My Genealogy Hound

JOHN J. VAN ALLEN. The life of this well known attorney of Watkins has been one of untiring effort, unaided by any of the advantages that tend so materially to help young men. To him belongs the distinction of being not only one of the oldest attorneys of Schuyler County, but also the oldest lawyer now living in the county seat. The knowledge acquired by an academical education in youth he has supplemented by constant reading, that makes him one of the best informed men on general subjects in his community.

In the town of Birdsall, Allegany County, N. Y., the subject of this sketch was born September 22, 1826. The grandfather, Peter Van Allen, was a native of Kinderhook, Columbia County, N. Y., his ancestors coming from Holland. They were among the first Dutch settlers of New York, emigrating about 1620. The father, John P., was also born in Kinderhook, Columbia County, February 1, 1794, and was reared to manhood on a farm. His marriage united him with Elizabeth Cooper, a native of Schodack, Rensselaer County, N. Y., and daughter of John Cooper, who removed from Rensselaer to Cayuga County, settling near the village of Cato.

The parental family consisted of four sons and four daughters, of whom four are still living, John J. being the third of the number. His boyhood days were passed at Angelica, Allegany, County, where he was a student in the district schools and the academy. Later he carried on his studies in the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, N. Y. For five years he clerked in stores at Angelica, Waterloo and Seneca Falls. On completing his literary studies, he began to read law with Diven, Hathaway & Woods, at Elmira, and in July, 1851, was admitted to practice at the Bar in Cooperstown, Otsego County, at the general term of the Supreme Court.

Immediately afterward Mr. Van Allen came to Watkins, and commenced a general law practice, to which the succeeding years have been devoted. Having practiced forty-four years in the county, he is, as above stated, the oldest member of the Schuyler County Bar. In January, 1856, he was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington, D. C., and practices in state and federal courts.

The political views of Mr. Van Allen are of a positive character; he is a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school, and he has been intimately identified with the history of that party for forty years or more. On different occasions he has been a delegate to national and state conventions, in which he has taken an active part, discharging his duties in a praiseworthy manner. During the campaign of Horace Greeley, Mr. Van Allen did not favor him for President, and with other members of the party he issued a circular letter to prominent Democrats throughout the country, urging that a Democratic candidate be placed in the field in opposition to Greeley. The result was that a convention met at Louisville, Ky., September 3, 1872, when Charles O’Conor was nominated for President and John Quincy Adams for Vice-President. The former, however, declined the nomination.

June 21, 1852, Mr. Van Allen married Miss Sophia L. Downer, daughter of Joseph G. Downer, an old resident of Auburn, N. Y. She died February 15, 1874, leaving four children, namely: Charlotte L., wife of L. Comstock, of Oxford, Chenango County, N. Y.; Washington Irving, an attorney residing at Mt. Morris, N. Y.; Altia, who is married and lives in Detroit, Mich.; and Margaretta, who is at home. The present wife of Mr. Van Allen, with whom he was united February 23, 1875, was Miss Anna Augusta Bennett, of Norwich, Chenango County, N. Y. Socially our subject is connected with Jefferson Lodge No. 326, F. & A. M., at Watkins. A generous, kind-hearted man, he gives of his means to all worthy objects, especially those calculated to promote the general welfare, and to the needy his aid is always cheerfully extended.