Vermont and a leader of the Allen brothers Mountain Boys during the American colonial period. He was the younger brother of Ethan Allen.
During the American Revolutionary War, Allen was a leading figure in the declaration of the Vermont Republic in 1777, which was originally intended to be independent of both the British colonies and the newly founded United States. Allen designed the Great Seal of Vermont. Over two days at Windsor in 1778, Allen drew the seal and Reuben Dean, a local silversmith, made it. The two men were each paid ten shillings for their work. In 1780, Allen presented to the state legislature a memorial for the establishment of the University of Vermont.
Allen was Vermont’s first Treasurer and held office from 1778 to 1786, when he was succeeded by Samuel Mattocks. He also served as the first Surveyor General of Vermont from 1779 to 1787. On October 25, 1790, Ira Allen was commissioned Major General of the Third Division of the Vermont State Militia by Governor Thomas Chittenden. Allen died in Philadelphia, where he had gone to escape imprisonment for debt, caused by his long absence from Vermont. He was originally buried in Philadelphia’s Arch Street Presbyterian Cemetery, but his remains were lost when that site was destroyed.