William V. Allen

William Vincent Allen (January 28, 1847  January 12, 1924) was an American jurist and twice a U.S. Senator from Nebraska.

William Vincent Allen
United States Senator
from Nebraska
In office
December 13, 1899  March 28, 1901
Preceded byMonroe L. Hayward
Succeeded byCharles H. Dietrich
In office
March 4, 1893  March 3, 1899
Preceded byAlgernon S. Paddock
Succeeded byMonroe L. Hayward
Personal details
Born(1847-01-28)January 28, 1847
Midway, Ohio
DiedJanuary 12, 1924(1924-01-12) (aged 76)
Los Angeles, California
Resting placeCrown Hill Cemetery
Madison, Nebraska
Political partyPopulist
OccupationAttorney, Judge

Early life

Allen was born in Midway, Ohio. He moved with his parents to Iowa in 1857, where he attended the common schools and Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa.[1]

He married Blanche Mott, born in Tidionte, Warren county, Pennsylvania, though most of her life was spent in Iowa. Her parents moved to that state when she was ten years old. Here she was educated, and married at Fayette, Iowa, to Hon. William V. Allen, May 9, 1870. Four children, three daughters (Lulu, Willa and Edith) and one son.[2]

He served as a private with the 32nd Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.[1]

He then studied law at West Union, Iowa and was admitted to the bar in 1869. Allen practiced in Iowa until 1884, when he moved to Madison, Nebraska. He served as judge of the district court of the ninth judicial district of Nebraska from 1891 to 1893.[1]

Allen was the permanent chairman of the Populist State conventions in 1892, 1894 and 1896. Allen was elected as a Populist to the United States Senate by the Nebraska State Legislature and served from March 4, 1893 to March 3, 1899. During his term, he served as the chairman of the Committee on Forest Reservations and Game Protection (Fifty-fourth and Fifty-fifth Congresses). Allen championed various bills for public buildings and drought relief along the Missouri River Valley and authored the bill that would establish the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha, Nebraska.

Allen was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1899. After that, he was appointed and subsequently elected judge of the district court of the ninth judicial district of Nebraska and served from March 9, 1899 to December 1899, when he resigned to return to the Senate, because he was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by the death of his successor, Monroe L. Hayward. He served from December 13, 1899 to March 28, 1901, when a successor was elected; he was not a candidate for election to the vacancy.

Allen then resumed the practice of law in Madison, where was again elected judge of the district court of the ninth judicial district of Nebraska in 1917 and served until his death.

Committee assignments

At various times during his tenure as a United States Senator, Allen served on 10 standing committees[3] and 3 select or special committees.[4] During his first term in the Senate, he chaired the Select Committee on Forest Reservations, and retained his chairmanship when the committee became the standing Committee on Forest Reservations and the Protection of Game during the 54th Congress.[5] When he returned to the Senate for his second term during the 56th Congress, he was again appointed to this committee, but did not serve as chairman.[6]

Committee Congresses Notes
Forest Reservations (Select)
Forest Reservations and the Protection of Game
53rd
54th 56th
Chairman (53rd 55th)
Renamed and made a standing committee in the 54th Congress
Claims 53rd 56th
Indian Affairs 53rd 55th
Public Lands 53rd 55th
Transportation Routes to the Seaboard 54th 55th
Privileges and Elections 55th
Agriculture and Forestry 56th
Interstate Commerce 56th
Pensions 56th
The Philippines 56th
Transportation and Sale of Meat Products (Select) 53rd 55th
Investigate Attempts at Bribery, etc. (Special) 53rd

Death

He died in Los Angeles, California on January 12, 1924, and was interred in Crown Hill Cemetery at Madison, Nebraska.[1]

Works

References

  1. Marquis Who's Who, Inc. Who Was Who in American History, the Military. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 8 ISBN 0837932017 OCLC 657162692
  2. Hinman, Ida (1895). The Washington Sketch Book.
  3. Official Congressional Directory. 53rd Congress (1893); 54th Congress (1895); 55th Congress (1897); 56th Congress (1900)
  4. Canon, David T.; Nelson, Garrison; Stewart, Charles, III (2002). Committees in the U.S. Congress: 1789-1946. Vol 4, Select Committees. Washington, DC: CQ Press. ISBN 1-56802-175-5.
  5. "Chairmen of Senate Standing Committees 1789-Present" (PDF). Senate Historical Office. June 2008. p. 35. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  6. Official Congressional Directory. 56th Congress, 1st session. 2nd edition. Page 134 (1900)
Other sources used
  • American National Biography
  • Dictionary of American Biography
  • Coletta, Paolo E. "A Tempest in a Teapot? Governor Poynter's Appointment of William V. Allen to the United States Senate." Nebraska History, vol. 38 (June 1957), pp. 155–163.
  • Hoelscher, David W. "Genuine Populist: William V. Allen in the United States Senate, 1893-1901." M.A. thesis, University of Nebraska at Omaha, 2003.
U.S. Senate
Preceded by
Algernon S. Paddock
U.S. senator (Class 1) from Nebraska
18931899
Served alongside: Charles F. Manderson, John M. Thurston
Succeeded by
Monroe L. Hayward
Preceded by
Monroe L. Hayward
U.S. senator (Class 1) from Nebraska
18991901
Served alongside: John M. Thurston, Joseph H. Millard
Succeeded by
Charles H. Dietrich
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