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Handbook

For The

Descendants Of

John Allison, The Elder

The

Scotch-Irish

Emigrate From

Londonderry, Ireland

By:

Mel Allison

Updated: Jan. 15, 2015

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General Family History

I have traced my Ancestry, to John Allison the Elder who I believe is a first generation of

immigrate to America. Engle’s Notes and Queries; Series 3, Volume III Page 164, 1896, give

his birth place as Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Some Allison families and families associated

with the Allisons are listed as from Derry, Tyrone, Donegal, and Antrim Counties of northern

part of Ireland. The Mease family is from Strabane. Londonderry is a seaport, however both

Londonderry and Strabane are both on the River Foyle. With what little information is available,

the Allison and Mease families may have been more associated with commerce and seafaring

enterprises than farming. Upon their arrival those more interested in commerce remained in

Philadelphia-New Castle area and the those interested in agricultural eventually moved to

locations of cheap land in the hinterlands. The family may have originally settled in the New

Castle area before moving to Chester County.

By circa 1720 John Allison, the Elder had settled in Donegal Township, of Chester County.

Form the History of Lancaster and Dauphin Counties in appears that John Allison, Jr., James,

and Robert, were the first group to arrive with and Patrick, John Allison, Sr., and William

arriving later. Most of them settled in Donegal Township of Lancaster County (John Allison

Sr.’s farm later became a part of Derry Township of Dauphin; and William eventually settled in

what was to become Cumberland County.

Coming to America

The story of the Allison’s and the Scotch-Irish immigration to Pennsylvania started long before

their arrival in Lancaster County in the 1720’s. The dislike between the English and the Scotch

Presbyterians had been brewing for some time, however the issues that brought the Scotch

Presbyterians to America has a detour through Ireland. A military feud between the English and

Irish had existed for centuries, the Irishman always being the underdog. Still, the English were

never able to gain control much farther into Ireland than the districts which came to be known as

the "English Pale”--the districts of Drogheda, Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and Cork. The areas

outside the English Pale were referred to as “Beyond the Pale”, see Figure 1.

The situation became worse, in 1534 when Henry VIII of England broke from the Catholic

Church and attempted to force the Church of England upon Ireland. Henry VIII and his prodigy

Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I continued the crowns attempts to militarily control Ireland.

Lord Mountjoy, Queen Elizabeth's lieutenant sent to Ireland, suppress a revolt led by Hugh

O'Neill in the north of Ireland. The O'Neills, Earls of Tyrone, had for generations been at odds

with the English, and Hugh O'Neill and his father Shane O’Neill over extended period of time

would bring the conflict to a climax. By 1600, Lord Mountjoy, only militarily controlled the area

a few miles around Dublin, and it took three years of fighting with the sword before Mountjoy

was triumphant.

In 1610, James I who followed Elizabeth I, tried to strengthen English rule by attempting again

to bring English religion to Ireland, he started a program known as the Plantation of Ireland. The

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northern part of Ireland was

confiscated by the crown as

result of the O’Neill revolt;

and the lands gained were

allotted to new settlers of

Scotch and English

extraction, see Figure 1. The

program was a means to

dilute the Irish spirit by

transplanting within the Irish

population a more neutral

element. James I, set up

feudal states, he divided

Ulster into small portions,

which he leased to settlers.

Scotch Presbyterians were

predominant in the

colonization of the

confiscated part of Ulster,

almost six entire counties.

They settled principally in the

counties of Down, Antrim,

and Londonderry. They

crossed the North Channel in

great numbers, the principal

migration route was from the

northeastward, over the

narrow strait that divides

Scotland from Ireland. The

Scotch Protestants, took

refuge from persecution,

abandoned the land of their birth, and sought asylum among their countrymen who had preceded

them to Ulster. Some crossed the narrow sea in open boats, carrying their household goods with

them. The plan was a brilliant success economically, farms and homesteads, churches and mills,

rose fast amidst the desolate wilds of Tyrone. The confiscation of 1610, raised the economic

prosperity of Ulster high above the rest of Ireland. The evicted natives withdrew sullenly to the

lands which had been left them by the spoiler.

With the rise to power in 1685 of the English King James II, a Catholic, peace between the

English, Irish and the Scotch Presbyterians deteriorated even further. With James II,

Presbyterians in Scotland had no peace; so many came across the channel into Northern Ireland,

not to settle but to hide; and it can seem that the American immigrants of that period from

Ireland came mainly from these Scottish refugees, rather than from those Scots who had settled

in Ulster under James I. The record shows that Scotch Presbyterians in Ulster and the entire

realm, eventually became the target of English persecution. The Irish seem to have improved

their condition during this period.

