Willis Allen

Willis Allen ( * December 15, 1806 at Roanoke, Virginia, † April 15, 1859 in Harrisburg, Illinois ) was an American politician. Between 1851 and 1855 he represented the state of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Willis Allen attended the public schools of his home. Then he taught himself for some time as a teacher. He first moved into the Wilson County, Tennessee. Since 1830 he lived in Franklin County, Illinois. After studying law and qualifying as a lawyer, he started in Marion to work in this profession. Between 1834 and 1838 he was sheriff in his district. At the same time he proposed as a member of the Democratic Party launched a political career. From 1838 to 1840 he sat as an MP in the House of Representatives from Illinois; 1844-1847 he was a member of the State Senate. 1841 Allen attorney for the first judicial district of Illinois. In the years 1847 and 1848 he was a delegate at a meeting to revise the State Constitution.

In the congressional elections of 1850 Allen was in the second electoral district of Illinois in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of John Alexander McClernand on March 4, 1851. After a re-election he was able to complete in Congress until March 3, 1855 two legislative sessions. Since 1853 he represented there, the then newly created ninth district of his state. His time in Congress was marked by the events leading up to the Civil War. In 1854 he gave up another candidacy.

After the end of his time in the U.S. House of Representatives Willis Allen practiced as a lawyer again. Since 2 March 1859 he was a judge in the 26th Judicial District of Illinois. He died on April 15, 1859 during a court hearing in Harrisburg. His son William (1829-1901) was also a congressman.