2010-03-09}}</ref> such as by gifting land to men who had committed acts for New Hampshire,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Duffy|first=John J.|title=Ethan Allen and his Kin: Correspondence 1772-1819, Volume II|publisher=University Press of New England|year=1998|isbn=0-87451-858-X|pages=444}}</ref> and by confiscating loyalist property to finance government.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Duffy|first=John J.|title=Ethan Allen and his Kin: Correspondence 1772 - 1819|publisher=University Press of New England|year=1998|isbn=0-87451-858-X|pages=xxxii intro}}</ref>

During the [[American Revolutionary War]], Allen was a member of the [[Vermont General Assembly|Vermont Legislature]] in 1776–1777 and a leading figure in the declaration of the [[Vermont Republic]] in 1777, which was originally intended to be independent of both the British colonies and the newly-founded [[United States]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Records of the Council of Safety and Governor and Council of the State of Vermont |volume=1 |publisher=J. M. Poland, State Printer |location=Montpelier |year=1873 |pages=24–26, 63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v_M6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA24 |quote=Ira Allen appears as a member of the Vermont Legislature in the sessions of 1776 and 1777.}}</ref> Late in the war, he and his brother Ethan, along with [[Thomas Chittenden]] and others, were involved in the [[Haldimand Affair]] by their discussions with [[Frederick Haldimand]], the British Governor of the [[Province of Quebec (1763–1791)|Province of Quebec]], about the possibility of reinstating Vermont as a British province.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graffagnino |first=J. Kevin |title=Founding Father: The Story of Ira Allen |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1979 |pages=60–72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN8QAQAAMAAJ}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hall |first=Hiland |title=History of Vermont: From Its Discovery to Its Admission into the Union |publisher=Joel Munsell |location=Albany |year=1868 |pages=431–450 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8Yk6AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA431}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hand |first=Samuel B. |title=Vermont: A History |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1989 |pages=54–57}}</ref>

An alternate explanation is that the Allen brothers were not actually interested in returning Vermont to the British but merely used the Haldimand negotiations to stave off a British invasion of Vermont from [[Canada]] and to prod the [[Continental Congress]] into recognizing Vermont as separate from New York and New Hampshire and admitting it to the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Resch |first=Tyler |title=Ira Allen's life: purpose and passion |journal=The Fourteenth State |publisher=Bennington Museum |url=https://benningtonmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/28-ira-allens-life-purpose-and-passion.pdf |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Procknow |first=Gene |title=Ethan Allen: Patriot, Land Promoter or Turncoat? |journal=Journal of the American Revolution |date=November 2013 |url=https://allthingsliberty.com/2013/11/ethan-allen-patriot-land-promoter-turncoat/ |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref> Vermont was [[admission to the Union|granted statehood]] in 1791.<ref>{{cite web |title=Freedom & Unity: The Fourteenth State |website=Vermont Historical Society |url=https://vermonthistory.org/freedom-unity-fourteenth-state |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=An Act for the admission of the State of Vermont into this Union |website=The Avalon Project |publisher=Yale Law School |date=18 February 1791 |url=https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/vt03.asp |access-date=18 November 2025}}</ref>

Allen designed the [[Great Seal of Vermont]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Vermont State Seal |url=https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/vermont-state-seal |website=Vermont Historical Society |access-date=18 November 2025 |quote=Ira Allen designed the Great Seal of Vermont. Reuben Dean carved the image. Vermont adopted the seal in 1779.}}</ref> In 1778, Allen drew the seal and Reuben Dean, a local silversmith, made it.<ref>{{cite web |title=Seal of Vermont – Many Hands Went into Formulating the State's Symbols |url=https://ourherald.com/articles/many-hands-went-into-formulating-the-states-symbols/ |website=OurHerald |access-date=18 November 2025 |quote=“What came of his efforts was … a creation Allen brought to Reuben Dean, a silversmith in Windsor…”}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Wardner |first=Henry Steele |title=Windsor's Importance in Vermont History |journal=Proceedings of the Vermont Historical Society |volume=XX |date=1924 |page=144 |quote=“… Reuben Dean … who in 1778 executed Ira Allen’s design for the first seal of the State of Vermont.”}}</ref> The two men were each paid ten [[shilling]]s for their work.<ref>"Dean, Reuben" in ''The Vermont Encyclopedia'' (eds. John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand & Ralph H. Orth: University of Vermont Press, 2003), p. 103.</ref>

