Abigail McAllister

History of Northfield, New Hampshire, 1780-1905

• pages 265-267 confirm her parents are Samuel Rogers & Deborah Drew, and that she maried Andrew McAllister
• See media tab
• by Cross, Lucy Rogers Hill
• 1905
• https://archive.org/details/historyofnorthfi00cros/page/n7/mode/2up

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• Residence: 1850 - Bristol, Morgan, Ohio, United States
• Residence: 1860 - High Point Township, Decatur, Iowa, United States
  • Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jan 8 2021, 22:09:58 UTC

On June 25, 1796 of record at Pembroke, NH, Abigail Rogers, of the west adjoining town of Bow, m. Andrew McAllister, Jr. then of Colebrook, NH. Beginning in 1850 and subsequent federal and state censuses, Abigail apparently was born between the years 1777 and 1779, and that at her marriage she was likely then 18+/- years old. Husband Andrew McAllister, s. of Andrew McAllister (William,2 Angus,1) and Rebecca Robinson, was b. Oct. 19, 1768 at Pembroke, NH.

Abigail and Andrew would have nine known children, the seven oldest at Lemington, VT and the two youngest at Morgan County, OH. Andrew McAllister, Jr. d. Feb. 4, 1847 at Morgan Co., OH (g.s.) For expanded family detail see Andrew's memorial. The balance of this memorial concerns when and where the widow Abigail (Rogers) McAllister died.

Some McAllister descendants claim Abigail d. in 1863 and was interred in an unmarked grave at or near Thayer, Union County, Iowa. This is based on where the family of Abigail's dau. Mary (wife of Wm. E. Lawrence) lived from prior to June 1860 until Mary and her husband's respective deaths. However, review of census and recently uncovered data suggests the latter claim is an error and more than 30 miles off the mark. There is no indication that the widow Abigail ever resided with the family of dau. Mary at Thayer, IA

In the September 1850 enumeration of the June 1, 1850 federal census of Bristol Twp, Morgan Co., OH the widow Abigail, called age 72, was residing with the family of her youngest son William McAllister. Then prior to November 1852 son William, along with mother Abigail, relocated his family to High Point Township along the east border of Decatur County, Iowa. There on Nov. 15, 1852 William McAllister was issued the first of three U.S. Public Land patent deeds. The first deed was for 160 acres encompassing the whole of the SW 1/4 of Sec. 5, T-69-N, R-24-W, west of Iowa's 6th prime survey meridian. At the time William took possession of the land there was already a local burying ground on the property, since the oldest known burials were in October 1852 of twin Shank children. This burying ground consists of the northeastern-most one acre of William McAllister's 1852 patent land. This one-acre ground would become known as the McAllister Cemetery and deeded in 1907 by the then land owner to the High Point Township Trustees as the "McAllister Burying Ground for cemetery purposes only and to be maintained and known as "McAllister Cemetery." (Decatur Deed Bk. 156, p. 506.) The cemetery subsequently became alternately known as the McCullough Cemetery due to the predominance of an interrelated McCullough family buried there.

Complimenting the cited 1852 patent deed, the 1856 Iowa state census indicates the William McAllister family had been residents of High Point Township for 3 years having come from Ohio. In this census the widow Abigail (Rogers) McAllister is listed immediately after William and his wife Emeline, but her stated age has been marked over making her age unreadable. Thereafter in the 1860 federal census of High Point Township, Abigail is shown residing with the family of her widowed dau. Deborah (McAllister) Williams. The widow Deborah had relocated from Muskingum County, OH to live on her brother William's land. The next enumerated family in the 1860 census is the family of Abigail's son William McAllister. All of the children of both families under the age of 18 are marked as having attended school within the year.

In 1856 William McAllister was issued his 3rd patent deed, this for 80 acres extending west from the northwest corner of his 1852 patent land. High Point Township records indicate that until 1920 there was the "McAllister School" on this latter 80 acres.

The family of William McAllister remained at High Point Township through the 1870 federal census, but the widow Abigail was not then part of the family. Soon after 1870 William McAllister and family relocated to near Wichita, Kansas where by 1878 he and two of his sons obtained further U.S. Public Land patents. William's sister Deborah and her children left High Point Township prior to 1870 and appear in the 1870 census at Labette County in southeast Kansas. The exception was Deborah's dau. Diantha, who married in 1866 Jason Helmick and was residing at High Point Township in the 1870 census. The Helmicks would soon relocate to Chautaugua County in southeast Kansas.

The widow Abigail does not appear as a member of any of her children's families after the 1860 census. If she did die in 1863, she is most likely interred in a now unmarked grave at the cemetery that bears her family's surname - the McAllister Burying Ground, or Cemetery, at High Point Township, Decatur County, IA.

n.b. The cemetery to which this memorial is attached was formerly misnamed on Find-a-grave as the McCullough Cemetery (since corrected) and inferred as being at Garden Grove, a nearby town in north adjacent Garden Grove Township. The cemetery is actually located in adjoining High Point Township.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 8 2021, 22:30:02 UTC

• Residence: 1850 - Bristol, Morgan, Ohio, United States
• Residence: 1860 - High Point Township, Decatur, Iowa, United States
  • Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: May 8 2021, 18:56:30 UTC
• Residence: 1850 - Bristol, Morgan, Ohio, United States
• Residence: 1860 - High Point Township, Decatur, Iowa, United States
  • Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jun 13 2021, 5:30:37 UTC