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After a period of time James II was challenged by William of Orange for the throne of England

and in 1689 he was forced to seek refuge in France. Irish Catholics were glad to conspire with

him to overthrow the government of William of Orange and the Church of England. James II

planned to use an Irish Army to invade England. However, the plan was distasteful to the Irish,

as they viewed the plan; they were only interested in an opportunity to regain Ulster for the Irish

and to drive Englishmen and Scotchmen out of Ireland. Beyond that, they were not willing to

fight. So James had to amend his plans, and the attack upon the Ulsterites developed. The

Catholic Irish under James II spent their force in a futile effort to take Londonderry, so heroically

defended; and when the siege was lifted, James temporarily fell back on Dublin. However, the

dominion of James II in Ireland was brief. In 1690, William of Orange himself landed at

Carrickfergus, and with his forces encountered the Irish and French armies at the Battle of the

Boyne, there winning a brilliant victory. However, it soon became evident that Presbyterians

were as much "beyond the Pale" as the Catholics, after the victory of William of Orange. The

Church of England was to be the only tolerated religion in Ireland; and Presbyterians found

themselves "shut out by law from all civil, military and municipal offices." Furthermore, Scotch

settlers in Ulster, after they had held land for thirty-one years, found themselves evicted. The

new regime thereafter exacted such high rentals that life in Ulster became impossible for the

tenants. Their ministers were forbidden to solemnize marriages, and the children of such

marriages were treated as illegitimate, the partners subject to punishment for fornication, and

forbidden to educate their children in their own faith.

The Plantation of Ireland never achieved its social goals. There was probably some degree of

intermarriage, but the Protestant Ulsterites and Catholic Irish never harmoniously merged. From

1660 to 1688 no less than eighteen thousand Scotch Presbyterians were put to death in various

ways in defense of their religion. In looking over the list of those put to death one is forcibly

struck with the fact that among them are the very surnames of the Scotch-Irish emigrants to

Pennsylvania -- Allison, Stewart, Gray, Thompson, Murray, Robinson, Rutherford, McCormick,

Mitchell, Kerr, Todd, Beatty, Johnston, Hamilton, Finley, McCord, McEwen, Hall, Boyd, Clark,

Sloan, Elder, Forster, Montgomery, Robertson and others. These people are lineal descendants

of those who shed their blood in defense of the religious liberties and privileges we enjoy today.

They were determined to seek a home where the long arm of the English was too short to reach

them. This is when the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians began the emigration to America. From 1718

to 1750, the counties of Down, Antrim, Armagh and Derry were emptied of Protestant-

inhabitants. It is estimated that in two years following the Antrim evictions, 30,000 Protestants

left Ulster. The reason why there was not also an exodus of Catholic Irish to America at this

time is probably that they were so much poorer than the Scots of Ulster and perhaps they saw in

the departure of the Scots a sign that their own lot was brightening; that they would again come

into their own. Perhaps they had such inherent hatred of the Ulsterites that, even for their own

good, they would not follow a lead set by the Scots. The "Scotch-Irish" term is American in

origin, and unknown in Ireland, it does not denote an admixture of the Scotch and Irish races, the

Presbyterians in Ulster were always Scots to Catholic Irishmen. The Scotch moved to Ireland in

about 1610, and then departing Ireland over the period from1718 to 1773, for many it

represented a century and a half of Scottish people that were born and raised in Ireland. It was

not the home of their ancestors, it was not endeared to them by traditions, and they sought and

obtained in the wilds of Pennsylvania a better home than they had in the Old World.

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Some Presbyterians came to Pennsylvania and to Lancaster County as mentioned earlier as

refugees from the mainland, but the first migration of Ulsterites did not reach appreciable

volume until 1718. The Toleration Act stopped emigration for a while, but it began anew in

about 1728, "and ships could not be procured to carry the emigrants as fast as they desired to

emigrate." It was estimated that from 1729 to 1750 twelve thousand persons a year came from

Ulster to America. Six thousand Scotch-Irish Presbyterians had settled in Pennsylvania by the

year 1729. "In September, 1736, alone, one thousand families sailed from Belfast on account of

the difficulty of renewing their leases." The basic cause of the second exodus, which began in

1771, was like the first; leases had expired and could not be renewed except at extortionate

rentals.

