Peter Buell Allen

Peter Buell Allen (November 24, 1775 – June 13, 1833) was a politician and military commander in New York State in the early 1800s and a pioneer of Vigo County and Terre Haute, Indiana. Peter Buell Allen was born in Dutchess County, New York to Moses and Chloe (Ward) Allen and was the eldest of eight children, including his younger brother Nathaniel Allen. Peter and his wife, Mary moved from Duchess County to Ontario County, New York in 1797 and the US Census of 1800 recorded them as having two sons, Ira age 1 and Henry age 3. In 1812 Peter Allen served in the Ontario County Legislature before being commissioned in the New York State Militia as a Commanding Lieutenant Colonel in the 22nd Infantry Regiment. After the War of 1812 Allen became involved with St. Pauls Protestant Episcopal Church in Richmond, New York was elected to two terms in the New York State Assembly as a representative of Ontario County, before selling his New York and Connecticut land holdings to his brother Nathaniel Allen, in 1817, and moving west, eventually landing in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1818. Freemasonry On December 24, 1802 Peter Allen is recorded as being one of nine Freemasons in Ontario County, New York (in what would become the Town of Richmond, New York) who signed a petition to the Grand Lodge of New York, Free & Accepted Masons, for permission to form Genesee Lodge, the petition was endorsed by Ontario Lodge No. 23 as the nearest lodge, in Canandaigua, New York. The Charter to work as Genesee Lodge No. 32 was issued on June 14, 1806.