William Baron Allegre
- formal_name:
- first_date: 1785
- last_date: 1820
- function: Printer, Publisher
- locales: Richmond
- precis: Richmond-based journeyman and job printer between 1785 and about 1820.
- notes: Printer & Publisher
Richmond
Richmond-based journeyman and job printer between 1785 and about 1820.
Allegre was a native born Virginian who was trained as a printer in Richmond after the Revolutionary War. His first appearance in the trade in as an apprentice in the office of Augustine Davis (119) after that printer's relocation to Richmond in 1785. Later, he was associated with the Federalist press of William Alexander Rind (359), probably serving as his shop foreman (1799-1800). Between those two associations, he worked a journeyman on various presses in the state capital. When Rind relocated his paper to Washington in mid-1800, Allegre returned to that subordinate role.
After the War of 1812, he was finally able to establish his own press shop on the north side of "F Street, between 17th and 18th" – today just east of the intersection of East Franklin and Ambler streets, near the Main Street railroad station. Allegre reportedly maintained a sizeable job-printing office there, producing the popular almanac that was sold annually by bookseller Peter Cottom (107) in his three Virginia stores between 1817 and 1820. Such a recurring contract evinces his sober professionalism.
Allegre likely retired shortly after 1820, as he then neared age sixty, an old age in a trade notorious for early deaths; his death finally came in April 1833 at the age of sixty-nine. He left his wife of twenty-five years, Anna Barrow, and four children. He was predeceased by his sister Sophia, who had been the first wife of Albert Gallatin, before the Pennsylvanian served as Thomas Jefferson's Treasury Secretary. His son, William Barrow Allegre (1813-77), followed Allegre into the print trade, capping that service as a proprietor of the venerable Richmond Enquirer during the Civil War.
NB: His surname is variously reported as Allegere, Allegre, Allegree, and Alleger; the spelling used here is that found on his grave stone in St Paul's Church cemetery in Richmond; it is also the one used by his son in his printing career.
Personal Data
Born:
In
1764
Henrico County, Virginia.
Married:
In
1808
Henrico County, Virginia.
Died:
April 17
1833
Henrico County, Virginia.
Children:
William (1813-77), Frances, Rebecca (b. 1827), Nancy; one other died in infancy.
Sources: Imprints, Hubbard on Richmond; Federal Decennial Census, 1820; Annals of Henrico Parish.
- Related Bios:
This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The
content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection.
For more information, please see David Rawson Index of
Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond,
Virginia.