When one appreciates what difficulties were experienced by those who crossed the seas, in those

days of small ships and appalling conditions of life on shipboard, disease sometimes taking a

death-toll of one-half of the passengers during the voyage, one can understand why the

Presbyterians were the backbone of the Revolution. They were American Patriots almost before

landing in America. Their grievances were directly against England. King George III is said to

have characterized the American Revolution as "a Presbyterian war." It was mainly the weight

of the 25,000 Ulster Presbyterians of the 1771-73 exodus that "changed the Delegates in the

Continental Congress and caused the vote of Pennsylvania to be cast in favor of the Declaration

of Independence." The emigration of Catholic Irish did not commence until the nineteenth

century was dawning, following the suppression by Cornwallis of the Irish revolt of 1798.

The first public voice in America for dissolving all connections with Great Britain came from the

Scotch-Irish Presbyterians. Whereas the other settlers were differently situated, Mennonites,

Germans, Swiss, Huguenots, settled here in most cases with feelings of gratitude toward

England, and accepted the rigorous conditions in their wilderness homes with feelings of relief

and thankfulness that they had escaped with their lives from their homeland; Presbyterians, on

the other hand, could not think of their hard lot in the New World without feelings of bitterness

against the government which had made it necessary for them to emigrate. The Scotch-Irish

emigrants landed principally at New Castle and Philadelphia, save a handful who had settled on

the Kennebec River in Maine, and of these the greater portion eventually came into

Pennsylvania. Settling on the frontiers from the Susquehanna and the Potomac, the steady

stream of emigrates continued south to Virginia and the Carolinas.

Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

From 1682 to 1722 the Providence of Pennsylvania was comprised of three county; Bucks,

Chester and Philadelphia. As emigration to Philadelphia and New Castle increased, starting in

the early 1700’s, the land near these ports filled first, by 1722 emigrates where leaving what is

now Chester County and moving into what would become Lancaster County. Lancaster County

was organized in 1729 comprising most of the territory west of present day Chester County. In

1722 several Allison’s are listed as tax payers in that portion of Chester County that later became

Lancaster County. Robert Allison, Patrick Allison. James Allison, and John Allison (Jr.), took

up land in Donegal Township of Lancaster County. John Allison the Elder the father of the

John Allison, Esq. settled in Derry Township of Lancaster County in 1725 across Conewago

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Creek from Donegal Township. Derry Township later became part of Dauphin County. There

was also an Andrew and Richard Allison living in Lancaster County in 1722. The Pennsylvania

patent records, lists the Allison families that patented land on the east side of the Susquehanna

River.

The following is the portion from Morrison’s Book that discusses a group of six brothers and a

sister that started in Donegal Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and later moved to

North Carolina. I have added annotations to pages 144, that I think add clarity to his original

discussion. The original text will be in bold text, information added for clarity and additional

information from other places will be in italic.

Page 144 CHAPTER VII.

Allison’s Of North Carolina--Five Branches—Allison’s Of Glas-

gow, Scotland, North Carolina, And Virginia. 1

Five brothers by name of Allison, born in Pennsylvania (one account says in Ireland), lived on the Yellowstone river in that state, and between 1760 and 1770; and before the War of the Revolution, they moved to North Carolina, while their brother, James Allison, remained in Pennsylvania. I have not found a Yellowstone River in Pennsylvania, however , a stream by the name of Yellow Breeches Creek running eastward south of Carlisle and entering on the west side of the Susquehanna River across the river form Harrisburg is the most probable stream. James who remained in Pennsylvania lived near by. The land in this area could be in present York, or Cumberland County. Settlers first entered the Cumberland Valley between 1725 and 1727. By 1730 there were a number of settlers there, but because the proprietors had not yet consummated a treaty with the Indians, they were considered illegal residents. Before 1729, they were part of the Indian Lands of Chester County. From 1729 to 1750, they were part of Lancaster County becoming a part of Cumberland County in 1750. In 1755 when the Indian incursions began, the population of 3,000 settlers dropped to about 300 people. It was not until the Treaty of 1764, when the Indians agreed to relinquish ownership of all lands east to the Muskingum River in Ohio, then the settlers returned. I assume James lived on the east side of the Susquehanna River and therefore received a deed for his property, whereas the remainder of the family that lived on the west side could not receive a deed. Probably the main reason for moving to North Carolina. They were of that strong Scotch stock which went from Scot- land to Ireland, and later to Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and the southern states, and who have been such magnificent builders of states and commonwealths. They settled in Iredell and Mecklenburgh counties, where the name to-day is very common. The names of these emigrants to North Carolina were:

