Jeremiah Mervin Allen was an American engineer. He was a pioneer in steam-boiler insurance.
Background
Jeremiah Mervin Allen was born on May 18, 1833 in Enfield, Connecticut, United States. He was the son of Jeremiah V. Allen and Emily Pease. Jeremiah was seventh in descent from Samuel Allen, an early colonist who settled in Cambridge, Massachussets, in 1632. Among the descendants of Samuel was General Ethan Allen, and the Allen family intermarried with that branch of the Adams family which gave Samuel and John Adams to the Revolution.
A taste for science and mechanics seems to have been common in the family. One of the Allens was an astronomer and issued Allen's New England Almanac. Another was perhaps the earliest in this country to engage in the manufacture of telescopes and microscopes; others were contractors and builders.
Education
Allen remained at Enfield until twelve years of age, attending the primary schools of that place, and then studied for two years at Reverend Doctor Lawton's school at Longmeadow, Massachussets, after which he spent four years at Westfield Academy, in studies directed toward his becoming a civil engineer.
Career
Allen taught school for four years, improving himself in the meantime with reading and study. In 1865 he became connected in Hartford, Connecticut, with the insurance business, thus making his first contact with the field of activity which was later to become his life-work. In the year 1857 there had been formed by a few young men in Hartford an association known as the "Polytechnic Club, " with the purpose of discussing matters of science in relation to every-day life. Among other subjects discussed at meetings of this Club was that of steam-boiler explosions and their causes. As these discussions developed, the subject became one of special interest, and in the environment of Hartford, with its large insurance activities, these early beginnings led, in 1866, to the organization of a company "to inspect steam-boilers and to ensure their owners against loss or damage arising from boiler explosion. " With his deep interest in the subject itself, his taste for mechanical and engineering matters, and his previous experience in the insurance business, Allen was chosen to lead in this new enterprise, and from 1867 to his death was president and general manager of the company.
Allen's interests were wide, and in one way or another he was connected with most of the leading movements in his community. Among many other duties and activities he served as president of the Hartford board of trade, member and president of the board of trustees of the Hartford Theological Seminary and non-resident lecturer in the Sibley College of Mechanical Engineering, Cornell University. He was active in the work of the Y. M. C. A. and served a term as president. He was likewise a member of many societies and organizations, scientific, technical, and historical.
He died at the age of seventy, active in his many interests to the last, loved and honored by associates and friends.
Achievements
Allen's lasting contribution to industrial and social progress is to be found in his work in the field of steam-boiler inspection and insurance. This was distinctly a pioneer movement in its recognition of both the social and economic value of human life and in the taking of measures calculated to reduce the hazards and minimize the loss both of life and property due to steam-boiler explosions. Through the system of boiler inspection which was inaugurated under Allen's direction, as well as through the promulgation of carefully framed rules and regulations for design and operation, the hazards of steam-boiler operation were enormously reduced.
Connections
In 1856 Allen married Harriet S. Griswold of Ellington, Connecticut, by whom he had two children.
