That man supposedly became the wealthiest Virginian of his day, as well as a lumber and railroad magnate before enlisting in the Confederate cause in May 1861 and financing the Jamestown Heavy Artillery.
[4] Upon reaching legal age, Allen followed his father's public career path and began serving on the Lawnes Creek Parish vestry.
He also served with the Surry County militia, and attained the rank of Captain in 1677 and Major at some point between the fall of 1680 and the spring of the following year.
[4] Beginning in 1680 Surry County voters elected and re-elected Allen and fellow planter Samuel Swann (son of Thomas Swann, a member of the Governor's Council) as their representatives in the Virginia House of Burgesses, except during the November 1682 session when they elected instead planters Benjamin Harrison and William Browne.
[13] Considered to be a man of influence and affiliated with the Green Spring faction led by Berkeley's widow and several members of the Virginia Governor's Council, fellow burgesses twice elected Allen as their Speaker (in 1686 and 1688).
[4][3] In 1689, when Philip Ludwell Sr. was named governor of North Carolina by that colony's proprietors, Allen accompanied him and made surveys.
[3] In the 1691 assembly Allen and fellow burgess-elect James Bray refused to take the newly rewritten oath of allegiance and supremacy which recognized the ascent of William III and Mary II following the Glorious Revolution.
Allen cited "Scruple of Conscience" and his oath of allegiance to the former James II, and so was not seated, and also could not hold any office in Virginia for what turned out to be 14 years.
Allen finally subscribed to the oath in the spring of 1702 (after James II had died in exile), and was soon thereafter sworn in as one of the board of visitors governing the College of William and Mary.
[4][3] Allen also returned to the Surry County Court (as its senior member) in the fall of 1702, after swearing allegiance to Queen Anne.
[4] In April 1703, Governor Nicholson appointed Allen naval officer for the Upper District of the James River, a lucrative post collecting tobacco taxes, and which he held through his death.
Allen also was again named surveyor for Surry and Isle of Wight Counties, only resigning that position in favor of his son John in 1707.