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This group and several others, I believe are related to John Allison the Elder, but as of yet, I have

not found information that verifies these conclusion. The Pennsylvania patent records list the

Allisons that patented land on the east side of the Susquehanna River. No listing is made of

Allison’s that lived on the west side of the Susquehanna River and later moved to North

Carolina, except for William Allison son of John the Elder. The Allisons that settled on the west

side of the Susquehanna River were on property still owned by Indians, and were evicted by the

colonial government or by Indian attacks circa 1755. The land came into Pennsylvania

ownership in 1764.

Another likely or closely related groups are the John the Elder and Francis Allison family, they

seemed to interact frequently, with John the Elders grandchildren attending Frances Allison’s

school and later taught in the school. All the families located in an area between Chester and

Harrisburg upon there arrival in North America.

As will be seen in a latter part of this History, Patrick son of John the Elder, states he had and

aunt the lived in Cecil County Maryland. At this point, I do not know if this aunt was John the

Elders sister or a sister of Patrick mother.

Richard Allison came to Pennsylvania and settled in Donegal Township at the same time as John

the Elder’s children, I assume Richard and John the Elder are brothers. The genealogy of

Richard is included the appendix.

William Allison lived in Philadelphia and became the second husband of Grace Allison the

daughter of the aforementioned Patrick Allison son of John the Elder. In a book concerning her

son-in-law James McHenry, the book states Grace Allison married her cousin William Allison.

In conclusion it appears that William Allison’s father and John the Elder are also brothers or

cousins. William Allison of Philadelphia was the executor of the will of John Mease of

Philadelphia; the will states that William Allison and John Mease were cousins.

Movement

As we proceed though the first two chapters, the dispersion of 2nd and 3rd generations of the

Allison family though the colonies will be explained by the following section. The colonies

were populated in a fairly uniform density along the costal areas in the early 1700’s. As

emigrants to this country became ever increasing and various ports became centers for new

arrivals, the lands near these ports became more expensive as the population increased. Cheaper

lands were more available the greater the distance from the point of entry. The construction of

new roads from these ports to the hinder lands dictated the immigration patterns to cheap land.

Long before the Europeans came to America, Native Americans and migrating herds had found

the most direct and the easiest routes over the Allegheny and Appalachians Mountains. As early

European explorers edged west, they followed these paths, eventually clearing them, widening

them, and grading them. Beginning first as an Indian and buffalo trail, the Great Warrior Path

ran north and south through the Shenandoah Valley, extending from New York to the Carolinas.

The mountain ranges to the west of the valley are the Alleghenies, and the ones to the east

constitute the Blue Ridge chain. Other Indian and buffalo trails used in Pennsylvania included

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the “Old Trading Path” and “The Rays Town Path”. Rays Town would become known as

Bedford.

In 1681 King Charles II granted a charter to William Penn creating the Province of Pennsylvania.

As early as July 11 of that year, an agreement in England between Penn and various purchasers

of land in the new province stipulated that “Great roads from City to City not to contain less than

forty feet in breadth, shall be first laid out and declared to be for highways”.

In the 1730's the road conditions were poor and travel grew heavier; about 30 miles per day was

the limit a traveler could go. By the early 1740s, a road beginning in Philadelphia (sometimes

referred to as Lancaster Pike) connected the Pennsylvania communities of Lancaster, crossing

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the Susquehanna at Wright's Ferry, and continuing to York, and Gettysburg. The road then

continued on to Chambersburg and Greencastle and southward to Winchester. This was the main

road to the West even in the days when the West lay just across the Susquehanna. In those days

before the Alleghenies had been penetrated the road struck south to the Shenandoah Valley, See

Figure 2.

Until the 1750’s the roads in southeastern Pennsylvania had received the majority of the

attention. Goods could be transported by wagon in the eastern part of the Province, but west of

Lancaster or (later) Carlisle the roads were generally inadequate. West of Carlisle there were for

a time only packers' paths through the mountains. At Carlisle, which was the eastern terminus of

the packhorse trains, there were sometimes as many as five hundred pack horses assembled at

one time, ready to start their trek west with loads of iron, salt, sugar, and other necessities.

