Person:William Allis (2)

According to some accounts, "The third voyage of the Mayflower brought what was called the Braintree Company, which included with William Allis, Thomas Graves and Thomas Meekins, all of whom played an important part in the first generation of the Allis family. William was associated with Graves from the start, always lived at the same place and the families eventually intermarried. They were both surveyors and laid out the town or fort of Charlestown, the first regular settlement of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The first trace of William Allis after landing was in Mount Wollaston (afterward Braintree) in 1632. That town, comprising 50 square miles, was surveyed and laid out by him before 1634, and during that year, by order of the General Court, it was annexed to Boston." ^[4]

However, neither the Winthrop Society (the hereditary society for descendants of pre-1634 settlers) or The Great Migration (a comprehensive review of colonial records dating before 1635) has any record of William Allis in the colonies before 1635. There was a Richard Allis on the Lyon in 1632, but there is no further record of him.

Large tracts of land were granted to certain inhabitants to settle in Mount Wollaston and William Allis received 12 acres on February 24, 1640. On May 13, 1640, the inhabitants of Mount Wolaston were incorporated as the town of Braintree and, with Dorchester, Dunham, Hingham, Natasket and Roxbury, were incorporated to form the city of Boston.^[5]

William's children are recorded in Braintree between 1642 and 1651. He continued to live on in Braintree until 1658 when they joined with some other colonists and removed to Wethersfield, in the fertile Connecticut Valley. A difference of opinion eventually arose in regard to church governmnet and ordinances. Twenty men from Wethersfield area agreed to move with their families to Hadley, Mass. The land was purchased from the River Indians through Major John Punchon, was shared between them and a lot was assigned to each family.^[6]

Hadley was located on the banks of the Connecticut River. William's home lot was on the west side of the main street in the center of the settlement. The present meeting house, town hall and Congregational parsonage are all on the lot which was assigned to William Allis. the main street was surrounded by a continuous line of palisades during King Philip’s war, enclosing the houses of the original proprietors, and those who settled later were outside the palisades.On May 31, 1670, that part of Hadley became the town of Hatfield, and in 1771 the northern part of Hatfield was incorporated as the town of Whately.

William Allis was a leading citizen of Hatfield and a trusted lieutenant of John Pynchon of Springfield. He held the offices of deacon, justice of the peace and selectman, was often on advisory committees with prominent men of that section and in 1672 was one of those commissioned to lay out Squakeage (Northfield). He was a member of the committee which was appointed by the town on March 7, 1673, and authorized to say who should be the inhabitants of Deerfield by right of purchase or otherwise, to regulate the herding of cattle, to advise about the institution of a church and secure a good orthodox minister, et. At a later date, namely May 7, 1673, the Great and General Court appointed him one of a committee of six to act in all respects, to lay out the farms and to admit inhabitants to Deerfield, and in 1674 was one of those commissioned to lay out Swampfield (Sunderland).

On October 19, 1675, the Indians numbering about 800 attacked Hatfield as they had at the neighboring towns of Northfield and Deerfield, but they were expected by the settlers and beaten off with but small loss to Hatfield. Tensions continued, however, and the English attacked the Indians at Great Falls (now Turner's Falls) on May 18, 1676. The initial attack was a success, but the Indians were able to regroup and attack the colonists as they returned home. William Allis was a captain in the fight at Great Falls and had with him in the engagement three sons, one of whom, William Allis, Jr., was killed.

The settlers formed a calvary regiment to deal with the Indian threat. William Allis was at first Coronet and later Lieutenant of the mounted troops. Garrisons were established in the various towns, that of Hatfield being made up of 36 men under Lieutenant William Allis, and he was in charge of the fortifying at Hatfield in the winter of 1677-78.

Nothing more was seen of the Indians until September 19, 1677, when 50 of them from Canada, led by their chief Ashpelon and encouraged by the French, attacked Hatfield without any warning. They entered the town when most of the men were harvesting corn in a distant field, set fire to many buildings, killed 12 and captured 17 of the English, and immediately started for Canada with their captives. Mary, the wife of William Allis, was one of those killed in the massacre, and Abigail Allis, his granddaughter, was one of those taken captive. The suddenness of the attack seemed to paralize the settlers and apparently no effort was made to rescue their relatives and friends. perhaps they feared that the captives might be tomahawked, if pursued, and hoped they might be spared if unmolested. The prisoners, upon their arrival in Canada, were turned over to the French, and those who survived did not again see their homes until eight months afterward.

On June 25, 1678, Lieutenant Allis married Mary, daughter of John Bronson and widow of John Graves of Hatfield, Mr. Graves having lost his life in the Hatfield massacre. She was also the widow of John Wyatt of Haddam, Conn., before she married John Graves of Hatfield. On March 16, 1681, after the death of Lieutenant William Allis, she married Samuel Gaylord.

Lieutenant William Allis died on September 6, 1678. He was evidently a prosperous man in his day and at the close of his life he had accumulated quite an estate valued at 496 pounds.^[7]

Text References

1. ↑ William Allis, in Allis, Horatio D. Genealogy of William Allis of Hatfield, Mass., and Descendants, 1630-1919. (Hartford, Conn.: Art Press, 1919)
   6.

   Lieutenant William Allis died on September 6, 1678.

2. ↑ Coddington, John Insley. The Brownson, Bronson, or Brunson Family of Earl's Colne, Essex, England, - Connecticut, and South Carolina. American Genealogist (D.L. Jacobus). (1962-1963)
   38:203.

   'Mary m. (3) at Hatfield, Mass., 25 June 1678, William Allis, as his second wife. Allis was ... Lieut. of the Train Band ... d. at Hartford 6 Sept. 1678, ...'

   While this source says he died at Hartford, all other information implies Hatfield, and Hartford is assumed to be an error.

3. ↑ William Allis, in Allis, Horatio D. Genealogy of William Allis of Hatfield, Mass., and Descendants, 1630-1919. (Hartford, Conn.: Art Press, 1919)
   a.

   1. WILLIAM ALLIS was born between 1613 and 1616

4. ↑ Winsor's Mem. History of Boston 225-9 Barry's History of Massachusetts 187-192, cited in Allis, Horatio. Genealogy of William Allis of Hatfield, Mass., and descendants, 1630-1919
5. ↑ Drake’s History of Boston, 250; Pattee’s Braintree & Quincy, 11; Massachusetts Rec., vol. 1, 291; Winsor’s Mem. History, 116, 217, 234; cited in Allis, supra
6. ↑ Dorothy Mae Johns, published in the COLONIAL GENEALOGIST, Vol. IV, No. 4, Sprin 1972; Judd’s History of Hadley, 11, 23.
7. ↑ Allis, supra