Researching Allisons who did not
leave Northern Ireland with our ancestors is tricky. Being sure they are related to our ancestors
is particularly complicated since Northern Ireland didn’t undertake a proper
full census until 1821. As our direct
descendants had long since left their second home in Londonderry by then (their first home likely being Scotland), we have to look to all manner of other
records to help us out. Fortunately a
keen interest in Northern Irish history has led to the creation of a marvelous
site: PRONI (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland). I have a hankering to some day spend time there
and look around.
From here in Canada I can search
the database, and many of the records are actually digitally recorded, and free
of charge! It’s painstaking detective
work though, and fraught with misadventures and meanderings. Sometimes you are certain you have stumbled
on some juicy family story, and then it turns out you either can’t confirm the
characters in the story are related to you, or you confirm they are not.
I am going to recount a little
something which I am now convinced is unrelated to our branch of the Allison
family tree, but is pretty interesting nonetheless. You should probably know, first of all, a
little about the Abercorns. They were a
rather wealthy Scottish family with significant holdings in Ireland, Scotland
and England. Indeed, the First Earl of
Abercorn was a promoter of the Ulster Plantation (you might remember that we
surmise our first known ancestors to have emigrated to Ireland as a result of
this effort by England to take over the economy of Ireland, along with Irish
hearts and minds, the former being successful, the latter not so much). The deeds for the Abercorn family all appear
to relate to Northern Ireland. This is
important in order to create a family link, however tenuous, to the following
story I found while browsing the PRONI database.
You may recall that our
ancestors left Ireland in 1769, sailing to a new life in America, but landing
accidentally, or perhaps fortuitously, in what was then Nova Scotia. As far as I can tell, Joseph left behind a
brother William (I will expound on the wonders and terrors of naming conventions
in an upcoming blog). This was not,
however, the only William Allison to be found in the records of Northern
Ireland. The subject of the following
correspondence to the then Earl of Abercorn is likely not our William, but is
also likely, somewhere in the distant past, related to us.
In a letter dated February 19,
1773, James Hamilton writes to the Earl of Abercorn about his holdings in
Northern Ireland. He details the usual
business: payments, disposals of goods, happenings of the leaseholders and so
on. He recounts that an old man named
William Allison who had “lossed his eyes about three years agoe and is every
way very much reduced” had seven years previous married the daughter of John
Cummins. The deal William had struck
with John was to leave the daughter (unnamed) 40 pounds at the time of his
death. However, William, unable to
manage the house and grounds, wants to sell his lease and live off the
proceeds. John Cummins claims this
amounts to William reneging on the deal.
William counters that “his wife of late has neglected him” and he can no
longer manage the property. Cummins argues
that he will work the land for Allison.
William Allison, in fact, advertised his land for sale without the
landowner’s knowledge. Cummins’
complaints put a stop to that. The
writer of the correspondence, Hamilton, promised to write to his Lordship to
settle the matter.
There is undoubtedly a lack of
trust between the families, and Hamilton can’t seem to decide on who is the
more truthful:
Allison says if he has leave to sell, that his wife shall
share with him while he lives, and have all at his death, but Cummins thinks
that when he has converted all into money, that he will go away and live with
some of his relations; Allison declares against that, and says what induces him
to sell is, that should he outlive his lease, that he will not then be found a
fit tenant for it; the land would sell for about 25 Pounds and from what I hear
he is not worth 10 pounds beside.
Correspondence moved slowly in
the 18th century, and it wasn’t until the end of March that things
were settled. Hamilton acknowledges
receipt of the Earl’s decision on the matter:
I will let William Allison…know that he may sell without
paying a fine and that the purchase money is to be lent for the benefit of his
wife, if she survives him, and that he is to have the interest of it for his
life.
It’s pretty clear there’s no
love lost between Allison and his father-in-law. Cummins had offered to pay Allison three
pounds a year for the rest of his life if he would live “separate from his
wife”. Further, Cummins would take care
of the farm, and demand nothing further from Allison. Hamilton is clearly on Allison’s side though,
describing the old man as “blind and helpless and as he will scarce have what
his farm will sell for clear, probably he will have little to leave.” Hamilton even tried to convince Allison to
live with his father-in-law, but “he was quite against that.” I guess!
Sources:
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