Boston Public Library - Electric Scotland

ALLISONS AND ELLISONS.
ELLISON.
Under the name of Ellison appears the following, and it
of the Allison
may have a material bearing upon the history
family :
From John C. Hotten's lists of emigrants to America,
1600-1700 :
John Ellison, living at Anchor's Hope, James City, Virginia,
came in the Prosperous in 1623. Ellen, his wife, came
in the Charitie.
George Ellison, a child, died at Anchor's Hope, Virginia,
in 1623.
William Ellison, servant, aged 44 ;
41
at Elizabeth City, 1624 ;
came in the Sivan.
The first settlers of Virginia were largely of English
descent.
From the Suffolk county, Mass., unpublished
records : On
Sept. 4, 1654, John Ellisons gave a receipt to Robert Willis.
On March 25, 1698, Mary Ellison and others sold property.
Those who spell this name Ellison appear to have come
entirely from England. The larger part of those who spell
their name JLllison are from Scotland or the Scotch settlements
in Ireland.
The names Ellison and Allison in America have been confused
sometimes through the carelessness or ignorance of
early transcribers, or by the choice of persons who bore them
in later days. Some of those who spelled theirs Alison have
changed it to Allison. Never, to my knowledge, has a single
Allison or his descendants changed the orthography of his
name to J/llison.