Allen, Frank Dewey, son of Charles Francis and Olive Ely (Dewey) Allen, was born in Worcester, August 16, 1850.
He was educated in the Worcester high school; was graduated from Yale in the class of 1873, and from the Boston University law school in 1875; was managing clerk in the offices of Hillard, Hyde & Dickinson, Boston, remaining with them until 1878, when he was admitted to the Suffolk county bar.
Upon severing his connection with Hillard, Hyde & Dickinson, he opened an office for himself in Boston, where he has ever since been located as attorney and counselor-at-law.
Mr. Allen was married in Lynn, January 9, 1878, to Lucy, daughter of Trevett M. and Eliza (Munroe) Rhodes. They have no children.
In 1884 Mr. Allen organized the Massachusetts Temperance Home for Inebriates, which is located at Lynn. He was made its president, which position he still holds. He served one year as clerk of the Washington Street Baptist church, Lynn, when he resigned from pressure of other duties.
He was elected from Lynn to the House of Representatives in 1881 to ’82, serving on the judiciary committee and acting as its clerk, also on the committee on the removal of Judge Day, the congressional re-districting committee, and the committee on banks and banking.
He served on the Republican state central committee from the 1st Essex senatorial district for the years 1884, ’85 and ’86, and was on the executive committee of the same; was member of the governor’s Council, 1886, ’87 and ’88.
Mr. Allen is well known throughout the Commonwealth as a leader in the Republican Party. He has always been a firm believer in the “young Republican” element. His political sagacity and judgment are held in high esteem by men who are today authority in a political campaign. He is an able speaker, and has been often called to deliver Memorial Day addresses, as well as being appointed to stump during state and national campaigns. In behalf of the Plymouth Wollen Company he argued in favor of the constitutionality of the “act permitting municipal officers to authorize manufacturers to ring bells and use whistles and gongs for the benefit of their workmen.
As counsel for the Lancaster Bank, he succeeded in recovering the securities stolen from its vaults. He organized the Lynn Electric Lighting Company under the Thomson-Houston patents, and is still on of its directors.