REV. JAMES ALLEN

The Rev. James Allen proved to be one of the most popular and respected ministers of the Island. The following excerpt indicates

the renoun of this scholar and pastor:

Rev. James Allen was born in Dunbar, Scotland, on July 20, 1817, and was a son of Richard Allan, a school master. During his early years, his Surroundings were such as to give his mind a bent toward socialistic matters, in the discussion of which he afterwards became noted. Until sixteen years of age he attended the parish school and November 5, 1833, he entered the University of Edinburgh, where he remained seven years, graduating with honor. The following four or five years were spent teaching school in Edinburgh and preaching through various parts of Scotland. Having decided to make the preaching of the gosPel his life work, Mr. Allan, in 1845, at the age of twenty-eight years, came to Halifax, Nova Scotia as a probationer. Cove Head and West St. Peters extended to him a hearty and unanimous call the following winter, offers being also extended from other churches, particularly St. James kirk, Charlottetown, and London Dairy, Nova Scotia, However, he accepted the Cove Head appointment and was ordained and inducted into charge of that congregation in July, 1846. After six years of faithful service, during which the congregations had grown in numbers and in material prosperity, Mr. Allan felt justified

in separating the two charges, organizing West St. Peter as a separate

charge on July 28, 1858.

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