From FAIRBAIRN'S BOOK OF CRESTS OF THE FAMILIES OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. A new edition, revised and brought down to 1892. (This book contains illustrations of crests here described.)

Alison, Scotland, a tree ppr., with a bell hung on the branches on each side. Crescit sub pondere virtus.

Alison, Scotland, an oak tree ppr., with a weight hanging on each side. Crescit sub pondere virtus.

Alison, Scotland, an eagle's head erased ppr. Vincit veritas.

Alison, Rev. A., Scotland, an eagle's head erased ppr. Vincit veritas.

Alison, Major-General Sir Archibald, K. C. B. 2nd Bart., same crest and motto.

Alison and Allison, a falcon's head erased ppr. Vincit veritas.

Allison, Scotland, a falcon's head erased. Vincit veritas.

Allison, a pheasant holding in the dexter claw a key, and in the beak an ear of barley ppr.

Allison, Scotland, an eagle's head erased ppr. Vincit veritas.

Allison, Colonel James John, D. L., J. P., of "Beaufront," Roker, Sunderland, uses a peacock in pride ppr. Vincit veritas.

Allison, Sa., a fesse engr. betw. three talbots pass. ar. Crest--An eagle's head erased ppr. Motto: Vincit veritas.

Allison, Ar., an inescutcheon gu. Crest--A pheasant holding in the dexter foot a key, and in his beak an ear of barley ppr.

Allison, Sa., a fesse engr. betw. three talbots pass. dr. surmounted by a bend sinister.

Allison (described in the Visitations as having been settled for five generations at Yardsley Hall, co. Cambridge). Ar., a fesse gu. betw. three blackbirds within a bordure of the second. Crest--A peacock ppr.

Allison (Roker Sunderland, co. Durham; Col. John James Allison, commanding 2nd Durham militia, J. P., D. L., eldest son of James Allison, esquire of Undercliff, same co.). Ar., a fesse gu. betw. three blackbirds ppr. a bordure of the second. Crest--A peacock in his pride ppr. Motto--Vincit veritas.

The motto Vincit veritas means "Truth prevails."

Crescit sub pondere virtus means "Virtue thrives under oppression."

In addition to what is here given relating to Arms, see p. 5.

Ellison, a griffin's head erased ppr., collared or.

Ellison, Scotland, a cross crosslet fitched gu.

Ellison, a lion passant gardant, holding in his dexter paw an anchor.

Ellison, a greyhound sa.

Ellison--Macartney, John William, Esq., Barrister-at-Law, J. P. of the Palace, Clogher co., Tyrone, Ireland: (1) A cubit arm erect, the hand grasping a rose-branch in flower all ppr. (for Macartney); (2) A buck's head erased ppr., charged on the neck with a trefoil slipped vert (for Ellison) Stimulat, sed ornat,--Spe gaudeo.

Ellison, Durh., an eagle's head erased or.

Ellison, an eagle's head erased per fess or and gu., murally gorged az.

Ellison, Carr,--Ralph, Esquire of Hedgeley, Northumb., and Dunstanhill, Durh.: (1) An eagle's head erased or, gorged with a collar vair, holding in the beak a branch of three roses gu., leaved and slipped ppr. (for Ellison); (2) A lion's head erased or, in front thereof a demi-Catherine wheel az. (for Carr.) Nec te quaesiveris extra.

Ellison, per pale gu. and vert an eagle displ. or. Crest, An eagle's head erased per fesse or and gu. gorged with a mural coronet az.

Ellison, Ar., a chev. gu. betw. three griffins' heads; erased sa. Crest, a greyhound sa.

Ellison (Boultham Hall, co. Lincoln). Gu. a chev. or betw. three griffins' heads ar. Crest, a griffin's head erased ppr. collared or. Motto: Spem sequimur.

Ellison (Scotland). Per bend gu. and or a fleur-de-lis in bend sinister counterchanged.

Ellison (Hebburn, co. Durham). Gu. a chev. or betw. three eagles' heads erased ar. Crest, an eagle's head erased or.

Ellison (Rotherham, co. York.) Gu. a chev. betw. three eagles' heads erased or.

