Hon. John Allison and Eliza Ann Adams
Husband Hon. John Allison 1 2
Born: 5 Aug 1812 - Beaver, Beaver Co, PA 3 Christened: Died: 23 Mar 1878 - Washington, D. C. 3 Buried:
Father: Hon. James Allison, LL.D. (1772-1854) 3 4 5 6 Mother: Unknown ( -1848)
Marriage: 16 Mar 1836 3
Wife Eliza Ann Adams 3
AKA: L. A. Adams 7 Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
Father: Dr. Milo Adams (1790-1846) 3 8 Mother: Marie Johnston ( - ) 8
Children
1 F Louisa Allison 9
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: George Osmon Keck (1842-1887) 9 Marr: 17 Aug 1869 9
2 M James Allison 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
3 M John H. Allison 3
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:
4 F [Unk] Allison
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: Charles M. Merrick ( - ) 10
5 F Eliza Allison 11
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: W. Ogden Tillotson (1843- ) 12 Marr: 15 Aug 1872 11
6 F [Unk] Allison 10
Born: Christened: Died: Buried:Spouse: W. H. Beil ( - ) 10
General Notes: Husband - Hon. John Allison
At the age of eighteen he went to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to learn the hatter's trade, where he spent three years. He then went to Marietta, Ohio, and commenced business for himself. In the meantime, March 16, 1836, he had married Miss Eliza Ann, daughter of Dr. Milo Adams, a prominent physician of Beaver, and after a short residence in Marietta he returned to Beaver. He entered his father's office, read law, and was admitted to the bar, but the profession was not congenial to his tastes and he never attempted to build up a practice. Mr. Allison was a natural politician, and from 1847 to 1850 he represented Beaver County in the Legislature. Upon the expiration of his last term he was nominated and elected to Congress from the Beaver District, and after serving his term was renominated. Under a new apportionment the district was changed, Mercer County being included therein, and Mr. Allison was defeated by Hon. Michael C. Trout. At the close of Mr. Trout's term Mr. Allison was again the Whig nominee, and was elected by a good majority and served with honor in that capacity. Mr. Allison was one of the founders of the Republican party in Pennsylvania, and was president of the first Republican State convention held in Pittsburgh in 1855. He was also one of the leaders at Pittsburgh in the winter of 1856 to lay plans for a national Republican organization, and was chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation in the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia in 1856, which nominated Fremont and Dayton. Mr. Allison there named and supported Abraham Lincoln for the vice-presidency, and whom four years afterward he helped to elect President. During the Rebellion he filled the position of paymaster in the army, with the rank of major, and though he paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars his accounts always balanced to a cent. In 1864 he purchased a farm in Perry and Otter Creek Townships, Mercer County, to which he removed his family in the spring of 1865, and soon after closed his accounts as paymaster and retired to his farm. In the fall of 1867 he traded his farm for a controlling interest in the Greenville Steam Tannery. In 1869 Mr. Allison was appointed by President Grant register of the United States Treasury, and continued to discharge the duties of that position with credit and fidelity up to the day of his death. During the last ten years of his life he was frequently mentioned in connection with important positions, and was the unanimous nominee of the Republicans in the Legislature for the United States Senate when Hon. William A. Wallace was elected to that position by the Democracy, then holding a combined majority. At the time of his death the Philadelphia Times paid the following glowing tribute to his worth: “He was one of Pennsylvania's purest and best men. Although aggressive as an anti-slavery champion, he was a man of general conservative attributes, and avoided the conflict of faction and the race for conspicuous party leadership. He was one of the few men who have filled so high a measure of public trust, and died with hardly an enemy to dispute the integrity of his public or private acts.” [HMC 1888, 771]
In his native town he received a common-school education. His early ambition was to become a military hero. Failing to get an appointment to West Point, he was apprenticed to the hatting firm of McKee & Graham, of Pittsburgh, with which he remained until 1833, when he established a business for himself at Beaver. In March, 1839, he removed to Marietta, Ohio, where he prosecuted the same business till 1843, when, returning to Beaver, at the instance of his father and brother he began the study of law. The death of his brother William prevented an expected partnership in the practice of his profession. He continued the study, however, under his father, and was admitted to the bar in 1846.
In the same year he was elected to the assembly by the Whigs, and was reelected one year later, and again in 1849. In it he took high rank as a forcible debater. In 1850 he was elected to the United States congress; two years later he was defeated for a second term by a small majority, but was reelected triumphantly in 1854. He was bitterly opposed, in his career as national legislator, to the extension of slavery. He was one of the organizers of the republican party, and represented Pennsylvania on the committee on platform, at the convention in Pittsburgh, February 22, 1856. In the following May he was chosen chairman of the state republican central committee. In 1860 he was a delegate to the national convention at Chicago, and was instructed to vote for W. H. Seward.
In 1857, he engaged for a time in the lumbering business at eokuk, Iowa, but the financial depression compelled him to return to his native state. In 1861 he entered the Union service as paymaster, in which capacity he continued until the close of the war. After leaving the army, he resided for a time in Mercer county, cultivating the soil. He took an active part in the campaign of 1868, and on April 1, 1869, was appointed by President Grant register of the treasury. [HBC 1888, 176]
1 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 771, 804.
2 —, History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Chicago: A. Warner & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 176.
3 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 771.
4 —, History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Chicago: A. Warner & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 166.
5 Boyd Crumrine, History of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 708.
6 —, Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893), Pg 204.
7 —, History of Beaver County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Chicago: A. Warner & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 177.
8 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 364.
9 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 804.
10 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 772.
11 —, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 830.
12
—, History of Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Its Past and Present (Chicago, IL: Brown, Runk & Co., Publishers, 1888), Pg 772, 830.
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