Allen, Ethan

(1796-Nov. 21, 1879). Church historian. He was born in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, and raised in the Congregational Church. Allen graduated from Middlebury College in 1818. He then went to Prince George County, Maryland, as a lay reader in the Episcopal Church. He was ordained deacon on Mar. 7, 1819. He served parishes in Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Ohio. He also served as an assistant to Bishop Cobbs of Alabama from 1844 until 1847. He returned to Maryland in 1847, serving as rector of St. John's in the Valley, Baltimore County, Maryland, from 1847 until 1854. He served parishes in Maryland until 1874. From 1870 until 1879, Allen was the historiographer of the Diocese of Maryland. Among his many historical publications, one of the most helpful is Clergy in Maryland in the Protestant Episcopal Church Since the Independence of 1783 (1860). He died in Newport, Kentucky.