Elizabeth McAllister

Family Newsletter Winter 1978-79 Vol 1 Number1

Our Pioneer Grandmother was born 17 Aug 1803 at Lewes, Del. She died of Chronic Asthma, 31 May 1872 at her home in Salt Lake City. She is buried in the City Cemetery, near her daughter, Mary Jane Abbott (McAllister) Cullen Ottinger, who was the first of our family to be buried here in Utah. Her obituary in the Deseret News for 31 May 1872reads: This morning of Asthma, in this city, Mrs Elizabeth Thompson McAllister at the residence of her son, John D.T. McAllister in the69th year of her age. The funeral will take place at the 8th Ward Meeting house on Sunday, 2nd of June at 9;30 a.m. Relatives and friends of the family are particularly invited to attend. Philadelphia Ledger and other papers please copy. Mother McAllister was born 17 Aug. 1803 in Lewistown, Sussex,Delaware. Her parents names were James Thompson and Mary BladesAbbott. On the 4th of April 1823 she was married to William James Frazer McAllister. In the winter of 1828-9 they moved to the city of Philadelphia, where they resided with their family of four children,three sons and one daughter. She took great pleasure in relating tothem incidents of the war of 1812, in which she frequently visited thecamp, and ministered to the comfort of the troops. Her husband died21 Aug 1857. Her eldest son Jas. W. T. McAllister, Health Officer of the city of Philadelphia, died 20 April 1858 (This is an Error). On the 1st of Jan, 1861 she was baptised into the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, by her son John, while on a mission to the United States and in company with her son Richard and daug Mary and their families, gathered with the saints in these valleys the same year. She bore many faithful testimonies to the truth of the gospel,and the doctrines of the church, and about the last words she uttered before she breathed her last were "I have spent ten happy years in Utah."

J.D.T. McAllister S.L. City May 31, 1872 (Desert News21:257) Elizabeth crossed the plains in 1861 with the Milo Andrus Company.Members of her immediate family in her travel group were her daughter,Mary J. Cullen and Mary's daughter, Mary E. Cullen and Elizabeth'soldest grandson, Wm. J. F. McAllister, 2nd son of Richard Wesley andE.E. Bell McAllister. William was 16 years old, and was charged tocarry wood and water and in general to help his grandmother to crossthe plains and arrive safely in Utah.

