An Allison Wins the Nobel Prize for Immunological Research and Allison Family Genealogists Go Crazy!

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.

Charles Lee Allison
mugshot

In 1915, Charles Lee was given ten years for manslaughter, which time was spent in Folsom prison.  The records suggest he may well have escaped (a fairly extraordinary feat) and a $50 reward was issued for his re-capture. It appears he was indeed re-captured as his sister wrote a letter to the Warden at Folsom prison in August 1924 seeking the release of her brother.  His past seemed to have caught up with him that night in 1938.  Although the newspaper reports are unclear, Zep and Charles had engaged in a heated argument on the street.  After Zep shot and killed Charles Lee, he turned himself over to the police.  Charles Lee was, at that time of his death, living on his own in a rooming house (also occupied by Zep). 

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.  

1870 census showing James S Sr., Charles, and James S. Jr.

In 1880, James Jr. had married and was working as a travelling salesman.  He and his wife Maggie had two daughters, and his father, James Smith Sr. was living with him at home at age 55.  This 1880 census reveals even more about James Smith Sr.’s ancestry: he is listed as born in Pennsylvania (confirming the 1870 census), his father born in Scotland and his mother Maryland.  This is the first clue to James Smith Sr.’s ancestry, and a possible clue to when his branch of the Allisons landed in North America. Another secondary confirmation of our assumptions about Charles, by the time of the 1880 census he is no longer in Baltimore, and we find him married (1879) and living now in Texas.  The timelines help us to confirm our assumptions that the son of James Smith Sr. is indeed our Charles.

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.

Celebrating 198 Years of Our Family in Canada

It is exciting to reflect that the Allison surname in my ancestral family tree arrived in Canada long before it was known as a Dominion.  Of course, they were here millennia after the First Nations, who are in every corner of this great country.  While our ancestors were considered “settlers” at the time, they really weren’t.  Being a settler implies that no one was already there, that you are breaking new ground, that you are exploring a wilderness where no person had yet learned how to survive. 

This was a fiction perpetuated by the Europeans who declared much of North America terra nullius, and therefore able to be settled without consideration for the existing inhabitants.  It was the same attitude that the British had when setting out to conquer Ireland, considering the inhabitants savages and therefore needing a British influence. 

The first of our ancestors to arrive in what is now Canada were of Scottish ancestry – living under the yoke of the British, farming British land taken from the Irish in Londonderry.  Tiring of toiling the land without the benefits of ownership, our Allison ancestors took a ship to this new land to try their hand at settlement.  This was 1769, almost 100 years before men representing the colonies met in Charlottetown to create the Dominion of Canada and begin the process of peacefully freeing ourselves from British command.  Our family followed British settlement from Scotland, to Ireland, then to Nova Scotia, and stopped here on the east coast of a country that would, 98 years later, become part of a vast Dominion.

A picture of my great-grandparents house, from my grand-
parents, on Allison Drive in Rothesay, NB, looking
over the Kennebecasis River

The family spread across the country, eventually settling in various provinces.  By the time of the 100^th anniversary of the founding of Canada, I found myself, an ancestor of those early immigrants, celebrating at Expo ’67 in Montreal, where we were then living.  I was a very little and remember only seeing legs – lots of legs – mostly in mini skirts.

And here we are 150 years after the birth of Canada, 198 years after the landing of our ancestors on the shores of Nova Scotia, reflecting on this land.  We have had a history that in its current incarnation has learned the value of diversity and respect, but in its earliest history was about taking advantage of the First Nations and their territories, disrespecting the Metis, their heritage and their rights to rule their own land, treating Chinese immigrants as cheap labour and forcing them to live apart, imprisoning Japanese Canadians because of their heritage at a time of war, denying women the vote and rights to own property, and in very recent history finding increasingly cruel ways of separating our First Nations, aboriginal and Metis peoples from their families, their history, their language and their culture.  

In many ways, the survival of all of these peoples whom Canada treated with such disdain, is the story of Canada: perseverance, strength, resilience and pride.  With the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Canadians are starting to see the damage that was caused by us to the First Nations.  We are coming to terms with it and trying to find ways to correct it.  We are realistically generations away from finding our way from this past to our common future, but talking about that history, reconciling with it, correcting the damage and then building a new future is our path forward, hand in hand with the First Nations, Aboriginal people and Metis.  This is what really sets Canada apart.  We have apologized formally for the head tax imposed on Chinese immigrants, for the racist refusal of entry to Canada of the Punjabis on the Komagatu Maru, to Japanese Canadians for their imprisonment on a false pretext based on racism, and most recently to Indigenous Canadians for the heinous policies that led to residential schools and the violence perpetrated on their families, the traumatic effect of which continues today.  As Canadians, we no longer see our past with rose coloured glasses, but with a desire to forge a future that truly celebrates diversity - and enshrines it in our Constitution.