Goods for the “back county” were transferred from wagons to pack horse trains, usually of

twelve to fifteen horses each. This greatly increased the cost of both imports and exports, and it

was inevitable that the westward push of settlement would bring pressure for better roads in this

region. There was, however, another factor, the military’s needs arising from the French and

Indian War (1754–1763) bought about improvement in roads to transport war supplies.

The first wagon road into western Pennsylvania was opened in 1752 by Virginians from what is

now Cumberland, Maryland, to the Youghiogheny River. The road started as a path from Fort

Cumberland, Maryland to a trading post of the Ohio Company of Virginia at present-day

Brownsville, PA (Fort Redstone). The governor of Virginia sent Major George Washington to

expel the French from British territory near present day Pittsburgh. He widened the trail to

accommodate his supply wagons and that portion became known as Washington's Road. In 1755

it was improved and extended to the Monongahela River by several hundred troops of the British

under General Edward Braddock during the French and Indian Wars, and thereafter it was

known as Braddock’s Road. Braddock’s Road or The Cumberland Road and its extension west

later became also known as the National Road and today is called U.S. Route 40. It was the first

highway built entirely with federal funds, see figure 2.

The first great road across the Alleghenies, from Shippensburg to the summit of the Allegheny

Ridge, was opened in 1755 under the supervision of James Burd. Three years later, troops under

Brigadier General John Forbes reopened it to near Bedford and from there opened a road along

the Indians’ Rays Town Path to about ten miles West of Ligonier and on to the forks of the Ohio.

At Bedford it joined the old road cleared by James Burd running east through Chambersburg and

Shippensburg to Carlisle. Forbes Road was a military road guarded by forts at strategic points to

protect supplies from the French and Indians. During the remainder of the war, Forbes Road and

other routes were protected and maintained by the British forces to transport military supplies,

but with the coming of peace they were allowed to deteriorate. In 1785 the State of Pennsylvania

authorized 'The Pennsylvania Road” from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh following the old Forbes

Road.

Just as important as roads, if not more so, was the price of land in determining emigration

destinations. The tidewater areas of Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and the eastern coasts of

Pennsylvania and New York were already well established. The price of land was high

compared to just a few more miles down the road; and as the immigration progressed, a few

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miles down the road became a few more miles. The Great Wagon Road led directly to the fertile

valleys of Virginia and even to the Carolina Piedmont.

Most of the early Scotch-Irish arrivals in America landed at Philadelphia and set up farms in

Pennsylvania and Maryland. As these lands filled, some had to take up land in Virginia. In

addition, the Scotch-Irish soon encountered competition from German immigrants. Indeed,

wrote one English observer, the Scotch-Irish, "not succeeding so well in Pennsylvania as the

more frugal and industrious Germans settled in, they sold their lands in that province to the latter,

and took up new ground in the remote counties in Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina.”

Many of the Scotch-Irish who moved to North Carolina were actually the younger children of

immigrants who had settled land in Pennsylvania in earlier years. By the 1730s there was simply

not enough land to go around. By 1735 the Scotch-Irish had begun entering North Carolina in

significant numbers. They would continue to do so until the American Revolution.

By the 1750’s, Pennsylvania Germans began joining the Scotch-Irish on the long journey down

the Great Wagon Road to North Carolina. For several decades after the early German

settlements, few Germans had entered the southern colonies. But, by 1748, Germans too were

being forced southward by the shortage of land in Pennsylvania. In the years 1754-1763 (French

and Indian War) a great many Pennsylvanians who had followed the Great Wagon Road and

settled in Virginia and some still living in Pennsylvania moved further southward into North

Carolina because of French and Indian attacks in the north. When Rev. Craighead, a minister

from Augusta County, moved his family from Staunton, Virginia one of his daughters is quoted

by E. W. Caruthers as saying,” as they went out at one door the Indians came in at the other”,

and Caruthers adds: “Meaning that when they left the house the Indians were close at hand; and

that they narrowly escaped with their lives without being able to take any of their property or

furniture with them.” The Reverend Craighead was at one time the minister of the Presbyterian

in Cecil County, Maryland and in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When General Braddock

was defeated on July 9, 1755 near Pittsburg, all the frontier was thrown into a state of disorder.

The western parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, were left exposed to the incursions of

the warring parties. During the French and

Indian Wars, many inhabitants of the frontier

areas moved to the cities which proved

protection for their families.

