Boston Public Library - Electric Scotland

CHAPTER XII.
THE ALLISONS OF ORANGE COUNTY, NEW YORK.
The name appears in the records both as Allison and Ellison.
Three Allisons, Joseph Allison, John Allison, and
Richard Allison, settled in Orange connty, N. Y. The first
mentioned appeared early at Southold, Long Island, N. Y.
He and the others may have come directly
from the old
world, as Southold was a port of entry, and diligent search
might fail to reveal his place of origin ; or they may have
landed in New England, and emigrated later to New York ;
or, possibly, they may have been offshoots of some Allison or
Ellison family given in this book, but where the connecting
lines have not been discovered. The similarity of Christian
names would argue in favor of the latter proposition. On
the other hand, there is a tradition in the family that
Joseph Allison came from or near Edinburgh, Scotland. Dil-
igent search has been made, in many offices, books, records,
and places, for some clue to their earlier history and for
their ancestry, but nothing has been found, and probably
nothing more will ever be ascertained than what is given in
this book. These Allisons were probably brothers.
1281. Joseph Allison,! about 1720, was at Southold, Long
Island, N. Y., and was a resident there in 1721. He is
called "yeoman" in various deeds. In 1725 or 1726 he
went to the town of Goshen, Orange county, as one of the
first settlers, having previously purchased a large tract of
land. In the patent this purchase was called " the Allison
tract," and has since been known by that name, is so designated
in the Wawayanda patent, and is among the richest
lands in the county. The home of Mr. Allison was in
Goshen, where he lived till his death in 1755. He made his
will in 1752, which is recorded in the surrogate's office in
New York, N. Y. His daughters. Christian names not
given, married as follows: one daughter married Mr.
McNeal, and left a son, William Allison McNeal f another
married Mr. Edsall, and left a son, William Allison Edsall
;3 the third daughter married Mr. Jones, and left a
son, Micah Allison Jones.^ Mr. Allison left a money