Forward: I published a blog in 2014 on the six silver spoons and how the Allisons came to Nova Scotia. Since then a lot more information has come to light. Much of the romanticized story of the Allisons' escape from Ulster due to poverty and a greedy landlord has been brought into question. Work by David Mawhinney, archivist at Mount Allison University and his colleague Jim Ehrman, as well as Ulster historians/genealogists Stephen McCracken and Fiona Pegrum have all helped to uncover more information about the spoons and the likely history of the Allison family. I have updated the blog to reflect this new information. While the timeline and the unfortunate circumstances of the ship that crossed the Atlantic in stormy weather all continue to be accurate, the lives of the Allisons in Ulster have been updated.
Crossing the Atlantic in 1769 was a treacherous affair. It meant months of rocky seas in cramped simple wooden ships with as many as 300 people. The fumes were overwhelmingly revolting: a mixture of vomit and feces. Passengers suffered malnutrition, stemming starvation with overly-salted food. Gales would rock the wooden vessels such that all suffered for days, or even weeks, on end. Children, in particular, were miserable, and when not enduring stormy seas had to deal with months of boredom. Still, thousands chose these cramped and hazardous conditions over continuing their lives in Europe and elsewhere.
The Allisons were a family that chose this dangerous passage from Londonderry, setting out for Boston in September of 1769: an autumn on the ocean. What would have them choose an unknown life in a new world over their lives as Scotch farmers in Northern Ireland? The answer comes in the form of a family story that has been handed down over eight generations: the story of the silver spoons.
 |
| Remains of the Allison homestead in Drumnahay |
The descendants of the first Ulster Allisons lived in and around Limavady and in Aghadowey in the early 1700s. The Aghadowey Allisons, headed by Samuel Allison, left Ulster in the first great migration from Ulster to America in 1718. At the head of this Aghadowey congregation was James McGregor, an ordained Minister. This first migration to the colonies was significant: more than 500 people left Ulster for Boston. A number of these families, McGregor and the Allisons included, ended up in Nutfield, Massachusetts (later Londonderry).
Others of the Allisons of Londonderry, Ulster lived and worked lands around Limavady and Magilligan. Records show that the Allison family held leasehold properties in Minearny and Drumnaha (also known as Drumnahay). These lands were owned by the Church, which had hired the Gage family to manage their holdings.
William Allison (1680-1766) was the third generation of Allisons who lived in the area around Limavady on the Allison family homestead: Drumnahay. In 1741 William Allison leased “half and one eighth part of Drymanahea” for nine years. His annual rent was just over 10 pounds (by today’s equivalent about $3,000 CDN), plus "half and one eight part of a fat mutton, 4 fat hens, and 5 days work of man and horse.”
Among William Allison’s progeny was a son, Joseph (1720-1795), who, like his father, rented and worked church-owned land. The rent, such as that described for William’s lease, was collected annually. When Joseph Allison, married his neighbour Alice Caldwell in the mid 1700s, they likely received as a wedding gift a set of six silver teaspoons with JAA etched in them. These spoons were the work of Christopher Skinner and hallmarked in Dublin.
A romanticized Allison family story recounts the following tale of these spoons.
During the annual exercise of collecting rent, Joseph Allison welcomed the landlord’s agent into his home and offered him tea. It was de rigueur to offer the tea service with the best cutlery and china the family had to offer. The Allisons brought out their only family heirloom worth anything: the six silver tea spoons. The rent agent, looking for reasons to increase the rent on the lease, remarked on the tea service and said that if they could afford silverware, they could afford more rent. The Allisons, rather than paying more rent, picked up their household and left on a sailing ship out of Londonderry to meet with their relatives in Massachusetts.
 |
| A replica of the type of ship that left Ulster for theAmerican colonies. The passengers were in fairly cramped quarters. Photo taken at the Ulster American Folk Museum |
The Allison family at this time numbered eight: Joseph and his wife Alice, and their six children, the youngest of whom, Nancy, was less than a year old. William Allison, advanced in years, was left behind with his other son William (Joseph’s brother).
What we have since learned about the Allison family is that they were not poor leaseholders at all. Also, there is plenty of evidence that their landowner, the church, and the Gage family that managed the church’s holdings, were of the more generous sort. It is unlikely that they were unscrupulous or capricious in their dealings with their leaseholders. It is more likely that as the family grew, the Allisons looked to their relatives who left in the 1718 migration, and considered that their future belonged where they could own land rather than leasing from a distant British landlord or the church.
The Allisons left their home and most of their possessions behind (excepting the silver spoons of course), joining more than 100 others in the autumn crossing of the Atlantic. Their ship, the (Admiral) Hawke was helmed by Captain Caddon. It was relatively small, but the passage no less treacherous. They were on the seas for 11 weeks.
 |
| A ship on beam end - a very frightening experience for the Allison family! |
As they approached Sable Island, they met with a gale that rocked the ship. Passengers and crew were tossed. Everything, including the long boat, was swept away from the deck of the ship. The vessel leaned on her beam end. Passengers must have been terrified. The ship full of Scots-Irish emigrants were hoping to make it to their new home in the American colonies, and found their lives hanging in the balance so close to the end of their voyage. The six Allison children were no doubt terrified. It is difficult to imagine being in the hold of a ship with more than 100 others, being tossed violently, hearing the panicked voices of the crew, and listening as they cut the mizzen mast in order to right the ship.
 |
| Nova Scotia Chronicle Nov. 21, 1769 |
It is a curious reference in the paper and has two possible meanings. First, that McNutt did, in fact, successfully bring a ship from Ireland full of settlers bound for American colonies, having failed to convince the authorities to continue to populate Nova Scotia with Scots-Irish. The second, and more likely explanation in my view, is that McNutt met the ailing ship and passengers in port in Halifax. He saw an opportunity to convince the 111 passengers to consider the whole experience serendipitous and make their lives in Nova Scotia, rather than continuing their voyage to Boston and beyond.
Regardless, the Allison family, along with the other families who accompanied them on the ship, opted to stay and make a new life for themselves as landowners in Hants County Nova Scotia – a far better life than that offered as leaseholders at their Drumnaha homestead in Northern Ireland.
 |
| The silver spoons courtesy of David Mawhinney, the archivist at Mount Allison University |
That is how six silver spoons, hardly a representation of the family's wealth, encouraged the hard-working Allison family to leave their home in Ireland and start a prosperous new life in Nova Scotia. The six silver spoons have been handed down through the generations and five of them are now apparently on view at the library of Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
 |
| The Allison homestead in early 1900s and today, where it is currently used as a hay barn. |
Afterword:
There are a few aspects of this story that are subject to debate: the name of the ship (Hawke, Admiral Hawk, Eleanor are some possibilities), whether or not another ship helped with the rescue (and if so, it would have been the Hope), the Captain's name (McCaddon, Caddon, and other possibilities), the role of McNutt, and the names of the British landowner and rent agent (although these are most likely Conolly and McCausland based on their landholdings and the location of the Allison estate, as well as the lease record for William Allison). There is enough corroboration among sources, however, that the fundamentals of the story are likely accurate, including the six silver spoons.
Sources:
Nova
Scotia Chronicle Nov.21, 1769
History
of the Alison or Allison Family, by Leonard Allison
Morrison
PRONI
(Public Record Office of Northern Ireland) database - various lease records, as
well as records of McCausland and Conolly
Index of Merchant
sailing ships, 1775-1815: sovereignty of sail, by David R. MacGregor
Ships from Ireland to Early
America, 1623-1850, Volume 1, by David Dobson
No comments:
Post a Comment