I am celebrating this Canada Day by contemplating the strength and resilience of my ancestors, how they found their way to virtually every corner of this great country, and the strength and resilience of the First Nations who came long before us and understood how the land contributed to their wealth and culture, and how their communities thrived.

Images:

Photo of New Brunswick by myself, circa 1984, taken with a Kodak Instamatic

Photos of Expo 1967 from my father

1885 photo of Robert Harris' 1884 painting, Conference at Quebec in 1864, to settle the basics of a union of the British North American Provinces, also known as The Fathers of Confederation. The original painting was destroyed in the 1916 Parliament Buildings Centre Block fire. The scene is an amalgamation of the Charlottetown and Quebec City conference sites and attendees. Photographer: James AshfieldThis image is available from Library and Archives Canada under the reproduction reference number C-001855 and under the MIKAN ID number 3194982 

Where Did John Allison (1652-1739) Come From?

Who were the Allisons that preceded John Allison (1652-1736)? The Allison headstone in Ireland starts with John and he is the last confirmed relative on our family tree. The Saint Aidan’s Mixed Graveyard inscription for the Allison family gravestone reads:

Allison tombstone
photo by James Allison

John, 19 Nov 1736 (84), Jane Clark, his wife, 10 May 1684 (24). Mary Fleming, wife to John, 17 March 1733 (78), William Allison, son of John 20 June 1766 (86), Rebekah Caldwell, wife of William, 11 March 1751 (66), William, son of William 24 Nov 1798 (74). Mary Lawrence, his wife 8 Feb 1796 (62), Samuel son to last named William and Mary Dec 3 1818 (64), Jane Fleming wife to Samuel Sept 2 1843 (82)

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Family historians have observed that all three generations listed on the headstone are carved uniformly, making it unlikely they were added at the time of the deaths of each separate ancestor. Perhaps they were carved by a future generation who was unfamiliar with Allison family prior to John and in memory of their own ancestors? We know that a few of these generations had other children besides those listed, so these appear to be the sons who inherited the leasehold for the Allison farm. It’s worth understanding a little about the farm in order to see if we can glean some further information about John’s origins.

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While there may be primary sources available to further study the history of the farm at Drumnaha and the Allison family, there are very few available electronically. Also, many such primary sources stretching back to John’s birth and before no longer exist. In 2008, Bobby Forrest published an overview of remaining primary documents from Magilligan in the first volume of his account Scots-Irish Origins 1600-1800 A.D. Genealogical Gleanings of the Scots-Irish in County Londonderry, Ireland. This particular work has been enormously helpful in testing theories about John’s origins. Between this and the very helpful book by Winthrop Pickard Bell (A Genealogical Study), some conclusions can be drawn about the Allison family farm at Drumnaha.

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In the 16th and 17th centuries, England moved to further their violent colonization of Ireland by taking over land and transplanting friendly protestant populations, displacing the native Irish. British landowners were given the job of ‘civilizing’ Ulster. This was as unpleasant as it sounds. British landowners were not permitted to rent to the Irish. The Irish were moved off their land and only a quarter of the area was set aside for them (predictably resulting in poverty). Wealthy British landowners brought over English-speaking protestant tenants of their own British properties.

For British landowners, plantation costs were quite high. Landowners who received plantation land had a number of financial and other obligations that went along with it. They had to bring in families, including a specified number of men, to work the land. They had to set up shop, create and manage the villages, and undertake other costs in exchange for the land. As a result of these onerous requirements, a number of London guilds subsidized the venture. The area around Magilligan, the parish in which we find the Allison family farm, was likely supported by the Haberdashers’ Company.

Drumnahay - in Irish is Druim-na-h-aiithe, meaning ridge of the kiln – in the 16th century was one of 43 townlands in the parish of Magilligan. The farm at Drumnaha within this parish appears to have been developed as a result of the Ulster Plantation. The parish was originally named Mhicgiollagain after the original Irish hereditary landholders. When the British seized the land in Magilligan, they found it sparsely populated as a result of previous conflicts. Most Irish had been killed, moved or imprisoned. The “plantation” of British interests in Magilligan was therefore more peaceful for the new tenants than some other parts of Ireland (not to say that the Irish thought it so, but there were so few native Irish left that there was no violent confrontation between them and the new tenants - mostly Scots in origin).

