1. JAMES1 ALLISON was born Abt. 1560 in Cairnduff, Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and died Abt. 1620 in Windyedge, Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He married JEAN WILSON. She was born Abt. 1562 in Scotland, and died Abt. 1635 in Windyedge, Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Notes for JAMES ALLISON:
One researcher puts the antecedents of James Allison as follows
1 Thane Or Argyle SOMERLED, b: Bet. 1259 - 1362 in SCOTLAND d: Bet. 1295 - 1434 in SCOTLAND
2 Ronald MORE, b: Bet. 1295 - 1392 in SCOTLAND d: Bet. 1330 - 1465 in SCOTLAND
3 Donald MORE, b: Bet. 1330 - 1422 in SCOTLAND d: Bet. 1366 - 1496 in SCOTLAND
4 Lord Angus MORE, b: Bet. 1366 - 1452 in Isle and Kintyre, SCOTLAND (Loupe) d: Bet. 1402 - 1526 in SCOTLAND
5 Alexander (Alister) Lord of ISLE, b: Bet. 1402 - 1482 in Kintyre, SCOTLAND d: Bet. 1438 - 1537 in SCOTLAND
6 Alexander (Alister) of LOUPE, 67A b: Bet. 1438 - 1511 in SCOTLAND d: Bet. 1475 - 1587 in SCOTLAND m. Daug. John LORN, b: Bet. 1444 - 1514 in SCOTLAND m: Bet. 1464 - 1543 d: Bet. 1475 - 1593 in SCOTLAND
7 John MACALISTER, b: Bet. 1475 - 1540 in Loupe, Argyleshire, SCOTLAND d: Bet. 1512 - 1617 in Cairnduff, Parish Avondale, Lanark, SCOTLAND
8. James Allison
Researcher Leonard Morrison Allison (ca 1890) wrote that Lord Hamilton of Lanarkshire gave the the MacAlisters protection from The Bruce if they would adopt the the Allison family name, which was accetable poltically at the time. In March 2007, Mary Yonan of the Allison DNA project wrote that "all of the participants in Group C have similar DNA scores and many trace their ancestry back to John Ellison who was born at Windyedge Farm near Strathaven in Lanarkshire, Scotland in 1585. All of the participants in Group A also trace their Allison ancestry back to Windyedge Farm and other nearby farms. The DNA scores of the men in groups A and C are VERY different from each other, which means that the men in Group A are not related to the men in Group C. Two of the Allisons in Group A still live in Lanarkshire and can trace their Allison line back to farms near Strathaven in the 1600s."
Children of JAMES ALLISON and JEAN WILSON are:
2. i. JOHN2 ALLISON, b. Abt. 1585, Windyedge, Avon, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. Abt. 1660, Elizabeth City County, Virginia.
.....ii. JEAN ALLISON, b. Abt. 1584, Windyedge, Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland; d. Denwater, Leamalnagew, Scotland; m. JAMES TORRANCE, Abt. 1605, Windyedge, Lanarkshire, Scotland; b. Abt. 1582, Scotland; d. Denwater, Leamalnagew, Scotland.
Generation No. 2
2. JOHN2 ALLISON (JAMES1) was born Abt. 1585 in Windyedge, Avon, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and died Abt. 1660 in Elizabeth City County, Virginia. He married ELLIN HAMILTON Abt. 1610 in Avon, Lanarkshire, Scotland, daughter of SIR ROBERT HAMILTON. She was born Abt. 1586 in Avon, Lanarkshire, Scotland, and died Abt. 1650 in Archers Hope, Elizabeth City County, Virginia.
