Elisha Hunt ALLEN, Congress, ME (1804-1883)

ALLEN, Elisha Hunt, (son of Samuel Clesson Allen), a Representative from Maine; born in New Salem, Mass., January 28, 1804; attended New Salem Academy, and was graduated from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., in 1823; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1825 and commenced practice in Brattleboro, Vt.; moved to Bangor, Maine, and continued the practice of law; member of the Maine house of representatives 1835-1840, serving as speaker in 1838; elected as a Whig to the Twenty-seventh Congress (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1843); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1842 to the Twenty-eighth Congress; again elected to the Maine house of representatives in 1846; moved to Boston, Mass., in 1847 and resumed the practice of his profession; elected to the Massachusetts house of representatives in 1849; appointed consul to Honolulu in 1850; was prominently connected with the government of the Hawaiian Islands as chief justice and regent, and as envoy to the United States in 1856 and 1864; served as minister from the Kingdom of Hawaii to the United States from 1869 until his sudden death January 1, 1883, while attending a diplomatic reception given by President Chester A. Arthur in the White House at Washington, D.C.; interment in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Mass.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present