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| Dr. James Patrick Allison, winner of the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2018 |
On October 1, 2018, James
Patrick Allison shared a Nobel prize for medicine with Tasuku Honjo. Their grand-breaking research on cancer
therapy harnesses the body’s immune system to fight the disease. Genealogists researching the Allison family
tree were quick to claim James Patrick Allison as one of their own,
particularly those hailing from Ulster in 1718.
But can we prove it? I set out to
find out – in a weekend!
Obviously time and
geography (along with lack of personal connection) have complicated matters, so
my conclusions aren’t, well, conclusive.
I will tell you what I determined with relative certainty, then some
guesses about Dr. Allison’s possible roots and why I think so. Let’s go!
James Patrick Allison’s
biography tells the story of his immediate family, and his personal interest in
ending cancer’s deadly course. Dr.
Allison, a native Texan, spends his off hours when not pursuing ground-breaking
discoveries in immunological research, playing harmonica in a garage band of
immunologists (“The Checkpoints”) and enjoying a good Texas barbeque. His Texan drawl comes from his upbringing in
a small town in Alice, Texas, a city of less than 20,000, where his father was
a doctor. Dr. Allison lost his mother,
two of her brothers, and his own brother to cancer. This and a talent for science got Dr. Allison
interested in medicine and researching the cure for cancer.
Dr. Allison’s parents
were Albert Murphy Allison (1909-1973) and Constance “Connie” Kalula Lynn
(1915-1961). Connie’s family I am sure has a storied history, but for the purposes of this research, I am tracing the
Allison roots. Albert Murphy, a physician in Alice, Texas, was raised in that state by parents Albert Sidney Allison (1881-1951) and
Jimmie Irene Murphy (1888-1974). Albert Sidney Allison was also raised in Texas. He was a man of
medium stature, with grey eyes and dark golden hair. He lived in Marlin Falls, Texas and was a
shoe clerk. He married Jimmie Irene Murphy
and together they had Albert Murphy Allison.
Albert Sidney Allison’s
parents were Charles Allison (1850-1888) and Sallie Chandler (1856-1929). This is when our story mixes facts with some
deductive reasoning. There are some
things about which we are absolutely certain:
birth and death dates, marriage date, and children. Charles and Sallie married in Texas on March
6, 1879. Together they had four
children. Edwin, born in 1880, and died
young. Albert Sidney of course married, lived
and died in Texas, having one child who went on to be a doctor, and his son
became a Nobel prize winner! Mamie, a daughter
(1884-1948), married Edward Bernard Crawford and they had two daughters. Their son Charles Lee Allison (1886-1938) had
a career as a brakeman and Texas ranger, and eventually died on the streets of
Odessa, Texas, shot to death by Zep Franklin after an argument. It was worth checking into that story just a little.
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| Charles Lee Allison mugshot |
Back to Charles Allison, who married Sallie Chandler in 1879 in Texas: prior to which this branch of the family tree becomes somewhat more
complicated. Their children’s death
certificates state Charles was born in Alabama, but of course they all died
long after their father Charles’s passing in 1888, so I turned to the only
piece of primary evidence that Charles himself would have contributed to: the
1880 Federal census. In that document, Charles
himself says he was born in Maryland. At
the time of the census, he worked in a sawmill.
It was only eight years later that Charles died.
We know with certainty
that Charles married Sallie Chandler in Texas, and that he was likely born in
Maryland (rather than Alabama). His birth year is consistent throughout all
the records, so we can confirm it was around 1850. So the search started for a Charles Allison
born in Maryland in 1850 (I also searched Alabama to rule that out). I got lucky, there was only ones Charles
Allison that fit our description, born to James Smith Allison (1824-1894) and
Mary E Baxley (1829-1860). Admittedly
there is some element of conjecture here, but I used another reliable source to
help me in narrowing my search: The
History of the Alison or Allison Family in Europe and America by Leonard
Allison Morrison (1893). I have turned
to this source often and rarely found any inaccuracies. The research L.A. Morrison did was extensive
and often in person. He is
clear when he is not sure of a particular family’s origins, and equally clear
when he is certain. Any time I have
found a discrepancy, it has been minor and mostly a result of the biases of the
day. There is a copy of this book
online, and I searched for our Charles, and also for James Smith, to no avail. Of the many Allison families L.A. Morrison
researched, this branch does not appear to be one of them. I was on my own.
