Beyond the Names: The Allisons of Londonderry: “We’re no Eerish but Scoatch”

I came across a book my mother had lent to me about the origins of the Allison family: The History of the Alison or Allison Family, by Leonard Allison Morrison. It is a treasure-trove of genealogical information about our family, and traces our earliest known ancestor to 17^th century Ireland. All of the Allison family ancestors are, however, of Scottish descent.

The earliest Allisons came from a Scottish clan in the ancient Dal Riata kingdom of the west coast of Scotland. The name derives from “son of Ellis” (Ellis’s son… Ellison...Allison).

Dal Riata

Dunadd was the capital of the kingdom of Dal-Riata, and was founded by King Fergus Mor about 500 AD. The kingdom built a strong navy and raided the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands, and Ulster in Ireland, and they left settlers behind in all of these territories. In the meantime, back at home in Scotland, war was being waged between the Picts and the Scots. The Vikings took advantage and attacked the land of Dal Riata in the 9^th century. This marked the end of the Kingdom of Dal Riata, but the ancestors of that kingdom, including the Allisons, have since spread around the world, many finding themselves in Canada and the United States.

But did our branch of the family tree go to Ireland sometime in the earliest days of the first millennium AD, or did we arrive later?

I found it interesting that L.A. Morrison spent a couple of chapters in his book differentiating between the Scotch-Irish and the Irish in a manner that was clearly disdainful of the latter. He states quite emphatically in his history that there was little or no commingling between the Scots-Irish and the Irish, and he strongly argues that the ties that bind the Allisons are not Irish, but Scottish: "The love of Scotchmen, and the descendants of Scotchmen, … for the Fatherland and its history is phenomenal…” At first, I thought that his insistence on Scottish (as opposed to Irish) heritage was a result of Hibernophobia, which was as common in the Americas as it was in Victorian England during the 19^th century (when Morrison wrote his book). The Irish were considered alcoholics, and often depicted as ape-like.

Tracing your lineage to Irish ancestors, as Morrison had done, would have been problematic. Arguing that those Irish ancestors were indeed Scottish would have resolved the conundrum and allowed the genealogical research to continue. I thought it unlikely that there would be no Irish in the Allison family, particularly those from Ireland, if our ancestors travelled the barely 13 miles to from lowland Scotland to Ireland in the middle ages or before. Indeed, even in 1606, the crossing took only three hours.

The answer came when I was reminded of the Ulster Plantation, which is consistent with the timing of the coming of our Allisons to Ireland (the 17^th century). After considerably more research, here is what I discovered.

View of Lough Foyle

King James the First decided that, to “civilize” the Irish population and bring greater peace (and therefore less cost to his kingdom), he would settle tens of thousands of English and English-friendly Scots (of Presbyterian persuasion) in the northern part of Ireland (Ulster).

The immigrants were wealthy landowners along with those who would serve those landowners and work the land. The Ulster Plantation resulted in towns, villages, schools and industry. Belfast was one of the towns founded during the Ulster Plantation. The ordinary Scots who came over to do the hard work of farming and industry were from the south-west of Scotland, the land of our ancestors and the ancient kingdom of Dal Riata. After the turn of the next century, these same Ulster Scots would start emigrating to the colonies in North America.

Magilligan is in the scenic Roe Valley located at the mouth of Lough Foyle. John Allison was born in 1652 (possibly there, possibly in Scotland) and lived in Limavady. He was a prominent citizen there and lived more than 80 years, buried in Magilligan in the Allison family burial ground. John is Joseph Allison's grand-father, and it was Joseph who brought our branch of the Allisons to Canada, a tale which I will recount another day.

There are still Allisons in Magilligan, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. There is (or at least was in 1912) a farmhouse known as Drumnaha, which was the Allison family home. Perhaps someday some of us will be able to return to Drumnaha and pay homage to the Allisons who started it all: John Allison and his wife Jane Clarke.

Image taken by Winthrop Bell of the farmhouse 'Drumnaha' at Magilligan, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland with Samuel Allison III (1833-1921) in the foreground - 1912

Sources:

The History of the Alison or Allison Family in Europe and America, 1893, Leonard Allison Morrison

Roe Valley Church Register

Ireland Gravestone Index
Image of Drumnaha: Mt. Allison University Archives – Ref. 6501/17/3/2: May only be reproduced with the permission of the Mount Allison University Archives

https://www.houseofnames.com/allison-family-crest

http://www.rampantscotland.com/know/blknow_dalriada.htm

http://www.clans.org.uk/hist_4.html

http://www.dunaddwhiskys.com/products/history/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Irish_sentiment

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/scotlandshistory/britonsgaelsvikings/dalriata/index.asp

http://www.roeparkresort.com/limavady

http://www.ulsterheritage.com/forrest/magilligan.htm

http://www.plantationofulster.org/

http://www.ulsterscotsagency.com/what-is-ulster-scots/

http://www.forrestresearchservices.com/roevalley.htm

http://www.ulsternationalist.freeservers.com/custom2.html