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Lewis Falley Allen (January 1, 1800 – May 2, 1890) was an American farmer, businessman, politician and prominent Buffalonian. Allen was the uncle of President Grover Cleveland and is credited with introducing Cleveland to the practice of law and politics, therefore paving the way for his eventual presidency.
Early life
Lewis Falley Allen was born on January 1, 1800 in Westfield, Massachusetts, the son of Samuel Allen (1777-1855) and Ruth Falley (1776-1826). His grandfather was Captain Richard Falley (1740-1808), partially of French Huguenot descent, who was an American soldier who fought in the Battle of Bunker Hill, built a musket armory at Mt. Tekoa, and was the armorer to the 18th Mass. regiment. Samuel Allen, the youngest of 11 children, was not a farmer, like his father, but went into the mercantile business.
Allen received most of his formal education at the academy in his hometown, finishing in December 1812. When he was 13 years old, he went to New York City and began working for a wholesale importing and jobbing dry goods house as an apprentice. After that summer, he returned to work with his father, who had moved his mercantile business from New York to Connecticut where he manufactured woolen goods.