The Philadelphia Wagon Road started in

Philadelphia and extended all the way to

Savannah, Georgia. Beginning at Schuylkill

River Ferry the road ran west through what is

known as the Pennsylvania Dutch County to

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, thence to Harris

Ferry on the Susquehanna River (midway

between Lancaster and York) and on to York,

Pennsylvania. The road then moved in a

gradual southwestern direction crossing part of what is now Maryland to Watkins’ Ferry on the

Potomac River, then stretched southwest across the tip of West Virginia to Winchester, Virginia.

From Winchester the road ran to present day Strasburg where the northern reaches of the Blue

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Ridge suddenly open to expose the mouth of the great valley of Virginia lying between the

Appalachian on the west and the Blue Ridge on the east.

Much of Virginia Highway Route 11 running through the Valley follows the bed of the Old

Wagon Road. Entering the Valley and hugging close to the Blue Ridge the road ran from

Strasburg to Staunton. From Staunton the road ran through the Lexington area to Buchanan

where the James River was crossed at Looneys Ferry. Moving toward the present site of

Roanoke, the road turned eastward through the Staunton Gap.

The Carolina Road portion of the Great Wagon Road begins at Roanoke and continues south

through Boone's Mills and Rocky Mount to Martinsville and into the Carolina Colony. Then

goes southward crossing the Blackwater, Irvine and Dan Rivers and on to Wachovia, North

Carolina on a tributary of the Yadkin River. Carolina Road then came almost directly south to

Salem (now Winston- Salem, North Carolina). It then followed down the Yadkin River to

Lexington and Salisbury (North Carolina 8 and U.S. 29). The Carolina Road left the Yadkin at

Salisbury and swung west to the Broad River at Charlotte, North Carolina. The road continues

across South Carolina though Rock Hill, Chester, and Newberry arriving at the Savannah River

and Augusta, Georgia. In York County, South Carolina, the Road seems to have split, one

branch going westward to Chester and south to Columbia, South Carolina (U.S. 321), the other

branch staying nearer the river to Columbia (U.S. 21). Both routes of The Great Wagon Road

ended at Augusta, Georgia, but feed most of the State of Georgia with emigrates.

The Great Wagon Road became the main artery for feeder trails and roads. Before the French

and Indian Wars, a road ran west from Baltimore, to Frederick, Maryland, to Fort Cumberland

crossing Great Wagon Road near Watkins’ Ferry on the Potomac. This arm allowed travel to

Cumberland, Maryland and beyond on Braddock’s Road during the War. In the late 1700’s, the

Great Wagon Road became the highway to Kentucky, for in southern Virginia it joined the

Wilderness Road, which Daniel Boone had blazed in 1774-1775. Crossing the mountains at

Cumberland Gap, the Wilderness Road led across Kentucky to the falls of the Ohio, where

Louisville now stands. In the decades when Braddock's Road across the Alleghenies was

growing up in brush and when the Indians barred the way across Pennsylvania, the road down

the Shenandoah to Cumberland Gap was the most practical route to the West. Used at first by

pioneers on horseback eager to cross the passes into Kentucky, it was soon crowded with

covered wagons, almost by the thousands. Many settlers heading west visited Lancaster, York,

or Carlisle first to acquire a Conestoga wagon, a Kentucky rifle or other equipment. From 1775

to 1800 more than three hundred thousand settlers traveled this road to the West. It was the use

of this route rather than the one across the Pennsylvania mountains that was the main factor in

the settlement of Kentucky at a time when Ohio was still Indian territory.

In the later part of the 1700’s, members of the Pennsylvania Allison's could be found in

Lancaster, Dauphin and Washington Counties, Pennsylvania; Cecil and Kent Counties,

Maryland; Augusta and Fairfax Counties Virginia; and Cabarrus, Iredell, and Mecklenburg

Counties, North Carolina. Many of these locations can be found on the Great Wagon Road or

the Pennsylvania Road. Patrick Allison apparently worked on the Pennsylvania Road in late the

1750’s.

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The Allison’s are a very difficult group to research from a genealogical standpoint; they must

have a dominant nomadic gene, which does not allow an Allison to live in one place for more

than a couple of decades. Good genealogical records are generated by people living in one place

for a long period of time. Beginning with John the Elder, the family members through time have

an average stay of about 15 years in one location. This could mean only one census record for

some locations. The availability of cheaply priced land and spirit of adventure were always at

hand.

ert Allison