Thomas ALLEN, Congress, MO (1813-1882)

ALLEN, Thomas, a Representative from Missouri; born in Pittsfield, Mass., August 29, 1813; attended Pittsfield Academy and Berkshire Gymnasium; was graduated from Union College in 1832; studied law in New York City; was admitted to the bar in 1835 and commenced practice in New York City in 1832; moved to Washington, D.C., and established the Madisonian in 1837; printer to the House of Representatives 1837-1839; printer to the United States Senate 1839-1842; moved to St. Louis, Mo., in 1842; member of the State senate 1850-1854; was a contractor upon internal improvements and projected and built more than 1,000 miles of railway; in 1852 took the first steam locomotive across the Mississippi River; president of the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway, but subsequently sold all his railway interests and retired from active pursuits; elected as a Democrat to the Forty-seventh Congress and served from March 4, 1881, until his death in Washington, D.C., April 8, 1882; interment in Pittsfield Cemetery, Pittsfield, Mass.

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