Isham R. Allen was a wicked, profane youth; but on professing faith in Christ, about 1837, he united with the church at Owensboro, and was probably baptized by John L. Burrows. He was licensed to preach, at Pleasant Grove church in Daviess county, about 1841, and, about two years later, was ordained to the ministry. For a number of years he preached with great zeal, in connection with William Head and John G. Howard; and, by his fervent exhortations, gave much aid in gathering a number of churches, on both sides of the Ohio river. He was a very impulsive man, was somewhat eccentric, and his gift consisted principally in exhortation. During the latter years of his life, he preached but little. He died at his home in Owensboro, a little past middle life, not far from 1864.

Source: A history of Kentucky Baptists: from 1769 to 1885, Vol. II. John H. Spencer, Cincinnati, 1886