 |
| Hon. George W. Allen - He was born in Cazenovia, Madison
Co., N.Y., in December 1818. His early days of labor were spent in the tannery
with his father. He was liberally educated, prepared for college, and entered
the Wesleyan University, Connecticut, in 1838, and graduated at Union College,
New York, in 1841. For a time, he read law, intending to follow that profession,
but soon changed his mind, preferring commercial pursuits, and entered into
partnership with his father in 1842, under the firm name of R. Allen &
Son. At this period of his life, he was given to politics and public speaking.
In 1842, he delivered a speech against what was then called Political
Abolitionism, when he was challenged by Hon. Gerrit Smith to meet him in
public debate on that question, which was accepted; and, after the discussion,
the almost universal verdict was in favor of Mr Allen.
In 1847, he was married to Jane Savage of New York. On the breaking-out of the war in 1861, Mr. Allen was active in the cause of the country, making his eloquent and strong appeals, contributing largely of his means, as well as time, to sustain the government. He and his brother were successful in raising one company, which was mustered into the Twenty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteers, under the name of the "Allen guards;" and his services were unremitted to the close of the war. He urged the heaviest taxation in all its forms; saying, that, where so many gave their lives, others should give their property, to the common cause. After the close of the war, the necessity for such taxation no longer needed, he was influential in having them reduced. He has contributed more to the leather interest of this country than any other man. During his visit to Vienna, at the World's Exposition, he gathered much valuable information, which contributed largely to the business of the firm, and to the leather industry throughout the country. He is one of those men who go out and beyond self into the higher and broader atmosphere of the public good. |
==
Following from the source:
Richard N. Current. History of Wisconsin Civil War Era 1848-1873 - Vol. II.
William Fletcher Thompson, General Editor; State Hist. Society of Wis., Madison, 1976; ISBN 0870201220 -
For a time, the Wisconsin Leather Company - the outgrowth of the leather shop which the brothers George and William Allen, tanners from Cazenovia, New York, had established in Milwaukee in 1846, and the tannery they had set up at Two Rivers two years later, carried on the largest tanning business in the entire Northwest.
During the 1850's this company was rivaled by the Milwaukee firm of Guido Pfister and Fred Vogel, Wurttembergers who had previously been in the business in Buffalo.
*See Title Page of Book for full source
