|
biography
John
W. Allison died 28 Jul 1916 and is buried in Mercer Citizens Cemetery
View
headstone |
|
J.
W. ALLISON,
farmer, post-office Mercer, was born November 29, 1840, in Hickory
Township, to James and Elizabeth J. (Gettis)
Allison, natives, the father of Westmoreland County, and of Scotch
extraction, and the mother of Ireland, an immigrant to America at the age
of six years with her father, Archibald Gettis. They
settled in Pittsburgh, where he merchandised for a number of years. He
died in 1840 and his widow died in 1854. James H.
Allison was engaged in cabinet-making in Pittsburgh when he was
married in 1832, and the following year he came to Hickory Township, where
he remained for many years. In 1835 he and a Mr.
Lightner began a search for coal on their respective farms. The
first shaft was sunk on Mr. Lightner’ s farm, with no success, and the
next was on Mr. Allison’s farm, which was with good result. His son
claims that these were the first coal shafts sunk in Mercer County. Mr.
Allison subsequently sold his farm, and died at his home in Illinois in
1863. His widow died August 7, 1885, at the home of
J.W. Allison. They had eighteen children, nine of whom grew up:
James C., enlisted in the One Hundred and Thirty-ninth Pennsylvania
Volunteers; Thomas C.; J. W, Mary J., married
S. J. Wier; Henry J., a merchant at
Pittsburgh; Margaret, married John
Nelson; Fannie, married F. Bastress; Emma,
married Abner Rice, and Joseph. Our subject
attended the common schools and Allegheny College, at Meadville, and
taught eight terms of school, two of which were in Shelby County, lnd. He
enlisted in Company I, Eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Three months
afterward he enlisted in Rabb’s Light Artillery, but was rejected owing
to a wound received in service with Company I. He was married in 1861 to Elizabeth
Wilson, and has by her James, Homer, Robert,
Edith, Jennie, Mary and Benjamin. Mr. and Mrs. Allison are members
of the Second United Presbyterian Church of Mercer, and he is a
Republican. He and his boys are extensively engaged in the dairy business,
running a milk wagon to Mercer. They are all farmers, and give especial
attention to raising small fruits.
History
of Mercer County,
1888, page 974
|
