Line of Descent from Thomas Allanson of Maryland
Son Charles Changed Surname Spelling to Allison
Oct 30, 2009
Thomas Allanson, born in 1637, is thought to have arrived in America before 1656, then returned to England, where he married Elizabeth Mary Roberts in 1662.
One of his journeys may have been aboard the Leopold, with Richard Smith as captain, around 1656. The 1,000-acre manor "Christian Temple", a grant from Lord Baltimore, was surveyed in 1659 for Thomas Allanson.
Allanson Wins Assault Case
There are few records relating to Thomas Allanson. He did, however, appear in court to bring suit against William Brookes for assaulting him. The testimony is cited in Raphael Semmes’ 1938 book, Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland.
The record describes Allanson as being overseer of the governor’s servants. He reported that he had left the governor’s residence to go to the servants’ quarters out back when, Allanson said, Brookes, armed with a cudgel, set upon him “in cold blood and in the dark” and with “several cruel blows” knocked him down. Allanson said he was unarmed and unable to defend himself. Two women witnesses confirmed Allanson’s story and the jury awarded Allanson three hundred pounds of tobacco as damages.
Allanson died in 1684. His son Charles spelled their surname as Allison, as did nearly all other descendants of Thomas, the immigrant.
Pioneering Allisons
The earliest of these Allisons nearly all remained in Maryland or nearby Virginia until after the American Revolution. After that war, they started pioneering as the young nation’s new frontiers were pushed westward. A large group of the Maryland Allisons settled in the area of Burke Co., North Carolina, that later became McDowell Co. The exodus from Maryland also took family members into what is now White Co. in northeast Georgia, into the present Hancock Co., West Virginia, and to Bullitt Co., Kentucky.
Several Allisons married Cherokee Indians. Both a British official and a Cherokee representative are invited to the annual Allison Family Reunion.
Allanson/Allison Line of Descent
This line of descent is through Charles, son of Thomas Allanson, the immigrant ancestor in this branch of the Allison family.
- Charles Allison (1663-1698) married Susannah Posey. They lived in Christian Temple Manor in Charles Co., Maryland.
- Thomas Allison (ca. 1696-ca. 1733) married Barbara Burch.
- Richard Allison (1730-1808) married ca. 1755 Sarah Cheshire. He was born in Maryland and died in Bullitt Co. Kentucky.
- Elizabeth Allison (1777-1845) married Edward Archer ca. 1797.
- Louisa Jane Archer (1818-1892) married Orlando Everett Foster in 1839. She lived in Kentucky and Indiana.
- Mary Foster (1859-1925) married Clarence C. Barnett in 1877.
- Mary Mae Allen Barnett (1884-1961) married Leonard Nattkemper in 1910.
- Leonard Clark Nattkemper was born in 1918 and married Josephine Garland in 1943.
This lineage should be used only to provide clues to genealogists who are documenting their own Allison ancestry.
Descendants of the Thomas Allanson/Allison who settled in Maryland are eligible for membership in The Order of the First Families of Maryland.
Companion articles tell how the Calverts made Maryland a unique colony, list Maryland colonists who arrived in 1634 aboard The Ark and The Dove, and name 94 other ancestors whose descendants are eligible for membership in The Order of the First Families of Maryland.
SOURCE: This lineage was submitted in 1989 by Josephine (Garland) Nattkemper, who was then living in Santa Rosa, CA.