Family Newsletter Spring 1979 Vol 1 Number 2 - Eliza's Story Eliza (Elizabeth Thompson) realized the wind had become a torrent ofdarkness. It swept with a banishee wail about the house. She laid thelinen trousseau sheet she was hem- stitching on the foot stool besideher chair and went upstairs to see of the ocean was visible from her2nd story windows. A bizarre, ganglerooted tree sailed through theair, obscured her vision. Good Night! was that Jacob Lewis's chickencoop falling into the street in front of the house? It was no use, Eliza couldn't even see the docks, two short blocksaway. The storm was too sudden and too severe to think of venturingout. She, with her mother and the rest of the family would have toendure the suspense of wondering if the "Oscar Davis" had made it intodock before the storm. "It didn't". Their next door neighbor and the warden of the docks, Daniel Rodney,wrote in his diary under date of Sept 3rd, 1821. "A great Hurricanecame from S.E. and E.S.E. came on at 1 o'clock P.M.-blew till 3 thenchanged W & W.N.W. and blew abt 2 hours with equal violence. RichardWestley his 3 sons, Thos. Virdin and Jas Fn were lost in his boat."J.S. Lewis" at sea--Jas Thompson, J. Silas Miles and 2 others lost inthe "Oscar Davis" many chimneys, trees, barns etc blew down." Was Eliza's little brother, John McQuire Thompson one of the "twoothers" lost that day? He was not listed among the survivors andopposite his name in the McAllister family temple record, are thewords, "lost at sea". Had John lived another 3 weeks he would havecelebrated his 11 birthday. Just the right age to go with his father,on a calm bright day and begin his training to become a Pilot'sApprentice. The pilot business was considered a high calling. It wasjealously guarded and highly technical. No one learned it by chance,and seldom by choice. It was a position appointed strictly byinheritance after being well tutored by a close relative. Somethimes agrandfather or an uncle, but usually one was apprenticed to his ownfather who taught first that his pupil must be safe, and second thatthe family reputation for skill and efficiency and reliabillity behanded down from generation to generation. Eliza's father, John Abbott Thompson had been tutored by hismaternal grandfather, Old Simon John (or John Simon) Edwards. SimonEdwards, as he was known, was captain of a packet boat plying betweenLewes & Philadelphia. He married an Irish lass namedElizabeth________ and settled her in the warm pleasant cove of LewesBay to raise his family and support him in his life on the sea, whichhe understood and loved above all else excepting his growing family. Owners of the small packet and pilot boats were the couriers betweenthe small inlet towns of the Delaware Peninsula and the great City ofPhiladelphia. When there was not parcels to deliver or business wasslow they cruised the blue water where the Delaware Bay empties intothe Atlantic Ocean a few miles out, but still in view of the bay atLewes. Their purpose to encounter ships coming from England, Europe,Singapore--the whole world, to trade their cargos at the Philadelphiawharfs. No ship could safely navigate the treacherous waters of theDelaware river from Lewis Bay to Philadelphia without a pilot that waswell acquainted with edies, shoals, ledges, narrows and under-watercrevices. Pilots must know the winds as well and be familiar with alltypes and sizes of sailing vessels to be successful in the Pilotbusiness. Fathers taught sons well, but everyone could not measure-upto the rigors and demands of the business and there was never anoversupply of Pilots, and the pay was fabulous. Not only did the pilots income allow them to build large andcommodous homes and raise their families in affluence, they sometimesreceived a free trip to Europe or the Orient, because when the shipreturned to the mouth of the Delaware, if there was a storm, or if thepacket and pilot boats failed to rendevous the pilot not only receivedhis usual pay for the trip to Philley, he became the guest of theship's Captain until it again returned to those waters. There was not much Eliza could do. The tragedy of the 3rd of Sept1921 was devastating to all the family. In the calm that followed thestorm Mary gathered her 7 surviving children around her and stoicallymade plans to face the job of raising them alone. The court said she must act as administrix of her late husband'sestate, since he had died without a will. Intestate, they called it.She couldn't see the sense in this proceedure. Everything wasgone--the boat, their investment, their plans for a sustaining lifebusiness. The home belonged to them, and now to her. She meant tostay in it, and somehow, with the help of the children make it go. Her oldest Rebecca, had married at age 16. She was already a widowwith a small son to raise. William, her oldest son was 21 years old.She would have to rely heavily upon him. She hoped it would not befor long. He was young, handsome, and of age to be looking for awife. She prayed that the circumtance of their dependence upon himwould not long postpone his starting a family of his own. For 10years she watched him work and give his all to the family. He had ahappy easy way, and chucked her under the chin and chidded her whenshe worried about his lonely life. Then, one day in 1833 he failed tocome home from his tour of duty. This didn't cause much worry atfirst. He may be on a trip to foreign lands, or stopping over inPhiladelphia to take on an extra job or two, but the days rolled intoweeks, the weeks into months, and the months became years. The familynever heard of him again. When Mary died in 1842 her son-in-law, Daniel Wolfe, Rececca's 2ndhusband was settling the estate, William had not been heard from for 9years and was presumed dead, intestate and without issue. Our Elizabeth was the 3rd child of James and Mary and now in theposition of the oldest at home and became the confident and support ofher mother. They called her "Liza" and the family leaned heavily uponher. She kept herself and her mother cheerful and busy by making abig to-do about her preparations to marry the handsome WilliamMcAllister. The marriage was set for 4th of April 1822. Eliza wouldbe 19 and W.J.F. McAllister 24. By Christmas time or shortly before, Eliza had jollied her motherinto a good enough mood that she was able to begin her duties asAdministrax of her husband estate. Eliza helped her make a list ofthe costs and expenses concerned with that transaction. We aregrateful that that document has survived in the Court House atGeorgetown, Del to help us prove this connection. There was a long space between Elizabeth and the younger childrenand Mary thought of each of them in turn. The 4th child was James, abright little fellow born just before Christmas, but slipped away sosoon. He was the beginning of her sorrow as she had not lost a child before. When another son was born, 23 months later, she also named him James, hoping that he would be a reincarnation of her lost baby.Tho interesting and loveable he was not the same child and could be no one but himself. He died in young manhood leaving a wife and small daughter, Mary mourned for him in his own right. He had not replaced the first James and Mary knew they were two different spirits, and she regretted giving both of them the same name. Strange ideas motivated her thinking "her 3 James were "Over There" would they know each other? Would the father find his sons. One a babe, one a young man. Would they find each other? Would they be one family?

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