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Subject: [PaOldC] Rev. Francis ALISON D.D.
Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2003 22:44:01 EST

(Bio submitted to Cyndie by separate e-mail - URL when available)

Francis Alison was an early Presbyterian minister in Chester county (and
Philadelphia), and the founder of the academy that became the University of
Delaware and another academy that became the University of Pennsylvania!

His son, Dr. Francis Alison was "The senior surgeon of the Army's Middle
Department..." according to "Battle of Paoli", by Thomas J. McGuire,
Stackpole Books, Mechanicsburg, PA, 2000, p. 155:

This Dr. Francis Alison had two sons. Robert Alison was also a doctor,
practicing in Jennersville, and husband to Elizabeth J. Aitken, daughter of
John Aitken (of Philadelphia) and Jane McDowell, daughter of Capt. James
McDowell and Elizabeth Loughead of Upper Oxford township.

Both of the Dr. Alisons are buried in the old section of the New London
Presbyterian Church cemetery. Not sure where the Rev. is buried but he died
while pastor of the 1st Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.

John
-----
Source: Futhey & Cope's 'History of Chester Co., Pennsylvania', pp. 462-3:

Francis Alison, D.D. "...was born in the county of Donegal, Ireland, in the
year 1705, and completed his studies at the University of Glasgow. He came
to America in 1735, and was for awhile engaged as tutuor in the family of the
father of John Dickinson, of Delaware. He was licensed as a Presbyterian
minister in 1736 or 1737, and on May 25th of the latter year was installed
pastor of the New London Presbyterian congregation in Chester Co., Pa., where
he continued fifteen years.

"In 1743 he opened an academy at New London, which became a justly celebrated
institution, and served to aid in furnishing the Presbyterian Church with
well-qualified ministers and the State with able civilians.

"In 1752 he removed to Philadelphia, and took charge of the Philadelphia
Academy. In 1755, upon the establishment of the University of Pennsylvania,
he was appointed vice-provost and professor of moral philosophy. He was also
assistant minister of the First Presbyterian Church.

"The degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon him by Yale College in 1755,
and by the College of New Jersey in 1756; and the honorary degree of Doctor
of Divinity by the University of Glasgow, in Scotland, in 1758. This last
distinction, now so common, was then rare, and was only conferred upon men of
the most distinguished abilities and learning.

"Dr. Alison was a man of high character as a Christian, a scholar, and a
preacher. He had an unusually accurate and profound acquaintance with the
Greek and Latin classics, and was well informed in philosophy, history, and
general literature. To his zeal for the diffusion of knowledge Pennsylvania
owes much of that taste for solid learning and classical literature for which
many of her principal characters have been distinguished.

"He opposed the throwing off of the proprietary government, and as a reward
for his services Richard Penn, it is said, gave him a fine tract of land at
the confluence of the Bald Eagle with the west branch of the Susquehana.

"He was the founder of the 'Presbyterian Society for the Relief of Ministers
and their Widows,' and the first named of its trustees. Although his family
could ill afford it he made provision in his will for giving his slaves their
liberty.

"He had considerable influence in the ecclestiastical judicatories, and in
the controversy which agitated the Presbyterian Church in his day he adhered
to what was termed the 'Old Side.'

"He died Nov. 29, 1779, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. The maiden
name of his wife was Armitage. Among other children, he left a son, Dr.
Francis Alison, who became a physician of eminence, and who was the father of
the late Dr. Robert Alison of Jennersville, and of Oliver Alison, at one time
sheriff of Chester County."
-----
In the December, 1951 Journal of the Presbyterian Historical Society an
article by Thomas C. Pears, Jr. contains information about Francis Alison:

"In the minutes of the Presbytery of Donegal for Sept 18, 1733 it is recorded
that in response to a supplication from the folks of Brandywine, the
Presbytery 'concurred with them in endeavoring to obtain a visit from some of
those young Gentlemen who are lately arrived from Ireland and we are informed
are now joined to the Presbytery of New Castle'.

A Dr. Matthew Wilson of Lewes, Delaware, was born in New London, 1-15-1731.
He was brought up under Dr. Alison's pastoral care and became one of the
Academy's earliest pupils. Upon the removal of the school to Newark, Del,
after it had been placed under the direction of Alexander McDowell...
----------
Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County,
Pennsylvania,
comprising a historical sketch of the county", by Samuel T. Wiley and edited
by
Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Philadelphia, PA, 1893,
page
617.

"FRANCIS ALLISON (sic), D. D., a fine classical scholar and noted
Presbyterian
divine of Chester county, was born in County Donegal, Ireland, in 1705, and
in
1735 came to this county, where he was pastor of New London Presbyterian
church
for fifteen years, and principal of New London academy from 1743 to 1752. He
then removed to Philadelphia, where he had charge of Philadelphia academy
until
1755, in which year he was appointed professor of moral philosophy in the
uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, and became assistant pastor of the First
Presbyterian
church of that city. He died November 29, 1779, and of him it is said that
'to
his zeal for the diffusion of knowledge Pennsylvania owes much of that taste
for solid learning and classical literature for which many of her principal
characters have been distinguished.' "
----------
>From http://www.ncpresbytery.org/history.htm

"The Synod of Philadelphia agreed to establish a school for those planning to
go into the ministry and Newark Academy in New London, Pennsylvania, was
started in 1741 by the Rev. Mr. Francis Allison (sic). In 1745 the school
moved to Elkton, Maryland, and then, in 1769, to Newark, Delaware. This was
the beginning of the University of Delaware. Dr. John McKinly, the first
President of the University of Delaware and a member of the First
Presbyterian Church in Wilmington, paid the salaries of the teachers in the
school and sponsored many students in their education there."

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