Other genealogists had
linked Charles to James Smith, and primary sources certainly point us in that
direction. James worked in a feed store
in 1860, by which time his wife Mary had died, and his mother and sister in law
had moved in with him (likely to help take care of his three young children:
Charles (9), Margaret (12), and James S Jr. (6)). They all were born and lived in
Baltimore.
By 1870, the men of
the family were living and working together in what appears to be a working
class neighbourhood of Baltimore.
Charles was working as a painter, James Sr. and James Jr. were both
clerks. Interestingly in this census,
James Sr. is listed as being born in Pennsylvania, and this piece of evidence
is important for tracing the preceding generation.
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| 1870 census showing James S Sr., Charles, and James S. Jr. |
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| 1880 Census document showing James S. Allison Sr. living with his son. The last columns are: birthplace, father's birthplace, mother's birthplace |
I should mention that
in my experience both those from Scotland and Ulster Scots often list Scotland as their birthplace. It is rarely listed as Ireland (although this is admittedly inconsistent), and Ulster
Scots consistently identify their roots as “Scotch” or “Scottish”, never “Irish”. Nonetheless, this piece of evidence shows
Scottish ancestry, and the likelihood that James Smith Sr. was a first
generation immigrant born in Pennsylvania in 1824 (or thereabouts).
We have a couple of
things going for us. One is that James
Smith Allison is a rather unusual name in the Allison family. Smith is likely a maiden name for a mother or
grand-mother of this branch of the tree.
So we search for a James Smith Allison, born around 1824 in
Pennsylvania, and lucky for us there is only one record: James Smith Allison, christened September 4,
1824, in Hopewell Pennsylvania – and his father’s name is Joseph Allison. If our other assumptions based on the
evidence are correct, we have traced the first Allison of this branch of the
tree to have landed in North America:
Joseph.
We believe that Joseph
was not born in North America, so he either came over on his own or with his
father. His child, James Smith Allison, was born in 1824, so we can estimate Joseph’s birth date as likely between 1780
and 1800. We know he settled in
Hopewell. The 1810 census of Hopewell
shows a number of Allisons. Joseph
Allison is living with an adult female.
Another household has a William Allison, with three males and three
females in the household. These are the
only Allisons listed in the town of 1578 persons, 759 white males, 795 white females,
and 24 “other persons”.
Morrison’s book does
not list the Hopewell Allisons, although he does have a chapter on Pennsylvania
Allisons. He states that Allisons came
over in 1718 and 1740 and settled in Allen Township. This timeline would not work for James Smith
and Joseph Allison. Morrison describes a
number of other Allison descendants, but no James Smith. Morrison does say that three Allison
brothers, Robert, Andrew and James, landed in Philadelphia in July 1750 and
their descendants scattered across the United States. A
review of their progeny suggests this is an unrelated branch. It would seem that the Hopewell Allisons are
not related to any of the Allisons in Morrison's book, as far as can be
determined. Since Joseph is James Smith
Allison’s father, it could be the Joseph listed in the census 1810, or it could
be a child of William (their names are not listed). Let’s assume that William and Joseph
emigrated together. Is there a record of
their emigration?
A Joseph and Robert
Alleson emigrated in 1816 on the Halifax Packet from Londonderry. If this is our Joseph, then it confirms he is
from Londonderry. However, the timeline
does not work: he has to be in Hopewell
in 1810 for the census. If he followed
other Allisons to Hopewell, there married and there had James Smith Allison, it
could be our Joseph. However, this
Joseph could have gone anywhere – and there is no record of what happened next
(and lots of Joseph Allisons).
The history of
Hopewell may hold a clue. It was a first settled by the Indigenous peoples.
The early European settlers were apparently Scotch-Irish and they began
their work clearing land for settlement in the late 1770s. It is possible that Joseph came from
elsewhere to Hopewell as the land began to clear. Remember, though, that James Smith Allison
was born in 1824 in Pennsylvania, and he lists his father as being from “Scotland”.
In the end, without
more time and evidence, the only clear link to Ulster-Scots is the settlement
of Hopewell which was mostly populated by Ulster-Scots in its beginnings. Further, our link to Hopewell is
James Smith Allison’s birth certificate.
While we are therefore relatively certain of James Smith Allison’s parentage,
our link from James Smith Allison to Charles Allison is somewhat tenuous based on process of
elimination and clues hidden in primary sources. We can definitely trace back to Charles
Allison. I would be interested in
hearing other theories or receiving other information to confirm whether or not
Dr. James Patrick Allison, winner of the Nobel prize, is descended from the
Allisons of Londonderry.
