Background
Ira Allen was born on May 1, 1751 in Cornwall, Connecticut, United States. He was the youngest son of Joseph and Mary (Baker) Allen.
Ira Allen was born on May 1, 1751 in Cornwall, Connecticut, United States. He was the youngest son of Joseph and Mary (Baker) Allen.
Practically nothing is known about Allen's youth and education.
By 1772 Allen, together with his brothers Ethan, Heman, Heber, and Levi, was actively interested in the affairs of the New Hampshire Grants (i. e. Vermont), where he had received grants of land, and was a member of the regiment of Green Mountain Boys.
He was not by nature a soldier; consequently after his first participation in the Dorset Convention of July 1776 as the representative of the town of Colchester, he devoted by far the greater part of his time to the political affairs of the embryo state. His rise to political power was rapid, due to his keen mind and love of statecraft. He took a prominent part in the Windsor Convention, where he, with Thomas Chittenden and others, was selected to draw up the constitution of the state, which had declared its independence on January 17, 1777. He wrote the preamble of that document, the remainder of which was copied from the Pennsylvania constitution with a few additions. At the same time he was made secretary of the Council of Safety, virtually sharing the powers of the president of that body. Under the constitution, which was adopted in December 1777, he was elected a member of the Governor's Council and first treasurer of the state in March 1778.
He was, after that, many times the official representative of the state in its negotiations with New Hampshire and other states for the recognition of Vermont's independence. As recognition was not forthcoming from the Continental Congress, Allen, with his brother Ethan, who had been approached in 1780 in the matter by Colonel Beverly Robinson, a Loyalist, became interested in the possibility of a separate peace and alliance with Great Britain. Ostensibly to negotiate for the exchange of prisoners, Allen went to Isle aux Noix early in May 1781 to meet General Haldimand's representative, Major Dundas. While there he had a secret conference with Captain Justus Sherwood, a Loyalist in the service of Haldimand, regarding a treaty, under the terms of which Vermont was to become a British province, with her borders guarded by British troops. Conclusive evidence as to Allen's motive in this affair has never been forthcoming.
On the face of it the Allens seem to have entered the negotiations in the hope of forcing the Continental Congress to recognize the independence of Vermont; ultimately they appear to have become convinced that a British alliance was necessary to ensure the autonomy of the territory, since the New York representatives were still powerful enough to prevent Congress from coming to terms. The proclamation of the cessation of hostilities in April 1783 put a stop to active negotiation on the part of the British, whose interest in Vermont had been for the most part a strategic one, but the Allens, particularly Levi, who had in 1779 been publicly condemned by Ethan as a Loyalist, continued to foster the idea of making Vermont a British province, mainly for commercial reasons, as Vermont was then virtually an independent republic and remained so until she was admitted to the Union as a state in 1791.
Levi Allen was in London in 1789-1891, not, however, as the accredited representative of the state, attempting to bring about the alliance. He returned to Vermont in 1791, and died in jail ten years later, having been imprisoned for debt. Meanwhile, Ira was negotiating for commercial treaties with Quebec, and furthering other interests of the same kind. In 1789 he gave land to assist the founding of the University of Vermont. In 1795 he went to England to buy arms for the Vermont militia, of which he was then major-general. He bought his munitions in France, however, and sailed for home with them in the Olive Branch, which was captured by the British in November 1796. A long litigation ensued and Allen spent large sums in carrying the fight through the British courts, which finally decided in his favor. A question was raised regarding the purpose for which the arms were purchased, but Allen's explanation was accepted.
He published, in London, in 1798, his Natural and Political History of the State of Vermont, which, although not strictly accurate, is valuable in that it was written by one of the principal pioneers of the state. In the same year he issued the Particulars of the Capture of the Ship Olive Branch.
In 1801 he returned to America to find that his party had lost power, and that much of his property had been seized. He was immediately arrested and thrown into prison in Burlington, but was released by order of the legislature and granted immunity from arrest for one year. He fled to Philadelphia, where he spent the remainder of his life, attempting to recuperate his fortune, revising and reissuing his account of the Olive Branch affair, and revising his History (which was never reissued). He died there of "retrocedent gout" on January 15, 1814. He was originally buried in Philadelphia's Arch Street Presbyterian Cemetery, but his remains were lost when that burial ground was obliterated. Now his cenotaph is located in Audubon's Wetherills Cemetery.
(Book by Allen, Ira)
Allen was a man of medium stature, polished in his appearance, and inclined to the niceties of good living, although he could and did endure the hardships of pioneer life.
About 1789 Allen married Jerusha, the daughter of General Roger and Jerusha (Hayden) Enos. The couple had three children.