Joseph Alleine

Joseph Alleyn (baptized April 8, 1634 - November 17, 1668) was an English non-conformist pastor and author of many religious works. Alleyn belonged to the family that originally settled in Suffolk. As early as 1430, some of the descendants of Alan, Lord Buckenhall, settled in the vicinity of Calne and Devises. These were the immediate ancestors of the “worthy Mr. Toby Allin Devises,” father Joseph, who was the fourth of a large family born in Devises in early 1634. The year 1645 is marked on the title page of a strange old treatise, a witness, as the year of its entry into the Christian race. His older brother Edward, who was a clergyman, died this year; and Joseph begged his father so that he could be educated in order to succeed his brother in service. In April 1649, he entered Lincoln College, Oxford, and on November 3, 1651, he became a scientist at Corpus Christi College. July 6, 1653, he received a bachelor of theology and became a mentor and chaplain of Corpus Christi, preferring this to communication. In 1654, he had offers of high preference in the state, which he refused; but in 1655, George Newton of St. Mary Magdalene Taunton sought him out as an assistant, and Alleyn accepted the invitation. Almost simultaneously with his ordination as assistant pastor, his marriage with Theodosia Alleina, daughter of Richard Alleyn, occurred. The friendship between the “affectionate and simple” first, with Lady Farewell, the granddaughter of Somerset's defender, testifies to the attractiveness of Alleyn’s personal life.