Many believe John, Robert, and
James Allison (and possibly more) were brothers from Pennsylvania and were
possibly the sons of a James Allison (others say Thomas). There was also a Francis Allison, Samuel
Allison, and Alexander Allison in Augusta County, Virginia in the 1740s and
1750s (and a widow Allison in the late 1750s at North Branch). Most noteworthy was the connection between
John Allison and Robert Allison. Both
men bought land in Augusta County, Virginia near the same time and same location. John Allison was given a license to operate a
ferry between his land and the land of Halbert McClure, the father-in-law of
Robert Allison. In 1742, John Allison
was a private in a militia company with Robert Allison’s father-in-law Halbert
McClure. During Nathaniel McClure’s
probate of 1761, his niece Hannah McClure Allison (Robert Allison’s wife) was
in the will and proved the will while John Allison represented the widow Mary
McClure. During the 1740s through 1760s, most
Augusta County residents migrated slowly to the southwest. For the most part, both Allison men and their
children followed this movement pattern because of the availability of cheap
land.
A Gennett/Ganatt/Janet/Jane
Allison married James Campbell, son of Robert Campbell, 6 October 1779 in
Washington County, Tennessee (then North Carolina). This information comes from James Campbell himself
when he completed his Revolutionary War pension application. His wife Jane died after 1850 in Knox County,
Tennessee and her birth, from that record and pension records, is estimated to
be circa 1759 (James Campbell was born15 February 1759). The Campbell’s were most closely related to
the John Allison family (at least three Campbell’s married John Allison
children and they migrated from VA to NC to TN to KY together). However, Janet, daughter of John Allison was
born in or before 1748 (baptism record) and would not be a match. Because of this, descendants currently have
placed this Jane as the daughter of Robert Allison however, the evidence does
not substantiate the claim. First, the
children of Robert Allison were not known to have migrated outside of Virginia
to the south (for Jane to marry in Tennessee).
Second, since there is ample evidence that the older children of John
Allison married and migrated with the Campbells. So this Jane Allison Campbell, who married in
1779 Tennessee, should be connected to the John Allison family and must be a
granddaughter of John Allison. Charles
Allison, the youngest son of John Allison was born about 1737-1743 and would be
a potential father of this Jane Allison, born circa 1759, however his wife was
a Campbell. A better candidate was
Robert Allison, son of John Allison, who married Ann…they were in Washington
County, Tennessee.
A Jane Allison was known to have
married a Robert Campbell but the dates and sources regarding this marriage are
sketchy. However, the birth date for
this Jane Allison was somewhere between 1735 and 1745, which appear to match
the birth date of Janet Allison, daughter of John Allison. Also, it would make sense that this Janet
Allison married a Campbell since the connection between the Allisons and the
Campbells were so tight.
This discussion must now return
to Janet Allison, daughter of Robert Allison.
Her fate is still unclear and I propose that this Janet Allison is the
Jane Allison who married William Ross in Botetourt County during the year
1770. I am sure there are more records
out there and one day, we might find more to support these assertions. We might also find evidence to disprove my
claims and beliefs. However, I am going
to stick with my feelings about Jane Allison considering the information I have
(and I feel relatively confident I have seen 95% of the records available on the
internet), that:
1)
Jane is a sister to the James Allison that lived
or held land in close proximity to William Ross in 1784
2)
Jane was born about 1748 to 1755 in Botetourt
County to Robert Allison
One issue remains, the brother of
William Ross supposedly married a Nancy Allison. I have not seen the source for this marriage
or link. I have also been unable to
locate a source that shows her surname was actually Allison. Several researchers have cautioned that the
surname of the wife of Edward Ross is only “believed” to have been
Allison. Therefore, until I see evidence
that she was indeed an Allison, I will continue to stick with my belief
regarding Jane Allison’s parents and family.
Remember, Edward Ross could have married a Nancy Allison, the widow of an
Allison man who died young, possibly at the hands of a band of roaming
Indians. It was common in this western,
unknown, dark, and mysterious land during the 1700s. Nancy was also estimated to have been born
about 1760, which means that she could have, if she was an Allison, been Jane
Allison’s niece. As a note, Edward Ross
was in Washington County, Tennessee by 1787 and probably left Virginia around
the same time as his brother William Ross in circa 1784.