Ellison (Carr-Ellison, exemplified to Ralph Cart, Esq., of Hedgeley, co. Northumberland and Dunstanhill, co. pal. Durham, upon his assuming the additional name of Ellison by royal license, 1871). Quarterly, 1st and 4th, gu. a chev. vair cottised or betw. three eagles' heads erased of the last, for Ellison 2nd and 3d ar. within two bendlets az. an estoile betw. two lions' heads sa. the whole betw. three Cornish Choughs ppr. for Carr, Crests, Ellison. An eagle's head erased or gorged with a collar vair, holding in the beak a branch of three roses gu. leaved and slipped ppr. Carr: A lion's head erased or, in front thereof a demi-Catherine wheel az. Motto: Nec te quaesiveris extra.

Stimulat, sed ornat. "It stimulates, but it adorns."

Spe gaudeo. "I rejoice in hope."

Nec te quaesiveris extra. "Do not seek thyself outside of thyself."

Spem sequimur. "We follow hope."

In addition to what is printed here relating to the Ellisons, see pp. 5, 39-42, 120-122, 242-252.

This work is vastly more compehensive in its scope than was intended at the commencement of its preparation. The stream has been traced to its fountain, the river to its source, and the Allisons to their homes in Scotland of many centuries ago. There, among its moors, its mountains, and its glens, they have lived till the present, while collateral lines of this ancient stock, about whom lingers the love of the freedom of Scotland's mountains, struck out into other lands, have enlarged and become strong, numerous, prosperous, and vigorous. The Allisons have won homes and reputations not only in Scotland, but in England, Ireland, Australia, South America, Canada, and in nearly every state of the great American commonwealth, the United States.

A fascination, deep and abiding, clings to the ancient home of the family at Loupe, Argyleshire, and at Cairnduff, Avondale, Lanarkshire, Scotland. The matter relating to those homes and to those lines of the family are of preëminent value and absorbing interest. By the publication of this volume all of this information and history is permanently preserved.

The Allison family, taken as a whole, is strong and intellectual. In the Fatherland some of its members were martyrs for the "Solemn League and Covenant," and elsewhere contended, even unto death, for religious freedom, while others continued the struggle in Ireland, and later crossed the ocean and maintained the finally successful battle on American soil.

This family has loved church and state and learning. They helped found a government of, and for, and by the people. There have been many college graduates. The name Allison is found frequently in the catalogues of both European and American universities. Lawyers, physicians, ministers of the Gospel, senators, and other men high in the civil or military service of the state are among those of this stock.

This is mentioned, not in a spirit of unwise laudation of a family but as a historical fact, and that in the future, when those of other generations shall read this and see that their predecessors and relatives, who will then belong to "a buried generation," loved the school, the church, the state, it may stimulate them to higher deeds, influence them to nobler lives.

This work was undertaken to gratify my own curiosity to know all the accessible facts relating to the origin, history, and life and death of my ancestor, Charter Samuel Allison, of Scotch blood, of Londonderry, New Hampshire, together with that of his widely scattered descendants. The place selected for his abode in the New World became widely noted as the home of a stalwart people.

There is no locality, in New Hampshire, whose early local history has so deep an interest, or about which clings so much of fascination, as that of the original township of Londonderry, embracing the present towns of Windham, Derry, Londonderry, and a part of Hudson and Salem. Not that its soil was fertile, or that dormant riches lay in ground, forest, rock, or waters, for in none of these was the secret of its strong hold on the minds and in the hearts of antiquarians, scholars, and the general public. It was in a higher source, in an element of greater value, power, and influence, than in any or in all of these combined. It was in the inhabitants themselves. The first settlers were a peculiar people, and they, or their fathers, were twice exiles; first, from Scotland, their Fatherland, to the "green fields of Erin," which at Londonderry and the Boyne water they helped to save to King William and Protestantism in 1688-'89; second, to the wilderness wilds of Londonderry, N. H., in 1719. They were of Scotch blood, some of them were of Scotch birth, some were "accidentally born" in Ireland. Strong and rugged in their mental characteristics, having great courage and tenacity of purpose, they were valiant colonists of a frontier, capable of subduing a wilderness, of founding and building a state, and leaving the impress of their willing hands, strong minds, and valiant deeds, in the settlement they founded, the state they benefited, and in illustrious descendants who have worthily filled the higher positions in the community, the state, and the nation. Sixteen men with their families composed the advance guard of the infant colony. In 1718 they came from the north of Ireland, part if not all from the parish of Aghadowey, county of Londonderry, some eight miles from Coleraine, and forty miles from the city of Londonderry. Samuel Allison, previously mentioned, was one of that stalwart company.