The British Gage family owned much of the land, inclusive of Drumnaha. Documents describe John Gage’s estate in the parish of Magilligan, leased from the Sea of Derry beginning July 1634 for a term of 60 years. The boundaries were described in the 1654/55 civil survey:

One the East side with the Clothiers proporcon or parrish of Drumboe upon the South lieth the Habberdashers proporcon, one the South west the Roe water, and one the Northwest lieth Logh Foyle, one the North and Northeast lieth the Ocean or Maine Sea.

Listed in this same survey is Dromnaheigh: including one “towne”, paying 50 pounds, and the area consisting of 20 acres of arable land, 4 acres of meadow and ten acres of pasture, with 16 acres of unprofitable land.

In 1658, John Gage had control over this property, and in “Ortaghmore and Drumnacagh” together there were 19 people, 17 of whom were English and Scots and only two were Irish. The map of County Derry was drawn in 1662 and clearly shows Drumnaha.

So we know that the map of County Derry, including Drumnaha, was drawn in 1662. Prior to that, beginning in the 1630s, the Gage family had control over this property as part of the Ulster Plantation. There is no record of any Allisons associated with this property that could be found in the early years up to and including the year of John Allison’s birth in 1652. As a ten year old, it’s unlikely John would have been granted land anywhere as part of the plantation in 1662. Therefore he either arrived much later and took on tenancy of the Drumnaha property, or else he inherited the tenancy from his father. If the latter, then we may be able to find records of ownership of this property belonging to an Allison forebear (or Alison, Alyson, Ellison or other name variant) in the Forrest collection. I could find nothing there or in the PRONI database (Northern Ireland’s archives online).

This calendar of wills is the most interesting piece of evidence. Our John is listed here. William, his son, and the death year jive with the cemetery monument as well. If you consider typical naming conventions of the period, the first born of any male will often (even likely) be the grand-father’s name. This could mean that John’s father’s name may have been William. There is a William Allison in the calendar of wills who died in 1661, and he was listed as a soldier.

In 1642, a number of Scots came to Ireland as part of Monro’s Scottish Presbyterian Army (10,000 strong) to defend the land after the Irish uprising of 1641. Monro was ruthless and laid waste to much of Antrim in brutal fashion. Many thousands of Scots arrived in Ireland in this fashion, taking the place of Scots who were in Ireland before them and who fled or died in the uprising.

In Kevin Forkan’s compilation Army List of the Ulster British Forces, 1642-1646 (Archivium Hibernicum. Vol. 59 (2005), pp. 51-65), there are lists of names of the officers associated with Monroe’s Army, but no digital lists that I can find with soldiers’ names. Given that the William Allison in the records was listed as a soldier, with no identified rank, it is possible he was one of the thousands who came to Ulster with Monroe’s army and stayed to settle there. This is conjecture of course, but the timelines and records accord with it. Our John would have been nine years old at the time of his father’s death (1661) if William was indeed his father.

Calendar of Wills 

There is some evidence that perhaps there were no Allisons living in Drumnaha prior to John. The hearth taxes (a charge on each hearth in a home - a sort of tax on the rich as only the wealthy would have more than one hearth) had no recording of any hearths in Drumnaha, let alone to anyone named Allison in 1663. Interestingly, the Gage family home had eight hearths at their homestead in Ballerena (where the train station now stands). They were wealthy indeed.

In 1666 there were no Allisons on the muster roll. Young John would have been 14 and too young to be enlisted. For whatever reason, no other Allisons are listed either. Perhaps the Allison family was not yet fully situated in Ireland. The William Allison in the calendar of wills had already died (1661) by the time of this muster roll.

It is certainly possible that William, listed as a soldier, came to Ireland either married already or married once he arrived. He had a son and died nine years later. His son grew up in Ireland and eventually was given land to work on behalf of the Gage family in Drumnaha. The theory that William, a soldier, came to Ireland, met a Scots-Irish woman, had a child and died when the child was nine years old makes the most sense to me. William Allison on the calendar of wills has no affiliated town, but is listed in the Magilligan parish records - so he died there. He was listed as a soldier, so not formally a tenant in the plantation at the time of his death. At that time there was no one apparently working the land at Drumnaha, while later records show the Allisons consistently on that property. If John grew up in Magilligan, perhaps the enterprising young man sought out Gage and offered to work that property once he was of age. Given that Magilligan was so sparsely populated, this is a possible logical conclusion.

Another possibility is that John was born in Scotland or England. No evidence has been uncovered to support that theory. While other information may turn up, the working theory right now is that John is the child of William, his father was a soldier, and John himself started the Allison farming tradition in Ireland at Drumnaha.

Magilligan Point - Photo by James Allison