Allison, John W.

John W. Allison was born in Martinsville, IN on March 8, 1825. His parents Noah and Mary (or Polly) T. (Boswell) Allison, natives respectively of Maryland and Kentucky, came from Kentucky to Monroe County, IN where they settled on a farm which they cultivated a few years, and then commenced merchandising in Martinsville for a few years, and from thence removed to Spencer where the father died in 1878, the mother having been dead many years. Our subject is the eldest child in a very large family. He was reared in Owen County and acquired a good common school education in Spencer after which he attended the Asbury University (now DePauw) at Greencastle for some time. Upon his return to Spencer he went into the mercantile business and continued in this until 1863, when he removed to his farm near this town, being in ill health, and remained there until his death. In February 1858 he was married to Mary L. Patrick, daughter of Ebenezer Patrick, one of the oldest ministers in Owen County. They had four children: Orrie, Carl, Minota, and Tudella. The two eldest are now engaged in the grocery business in the same old stand where their father was so successful. Mr Allison was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for years. He was also a member of the Masonic fraternity. He died in Owen County, January 7, 1868.

Source: Counties of Clay and Owen, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, 1884. Edited by Charles Blanchard