John Allison (Allistone) was hired by farm manager William Pearce to be one of the white overseers at Mount Vernon. In this role, Allison assisted in supervising and managing the labor of people enslaved by the Washington family at Mansion House Farm, replacing James Butler.1 He worked for Washington from at least 1794 to 1797. He previously lived nearby, close to George Washington's gristmill. Although Washington was initially skeptical of Allison's reputation, he remained employed by Washington for many years, and later owned property near Mount Vernon.
Early into his employment, George Washington expressed concern about Allison's character and abilities. Washington wrote to Pearce in December of 1794: "I know nothing of the one you have engaged, but it is a family of very little respectability, and closely connected with a set of people about my Mill, the Pools particularly, than whom I believe, a more worthless set are no where to be found."2He complained Allison was well acquainted with another overseer at Mount Vernon, Hyland Crow, whom he did not care for. Three months later, Washington queried: "Is Allison sober, industrious and attentive? Is he not too much on a level with those he overlooks and of course too familiar with them? or does he keep them at a proper distance, remain always with them, and turn the labour of those hands who come to his aid, to the best advantage?"3 Drunkenness of employees was an issue that often worried Washington, particularly among overseers.
Allison's job performance must have been acceptable to Washington. By 1797, Allison was being paid thirty-five pounds per year, plus an additional sum of three pounds, twelve shillings for "Attending on the Fishery in April last." Against his account were charges for beef, pork, whiskey, and sole leather. On August 6, 1795, Allison's wife was paid eleven shillings for fifteen chickens.4 These transactions and charges demonstrate a working relationship between the Allison family and Washington.
Many years later, Martha Washington's youngest granddaughter Eleanor "Nelly" Custis Lewis wrote about Allison, who eventually owned land and enslaved people on a plot between Mount Vernon and Alexandria. Custis Lewis wrote that "Allison was a common overseer, is a very common labouring man, who can just read & write sufficiently to be understood. He made some money by overseeing, raising Horses & fishing, has bought a few acres of land."5 She believed that he enslaved a few children and perhaps one or two adults. Like her step-grandfather, she also reflected poorly on the reputation of his family, describing them as "knowing in horse flesh & very apt to romance or quiz, or tell fibs—when occasion serves."6
Notes:
1. “George Washington to William Pearce, 12 January 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives.
2. "George Washington to William Pearce, 14 December 1794,” Founders Online, National Archives.
3. "George Washington to William Pearce, 8 March 1795,” Founders Online, National Archives.
4. See Cash Account, Mount Vernon Farm Ledger, Jan. 1794-Dec. 1796, 57.
5. "Nelly Custis Lewis to Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, 29 April 1823," George Washington’s Beautiful Nelly: The Letters of Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis to Elizabeth Bordley Gibson, 1794-1851, ed. Patricia Brady (Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1991), 133-134.
6. Ibid.