[[Image:UVM IraAllenMonument 20150803.jpg|thumb|left|Monument of Ira Allen on the [[University of Vermont]] campus in [[Burlington, Vermont|Burlington]]]] In 1780, Allen presented to the state legislature a [[petition|memorial]] for the establishment of the [[University of Vermont]].<ref>{{cite journal| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZ_iKWr8dCoC&q=Statements+Appended+to+the+Olive+Branch&pg=PA61| journal=The American Monthly Magazine, Daughters of the American Revolution| author=A.J.H Dyer| publisher=R.R. Bowker Co.| year=1896 | page=61 | title=General Ira Allan }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Dyer |first=A. J. H. |title=General Ira Allen |journal=The American Monthly Magazine (Daughters of the American Revolution) |volume=8 |year=1896 |pages=61–62 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZ_iKWr8dCoC&pg=PA61}}</ref> He contributed money and a fifty-acre (20 ha) site at [[Burlington, Vermont|Burlington]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History of the University of Vermont |website=University of Vermont |url=https://www.uvm.edu/about_uvm/history |access-date=18 November 2025 |quote=Ira Allen, one of the founders of Vermont, proposed the establishment of the University in 1780 and donated a fifty-acre parcel in Burlington as its campus.}}</ref> He was called the "Father of the University of Vermont” and after his death he has been referred to as the "Metternich of Vermont" (though his actions predate those of Metternich himself).<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=John Howard |title=Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States |publisher=James H. Lamb Co. |year=1900 |pages=66–67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGBkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 |quote=Ira Allen has been called the "Father of the University of Vermont" and after his death referred to as the "Metternich of Vermont."}}</ref> Ira Allen pledged 4,000 British [[pound sterling|pounds sterling]] to the University of Vermont, but never donated the money.<ref>{{cite web |title=Early History of the University of Vermont |website=University of Vermont Archives |url=https://www.uvm.edu/~uvmhistory/early_years |access-date=18 November 2025 |quote=Allen pledged four thousand pounds toward the new university, a sum which was never realized.}}</ref> In response, the Trustees of the University of Vermont secured a [[writ of attachment]] on his title to the town of [[Plainfield, Vermont|Plainfield]] to try to extract payment of his original 4,000-pound pledge.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graffagnino |first=J. Kevin |chapter=A Hard Founding Father to Love |title=The University of Vermont: The First Two Hundred Years |editor-last=Daniels |editor-first=Robert V. |publisher=University Press of New England for the University of Vermont |location=Hanover, NH |year=1991 |pages=41–42 |isbn=0-87451-549-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/universityofverm00robe |url-access=registration}}</ref>

Allen was Vermont's first [[Vermont State Treasurer|Treasurer]] and held office from 1778 to 1786, when he was succeeded by [[Samuel Mattocks]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Vermont Historical Society Collections |volume=1 |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |location=Montpelier |year=1871 |pages=427 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlgSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA427}}</ref> He married Jerusha Enos (daughter of Roger Enos and Jerusha Hayden) in 1789.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Irasburgh |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1930 |pages=99–103 |quote=“Eight years after the grant, or in 1789, he deeded Irasburgh to Jerusha Enos, a daughter of General Enos, as a marriage settlement … and she became his wife.”}}</ref> Members of the Allen and Enos families were the original proprietors of [[Irasburg, Vermont]], which was named after Ira Allen.<ref>{{cite book |title=A History of Irasburgh |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1930 |pages=1–2 |url=https://vermonthistory.org/journal/misc/HistoryOfIrasburgh.pdf |quote=The township of Irasburgh was granted to Ira Allen and his associates by the General Assembly of Vermont on February 23, 1781. From its principal proprietor, Ira Allen, it was called Irasburgh in the grant.}}</ref> Allen subsequently acquired all the proprietary rights to Irasburg and deeded the town to Jerusha Enos as a wedding gift.<ref>{{cite book |last=Allen |first=Ethan |title=Ethan Allen and His Kin: Correspondence, 1772–1819 |volume=1 |publisher=University Press of New England |year=1998 |page=334 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mrd2AAAAMAAJ&dq=%22ira+allen%22+%22jerusha+enos%22&q=irasburg}}</ref>

[[Image:UVM IraAllenChapelNW 20150801.jpg|thumb|right|[[Ira Allen Chapel]] at the University of Vermont]] On October 25, 1790, Ira Allen was commissioned [[Major General]] of the Third Division of the Vermont State Militia by Governor [[Thomas Chittenden]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/22086775_ira-allens-military-commission-as-major-general|title=Ira Allen's Military Commission As Major General (Lot 4 of the Early American History Auction)|author1=LiveAuctioneers|access-date=2016-02-20|format=jpg|date=October 25, 1790|publisher=LiveAuctioneers}}</ref> He went to [[France]] in 1795 and sought French army intervention for seizing Canada in order to create an independent republic called United Columbia.<ref>{{cite book| author=Robert E. May| year=2002| title=Manifest Destiny's Underworld: Filibustering in Antebellum America| publisher=U. of North Carolina Press| url=http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/chapters/may_manifest.html| access-date=23 July 2008| isbn=0-8078-2703-7| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209182541/http://www.ibiblio.org/uncpress/chapters/may_manifest.html| archive-date=9 February 2009}} Chapter 1</ref> He bought 20,000 muskets and 24 cannons but was captured at sea, taken to [[England]], placed on trial, and charged with furnishing arms for [[Ireland|Irish]] rebels.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dMmAAAAMAAJ&q=ira+allen+irish+rebels+1795&pg=PA161| page=161| title=The pictorial field-book of the revolution | author=Benson John Lossing | publisher=Harper & Bros.| year=1851| isbn=0-87152-056-7 }}</ref> He was acquitted after a lawsuit which lasted eight years,<ref>{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VhJ-4yKyrhoC&q=ira+allen+irish+rebels+1795&pg=PA31| page=31| title=Fifty years in camp and field: diary of Major-General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, U.S.A.| author=Ethan Allen Hitchcock, William Augustus Croffut| publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons| year=1909 | isbn=978-1-4047-8185-6}}</ref> and which saw a first of an Admiralty judge being summoned before King's Bench.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Duffy|first=John J|title=Ethan Allen and his Kin: Correspondence 1772 - 1819|publisher=University Press of New England|year=1998|isbn=0-87451-858-X|pages=551}}</ref>

