James Allison, Jr.

James Allison, Jr. (October 4, 1772 – June 17, 1854) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

James Allison, Jr. (father of John Allison) was born near Elkton, Maryland. He moved with his parents to Washington County, Pennsylvania, in 1774. At seventeen years of age he enrolled in the school of David Johnson of Beaver, Pennsylvania. He saw service in the Indian warfare at Yellow Creek. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1796 and commenced practice in Washington, Pennsylvania. He returned to Beaver in 1803 and continued the practice of law until 1822, when he was elected to Congress. He served as prosecuting attorney of Beaver County, Pennsylvania, from 1803 to 1809.

Allison was elected as a Jackson Republican to the Eighteenth and a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth Congresses and served until his resignation in 1825 before the assembling of the Nineteenth Congress. He resumed the practice of law until 1848, after which he discontinued active pursuits and lived in retirement until his death in Beaver in 1854. Interment in Old Cemetery.

--

James Allison JR was the oldest of seven sons. At 17 he was educated for the bar; he became one of the number who formed the first Latin grammar class west of the Alleghenies taught by David Johnston Esq. of Beaver, whose school was opened in 1788-9. He continued with him, until he had acquired a good education in the common branches and a competent knowledge of Latin and Greek.

Indian depredation in 1792 became so bold that all able to bear arms were called into service to protect the settlement. James Allison Jr. left his studies to serve a term at the blockhouse opposite Yellow Creek. After that he entered upon the study of the law in the office of his uncle David Bradford, a distinguished lawyer and orator of Washington and after practicing there a few years he moved to Beaver in 1803 Here he began the practice of his profession; practiced also in the counties of Mercer and Butler until 1822 when elected to Congress and again in 1824. A distaste for political life, a great love of home and a desire to be with his family induced him to resign his seat in Congress before the 2nd term. In politics he was of the Washington School, later in life giving his support to those measures with which the National Republican and Whig parties were identified and which he earnestly contended were the offspring of the pure principles of the Fathers of 1776.

Sources

• James Allison, Jr. at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• The Political Graveyard