John Allan was born on January 3, 1746 in Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. He was the son of Major William Allan and Isabella Maxwell. His father, a British soldier, took his family in 1749 to the newly founded town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, later settling on a tract of land, vacated by the Acadians in 1756, near Fort Cumberland.
Allan received his education in Massachusetts, and learned French and some Native American dialects.
In early manhood, Allan occupied such public positions as justice of the peace, clerk of the sessions, and clerk of the supreme court, meanwhile carrying on an agricultural and mercantile business. From 1770 to June 28, 1776 he was a member of the provincial Assembly.
His sojourn in Massachusetts, where he had been sent sometime during his youth to complete his education, apparently led him to sympathize with the colonial cause. He became so active in organizing sentiment, particularly among the Indians, against the British government, that steps were taken to apprehend him on the charge of treason. Forced thus to flee the country, he arrived in Machias, Maine, August 13, 1776, leaving his wife and five children to suffer many hardships before they were allowed to join him. Later a reward was offered for his capture. The Council of Massachusetts had already recognized the possibility that Nova Scotia might be induced to join its cause. The Council in November 1776 and the Continental Congress in January 1777 received Allan sympathetically, the latter body appointing him its agent to the Eastern Indians. Under the general direction of the Massachusetts Council a plan was formulated: to protect the settlements in eastern Maine, to prevent the British in Nova Scotia from communicating with those in Canada through the St. John River, to free Nova Scotia from British control. The St. John Expedition of June-August 1777 under Allan's leadership was a failure as a military movement because of lack of support. As an attempt to secure the friendship of the Indians, however, it was of value. Allan's knowledge of Indian character and dialects, and of French, gained in the course of trade, added to his resourcefulness, courage, and faith in the cause he represented, made him an ideal agent to the Indians.
For the remainder of the war, Allan made his headquarters at Machias, of the garrison of which Massachusetts in September 1777 appointed him colonel. Though faced with extreme difficulties--lack of men, ammunition, and supplies for the Indian trade which would alone prevent the Indians from deserting to the British with disastrous effect to the Americans--he managed affairs with such skill that Machias remained the eastern outpost of the United States until the close of the war.
Resigning his commission April 15, 1783, Allan engaged in mercantile business on Allan's Island in Passamaquoddy Bay from 1784 to 1786, when he retired to Lubec Mills, where he lived until his death. He is buried on Allan's Island.
Allan made significant contributions to the establishment of the border between the state of Maine and Nova Scotia and to his success must be attributed the fact that the northeast boundary is now the St. Croix and not the Kennebec. During the revolution his knowledge of French and of several Indian languages, as well as his negotiating skills, helped to keep the Indian tribes from supporting the British.
Allan married Mary Patton on October 10, 1767. They had seven children.
