Biography

Stephen Allen was baptized in the Moravian Church in New York City. The record of his birth is in the original handwritten church records in the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Stephen Allen's father died when he was two years old. He spent his early years with an aunt and uncle and describes in his memoirs living in New York City during the British occupation in the Revolutionary War. He tells how he accompanied his aunt to take soup to the American prisoners shut up in sugar houses, used a prisons. The prisoners were given no food, water or blankets and resorted to eating their shoes and clothes. At about age nine he was apprenticed to a sailmaker, along with his older brother. He was a poor sail maker's apprentice during the Revolutionary War. After the Revolution he struggled to make a living in his trade. He eventually made his fortune during the War of 1812, when he took promissory notes from the new young U.S. government for canvas "duck" cloth which was needed for sails for American war ships. Other bigger suppliers had refused to accept the promissory notes. Stephen Allen made a good return on his duck cloth, later invested in real estate, was president of a bank and was also a judge. He went into politics, serving as a New York City councilman and as the mayor of New York City. He oversaw the founding of Sing Sing prison, advocated for a separate system of justice for juvenile offenders, and worked on the Croton water project to bring clean water to New York City, after seeing the devastation of diseases caused by unsafe drinking water. He was known as a blunt spoken man of great integrity. His memoirs in which he recounts his career show that he was constantly active in civic affairs, always motivated to improve life for the people of the city. He declined to give to charity when requested by others, but quietly gave to causes dear to his heart. Stephen Allen was killed at age 85 in the wreck of the steamship Henry Clay, which was racing another steamboat. Newspaper articles recount how he was alive in the water when a young man swam out to help him. Stephen Allen directed the young man to rescue women and children first. When the young man returned for him, Stephen Allen had disappeared. Some time later his body was found. The homilies he carried in his pocket were published and widely circulated in the press of the day. Stephen Allen was married three times and had seventeen children. 


SSS mentions him in a letter to WHS 18320201