Notes for JOHN ALLISON:
In the Ervin Family Bible, Elizabeth Allison Ervin, sister of Robert Allison, Sr., wrote (circa 1790) that her ancestor John Allison came from the Avon District of Lanarkshire. The following are the ancient farms and addresses of Avon, now Enumeration District 7: Avondale Manse Private, Black Moss Farm, Brownmuir Cottage Private, Carnduff Farm, Castleview Private, Collinhill Farm, Couplay Farm, Covneygroutes Farm, Cullen Park Private, Gallowhill Farm, Gallowmuirhead Farm, Goodsburn Farm, Goodsburn Private, Grange Farm, Green Hill Farm, Hall Farm, High Carnduff Farm, High Unthank Farm, Highhook Farm, Hook Farm, Hooklaw Farm, Kirkland House Farm, Kirkland Park Private, Laigh Carnduff Farm, Laigh Side Farm, Letham Farm, Lethame Cottage Private, Lethame House Private, Maggies Knowe Farm, Maidenburn Farm, Newton Side Farm, Overletham Cottage Private, Overletham Farm, Quarry Hall Farm, Side Head Farm, South Carnduff Farm, Threestanes Farm, Viewfield Manse First U P Church, Windedge Farm, Windyedge Farm
In 1606, King James I issued a charter that created the Virginia Company of London, to colonize the land in Virginia between 30 degrees and 45 degrees north latitude, extending inland for 50 miles. Those going to the New World to reside would receive acres of land to cultivate for private use or for profit. The next year, the first permanent English settlement in this hemisphere was made at Jamestown. In 1618, four boroughs were created, and land was set aside in each borough for the support of the magistracy and the church, and in Henricus, a proposed college. Two copies were made of a patent giving title to a piece of land. One copy was given to the grantee, and the other copy was filed among the records of the Company in the colony. In 1620, as a further safeguard, the Company decreed that second copies of grants should be sent to London to be sealed in open court. Despite such precautions, very few of the early patents are extant.
Email from present-day Allison genealogist Mark Allison: "Windyedge is a small farm slightly West of the town of Strathaven, South Lanarkshire. It's about 10 miles from East Kilbride and about 15 or so from Glasgow. The town itself is small having only a few streets, and all the shops/banks overlook the market place which is the centre of town. The main industry is sheep or cattle farming, there being a couple of hundred smallholdings/farms in the area. The main Allison farms are situated a couple of miles west of the town and are:
Windyedge (of course!!)
East Browncastle
West Browncastle
Caldergreen
Muirhead
Dykehead
North Fieldhead
Bent
CalderMill + others
All farms were originally part of the Ciarnduff estate, I haven't found out exactly when Cairnduff was split up but from records I've examined could be from about the late 1400s to the early 1500s. East and West Browncastle is mentioned in documents from the early 1500s and was originally one farm, being split up into east and west in the mid 1850s. Muirhead is just across the road from Browncastle ( about 1/2 mile away). Located halfway up a hillside and overlooks the Calder Water. This farm was originally owned by my family, then living at Browncastle, and was built in 1730 when William Allison of Browncastle acquired the land. Caldergreen was occupied by the family of John Allison from the mid 1700s, this too is only around 1/2 mile distant from the farm of Browncastle. John was a relative too, his daughter Catherine Allison married my ggggg gfather Alexander Allison in 1760. Bent is another Allison holding. The Allisons who farmed here had Windyedge/Browncastle connections. You can see evidence of this on the (only) Allison gravestone in Strathaven burial ground. There is no surviving stones for any other Allison families although there a plenty of references to the 'North Stone.' All [Allison] farms were originally part of the Cairnduff Estate."