Allen died in 1814 in [[Philadelphia]], where he had gone to escape imprisonment for debt, caused by his long absence from Vermont.<ref>{{cite book |last=Graffagnino |first=J. Kevin |title=Founding Father: The Story of Ira Allen |publisher=Vermont Historical Society |year=1979 |pages=95–96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DN8QAQAAMAAJ |quote=Allen spent his last years in Philadelphia, where he had gone to avoid arrest for debt resulting from his long absence from Vermont. He died there in 1814.}}</ref> He was originally buried in Philadelphia's Arch Street Presbyterian Cemetery, but his remains were lost when that cemetery was destroyed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Brown |first=John Howard |title=Lamb's Biographical Dictionary of the United States |publisher=James H. Lamb Co. |year=1900 |pages=66–67 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGBkAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA67 |quote=He was buried in the Arch Street Presbyterian churchyard, where his remains were lost when the cemetery was destroyed.}}</ref> There is a [[cenotaph]] in his memory at Greenmount Cemetery in [[Burlington, Vermont]], and a memorial cenotaph at Wetherill’s (Free Quaker) Cemetery in [[Audubon, Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Stewart |first=Megan |title=“Ira Allen has a cenotaph located in Burlington's Greenmount Cemetery right next to the Ethan Allen Monument.” |newspaper=The Burlington Free Press |date=25 September 2024 |url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/vermont/2024/09/25/ira-allen-brother-vermont-revolutionary-war-hero-ethan-allen-uvm/75255084007/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Ira Allen Cenotaph Wetherills Cemetery (Free Quaker Cemetery), Audubon PA |url=https://www.mwhistoryexperience.com/2016/05/ira-allen.html |access-date=19 November 2025 |quote=“Ira Allen Cenotaph Wetherills Cemetery (Free Quaker Cemetery)… 2800 Audubon Rd. Audubon, PA 19403.”}}</ref> The [[Ira Allen Chapel]] on the University of Vermont's main campus was also named after him.<ref>{{cite news|title=The Development of UVM's Vermontiana Collection|url=http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmsc/Old%20Libers/Liber1987003.pdf|newspaper=Liber: A Newsletter for the Friends of Special Collections at UVM, Vol. III, No. 12|date=Spring 1987|access-date=2016-02-20|archive-date=2016-03-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160302203305/http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmsc/Old%20Libers/Liber1987003.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="UVMheritageStudySite4">{{cite web|url=http://www.uvm.edu/~hp206/2011/sites/4.html|title=University Green Area Heritage Study – Ira Allen Chapel ''(Historic Burlington Research Project – HP 206)''|author1=Prevolos, Christine|access-date=February 20, 2016|publisher=UVM Historic Preservation Program|location=Burlington, Vermont|date=2011}}</ref> [[Image:Ira Allen 1941.5.3.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Ira Allen miniature]]

==Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar== The obverse of the 1927 [[Vermont Sesquicentennial half dollar]], designed by [[Charles Keck]], depicts Allen above the words "Founder of Vermont".

==Works== Allen published several books, including: *{{cite book| title=The Natural and Political History of Vermont| location=London| year=1969 |orig-date=1798| publisher= J.W. Myers | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67YMAAAAYAAJ&q=The+Natural+and+Political+History+of+Vermont | isbn=0-8048-0419-2}} *''Statements Appended to the Olive Branch'' (1807)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/collvermont01montrich| title=Vermont Historical Society Collections| location=Montpelier| year=1870| publisher=Vermont Historical Society| volume=I }} *{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nlgSAAAAYAAJ&q=Vermont+Historical+Society+Collections| title=Vermont Historical Society Collections| location=Montpelier| year=1871| publisher=Vermont Historical Society| volume=II }} * {{cite BDA1906 |wstitle= Allen, Ira |volume= 1 |pages= 85-86 |short=1}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Ira}} [[Category:1751 births]] [[Category:1814 deaths]] [[Category:People from Cornwall, Connecticut]] [[Category:Members of the Vermont House of Representatives]] [[Category:State treasurers of Vermont]] [[Category:People from pre-statehood Vermont]] [[Category:American filibusters (military)]]