#438 William McCormick Allison ( Archibald Allison◊ • Mary Kennedy◊ • John Kennedy◊ • Alexander Kennedy◊ )
William was born 4 May 1794 in Spring Mills, Centre Co., Pennsylvania. He died 11 Feb 1877 in Potter's Mills, Pennsylvania. He was buried in Allison Cemetery, Spring Mills, Centre Co., Pennsylvania.
[Pierson/Smith] variously lists his birth date as shown and as 5 Apr 1794. He was born at his parents' house. He died at home.
William started as a clerk in a store in Harrisburg where he remained for six or seven years. In July, 1827, he formed a partnership with James and John Potter and opend a store in Brown's Mills (now Reedville), Pennsylvania. In 1829 the firm dissolved and William ran the store by himself before returning to his home town of Spring Mills, Pennsylvania.
In 1847, James and John Potter went into bankruptcy, owing William, among others, a great deal of money. Due to their long relationship, the brothers elected to pay off William--resulting in litigation by other claimants. The payment to William was upheld by the courts. He purchased the factory mills, hotel and several plots of land in Potters Mills, including the former home of James Potter as his new family seat.
He was a noted Pennsylvania history buff and able to recount much of it from memory. He was a stauch Republican in later years, though he had no personal interest in politics.
He was confined to his home by a stroke in later years. William's epitaph reads "As fades the tree round which the Ivy twines, so in the clasp of age my strength declines."
∞ William married #439 Sarah A. McNitt.
Sarah died 18 Dec 1896. She was buried in Allison Cemetery, Spring Mills, Centre Co., Pennsylvania.
She was from Potter's Mills, Pennsylvania.
Children of this relationship:
| #450 | M | i | William McNitt Allison | (4 Nov 1850–) |
| #452 | F | ii | Esther Eleanor Allison | |
| #453 | M | iii | Edward Allison | |
| #454 | F | iv | Lillie Elizabeth Allison | |
| #455 | M | v | Archibald Allison |
John Blair Linn, Annals of Buffalo County, Pennsylvania 1755-1855, (Harrisburg: L. S. Hart, 1877). Ref. as [Linn2] p. 173
Verna Allison Pierson & Marlowe G. Smith, The Allisons of Center County, Pennsylvania, History of the Family and Descendants of Archibald Allison and Mary Kennedy of Kirmaiden, Scotland and Monaghan, Ireland, (unpublished). Ref. as [Pierson/Smith]
Line Generation: 5
Relationship: Great-Great-Great-Grand-Uncle