Leonard Allison Morrison in his 1893 family history says that the Allisons of this area were originally Highland MacAlisters, who -- to avoid being caught after being on the losing side of a fight against Robert the Bruce -- escaped to the Lowlands and changed their names to Allison to conform to a name then extant in that part of Scotland. The original Allisons of that area were known to be supporters of The Bruce. Around the year 1300, according to Morrison, "Alexander MacAlister, of Loupe ... took the side of Balliol, the competitor for the Scottish throne, and was attacked by King Robert the Bruce in his chief Castle Sweyne in Knapdale. This was not a great distance from Oban. He was overcome, compelled to flee, was taken prisoner on his way to Ayrshire, was confined to Dundonald Castle, where he died in 1309....His two sons and a few of the followers escaped to Sir Winter de Hamelton, the ancestor of the dukes of this name, who also at first took the side of Balliol. To preserve them from the wrath of the followers of Bruce, Sir Winter de Hamelton placed them in a moorish district in the parish of Avondale, in Lanarkshire, with Cairnduff as their central home, and changed their name from the Highland Alister to the Lowland Alison. This was in 1310, or the Allisons were in Cairnduff in that year. The estate of Cairnduff was then the property of John Hamilton, a relative of the Hamilton family...There they [Allisons] have continued for 583 years...." Morrison adds that the name of MacAlister's son put in charge of Cairnduff was "John" and thenceforward the estate was owned by a John Alison or an Alexander Alison, "almost alternately." A Robert Allison in 1980's disputed Morrison's MacAlister connection, arguing that the sons of Alexander are thought to have gone to Ireland and that "there is no record of a family of importance being founded by them in Scotland." In my opinion Robert Allison does not make the case. Morrison does not say that the Allisons of Cairnduff were a "family of importance." In fact, Morrison makes it clear that they became tenants of the Hamilton family and stayed that way for almost three hundred years. Secondly, Morrison does not argue that these "Allisons" were originals; he says that Hamilton insisted they assume the name because it was already well established in that part of Scotland and because the established Allisons were known supporters of The Bruce. The name "Allison," therefore was already well developed from its other origins, probably English and/or Scandinavian. Even with The Bruce's men all over Lanarkshire, why should not Hamilton's deception work? Morrison says, "From 1310 to 1630, or thereabouts, there is but little reliable information .... About 1630 these Alisons became greatly dispersed, caused by the persecutions of Charles the First, the intolerance of Archbishop Laud, the introduction of the English Liturgy into the Scottish Church, and the formation of the Solemn League and Covenant, with the attending consequences."
If Morrison's history is correct, these Allisons certainly were not Anglo-Saxon. In fact they were late-comers to the Allison name. Also, for three hundred years they seemed to have lived uneventfully as a self-contained clan on the farms that derived from the Cairnduff Estate. For a fighting Scottish clan, that seems improbable. Morrison says that the Hamiltons remained as one of the most prominent families in the area. Certain figures of their clan achieved national prominence. In the sixteenth century John Hamilton, the Catholic Archbishop of Scotland, was roundly condemned by the emerging dissenter movement for fathering bastards. Patrick Hamilton, on the opposite extreme, was put to death for his Protestant preaching. Mark Allison says that even today there are many Hamiltons in the vicinity of the old Cairnduff estate, but Allisons have largely disappeared. Morrison's claim that the Cairnduff Allisons had taken the name of another Allison clan already established in Lanarkshire is coorroborated by recent DNA studies (ca. 2005) that show that prove that two Allison clans, with completely different DNA markers, were established in the Strathhaven area of Lanarkshire around 1600.
During the three hundred years of "uneventful" Allison clan life at Cairnduff, Allisons likely did not escape the feuds, cattle raids and general ornery character of Scottish life. More than likely they practiced the noble art of distilling. Almost certainly they participated in the noble act of consuming. Possibly they engaged in the resultant noble ritual of poetry, song and vigorous dialogue. Additionally, since religion offered one of the few escapes from the dreary Lowlands life, Allisons were likely entertained as much as any other Scot by the vital tension between the Protestants and Catholics. All the more so because they took sides. According to Morrison, the Cairnduff Allisons of the mid-seventeenth century were fiercely committed Covenanters, so fierce they invited the wrath of the Stuarts and Archbishop Laud. Eventually they had to emigrate for their faith. Morrison says that about 1630 the Allisons were disturbed in their homes with threats from England's Archbishop Laud, who was trying to suppress Presbyterianism. Michael and William Alison fled to England and then to America. In 1645 Thomas Alison went to sea as a sailor and then to America. In 1664 James and Archibald Alison, previously of Carnduff, were persecuted and imprisoned for their beliefs.