George Nelson Allen

Born: September 7, 1812, Mans­field, Mass­a­chu­setts. Died: De­cem­ber 9, 1877, Cin­cin­na­ti, Ohio. Buried: West­wood Cem­e­tery, Ober­lin, Ohio. Allen stu­died mu­sic in Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts, un­der Lowell Mason. In 1837, Allen be­came an in­struct­or in Sci­ence of Music at Ober­lin Col­lege, while he was still a stu­dent; a year lat­er, he was ap­point­ed in­struct­or of Sac­red Mu­sic, and be­came a full pro­fess­or in 1841. Allen was al­so a stu­dent of ge­ol­o­gy, and 1847 be­came pro­fess­or of Ge­ol­o­gy and Nat­ur­al His­to­ry. In 1837, Allen found­ed the Ober­lin Mu­sic­al As­so­ci­a­tion (now known as the Mu­sic­al Un­ion), one of the old­est or­gan­iz­a­tions of its type in Amer­i­ca. In 1844, he com­piled the Ober­lin So­cial and Sab­bath Hymn Book.