This work, as such labor always does, fascinated me. It expanded greatly. In my investigations other important, equally large, and equally respectable branches of Alisons or Allisons were found, their history and genealogy procured. This includes the lines of Allisons in Orange and Rockland counties, New York, with those numerous ones in Pennsylvania and in the southern states, together with those of Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Scotland. In fact, I have included in the pages of this book all branches of this Scotch family, wherever scattered, of which I could obtain information. The record is as full as the facts given to me could make it.

In the preparation of this work all known sources of information have been laid under contribution. Libraries have yielded their treasures; the offices of register of deeds and the offices of probate in many states have given of their rich stores; tombstones and family registers, church records, and town records, and many other sources have answered to demands upon them.

The gathering of the records of the family, with other facts collected in Scotland, England, Ireland, Australia, and the British Provinces in America, has been attended with much effort, expense, and delay, but it is of great historical value and will be of interest to the family and general reader in the present and future. These records link in one harmonious whole the various branches of the Allison family. Many of the long diverging lines converge once more and form a union. Each Allison can clasp the hand of every other Allison as that of a friend, or relative, or clansman.

The arrangement is simple, and similar to that usually adopted in genealogical works.

The pedigree of each head of a family goes back to the emigrating or first known ancestor. The latter is indicated by the numeral 1, meaning the first known generation, and so following down the line, with the ancestor's name marked by a numeral figure denoting the generation in which the person stands.

On the left margins of the pages consecutive numbers are used. Heads of families, as a rule, appear with two numbers, first as a child, with number on the left, while on the right in brackets is the number where the person will be found as the head of a family. Turning to that number will be found the person with numbers reversed. At the right of the name in parentheses will be the number of the person as a child. By looking at the numbers back and forth the plan will be apparent.

I am indebted to Judge Nathaniel Holmes of Cambridge, Mass., for information of the Holmes family; to the late B. B. Whittemore, Esq., of Nashua, N. H., for valuable records and facts; to William W. Moore, Esq., of Scranton, Penn., for furnishing records of the Moore, Shepard, McAffee, and Atwood families. The record of the descendants of Lieutenant, Samuel Morrison and his wife, Martha Allison, are with slight changes taken from my published works, the "History of the Morison or Morrison Family," and "History of Windham in New Hampshire."

Rev. Charles E. Allison of Yonkers, N. Y., and his brother, Howard Allison, Esq., an attorney in New York, N. Y., have aided me greatly in collecting history of the Allisons of Orange county, N. Y., and by securing engravings of them for this work.

William O. Allison, Esq., of Englewood, N. J., of the Rockland county, N. Y., Allisons, has manifested his interest in many ways and by financial aid of this undertaking. George F. Allison, Esq., of New York, N. Y., has also aided materially in the publication of this work, and by furnishing valuable memoranda.

Rev. David Allison, D. D., President of Allison college, Sackville, New Brunswick, has furnished most valuable and interesting facts of the Nova Scotia Allisons.

Rev. Archibald Alison of Prestwick, Scotland, has given me valuable records.

To all these, and to others who have furnished information or portraits of themselves or others, I give my warmest thanks.

My love for literary work, and my strong desire to develop and perpetuate family, local, and general history have been potent factors in prompting me to prepare and send this work forth to the world. It is largely a labor of love. The widely scattered copies of this book will eventually be in all prominent parts of the English speaking world, will be in the larger public libraries, and will thus perpetuate this "History of the Alison or Allison Family in Europe and America."

This volume is now committed to my relatives of the Allison family, to its allied families, to all lovers of historical and genealogical lore, and to the general public. I trust that it will be of worth to them and that it will inspire them all with higher aims in life and a more loyal appreciation of the virtues of those whose lives are recorded herein, and that the fleeting years will not detract but add to the value of this historical record.

LEONARD ALLISON MORRISON.

Windham, N. H. (Canobie Lake, N. H., P. 0.)
October 10, 1893.