William Boyd Allison

William Boyd Allison (1829-1908), American legislator, was born in Perry, Ohio, on 2 March 1829. Educated at Allegheny and Western Reserve Colleges, he studied law and practised in Ohio until 1857.

In that year he settled in Dubuque, Iowa, where he took a prominent part in Republican politics, and in 1860 he was a delegate to the national convention in Chicago, which nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. In 1861 he was appointed a member of the staff of Governor Samuel J. Kirkwood[?] (1813-1894) and was of great service in the work of equipping and organizing the Iowa volunteers.

From 1863 until 1871 he served with distinction in the House of Representatives; in 1873 he was elected to the United States Senate and was reelected in 1878, 1884, 1890, 1896, and 1902. Here he became one of the highest authorities on questions connected with finance, and from 1877 he was a member of the Senate committee on finance. In 1881-1893 and again from 1895, he was chairman of the committee on appropriations, where he had great influence.

He declined offers of the secretaryship of the treasury made to him by Presidents Garfield and Harrison. He was a prominent candidate for the presidential nomination in the Republican national conventions of 1888 and 1896. In 1892 he was chairman of the American delegation to the International Monetary Conference in Brussels. He died in Dubuque, Iowa, on 4 August 1908.

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Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed