McAllister history in Whiting

While wandering around the Web, I spotted an interesting family history website that relates to Whiting. The site author, Ed Galvin, tells of his ancestors, the McAllisters. He notes that some of the McAllister clan, originally from New Hampshire, settled in Whiting in the 1800s. (A few remain in the Whiting Community Church cemetery.)

Some of the family history relates to the former Henry Wells farm on South Main Street approaching Murray Road. According to Galvin, William Ira McAllister moved to Whiting in the 1820s and became a successful farmer of merino sheep. On Oct. 1, 1835, he purchased an 86-acre farm in Whiting from Amos E. Walker. (The farmhouse was built quite near to a blacksmith shop, just to the north. Amos Walker retained ownership of a large farm north of the McAllister farm, and the Walker family expanded its land holdings northward toward the village over the years.) By 1860, McAllister had expanded that parcel to 100 acres and was producing significant amounts of wool, oats, rye, potatoes and corn.

The "Henry Wells homestead" - once the William Ira McAllister home.

The farm was sold to Fanny Sweet on Aug. 18, 1864. It was later sold to Henry Wells. The Henry Wells homestead, still in use as a farm today, played a role in the preservation of Whiting history. It was at that location that Harold and Elizabeth Webster (Elizabeth was a granddaughter of Henry Wells) authored the local history, Our Whiting, in 1976.

Galvin also discusses Lyman and Isaac McAllister, brothers, who purchased 164 acres in southwest Whiting on April 8, 1865. A few years later, Lyman and his wife Frances sold the large farm and purchased a home on 13 acres near the South School (Murray and West Roads), as well as 58 acres of farmland nearby in Orwell. They mortgaged their properties in 1871 and lost them to foreclosure in 1880.

Home once owned by Lyman and Frances McAllister.

Note: I believe both of the homes discussed here are included in the Vermont State Register of Historic Places. The William Ira McAllister home is believed to have been built around 1845, which was during the McAllister's ownership of the farm. The Lyman McAllister home dates from about 1850 and would have been approximately 20 years old during the McAllisters' ownership.

See: Ed Galvin's McAllister Genealogy Page