A is for Allott

Allot is the only A in my tree, so I didn’t have a lot of choice in this one. However, it’s still not a bad one to start with as there is definitely something to say, and it’s certainly apt!

I currently have six Allots in my family tree; though as they’re quite far back (5, 6 and 7 x great grandparents’ generations!) I don’t have a huge amount of detail on them, and some of them are unconfirmed.

They are Yorkshire ancestors, in the area immediately surrounding where I grew up, and indeed even today the name is most prevalent in West Yorkshire, as the map and information here at Dynastree helpfully show. However, I haven’t been able to find out that much about the surname, other than to note that most of the requests for information I see seem to be Yorkshire-based, at least within the UK!

The most interesting thing to note about my Allotts though, is that I actually have two separate branches of them within the tree. The first is actually just one individual at the moment.

Frances Allott  is my 6x Great Grandmother. Born around 1752, she married Thomas Hall, one of my paternal Hall ancestors of the Birstall area. Thomas Hall was the wealthy millowner, great-grandfather of Matthew Hall, who I wrote a detailed post about a few weeks ago.

The other branch of Allotts is on the maternal side. Isabella Allott is one of my 5 x Great Grandparents on my maternal line. Isabella is born around 1873. In 1803 she married John Phillipson, in Horbury. Their son, also John, marries to produce the immediate female line of my family all the way to me, to put it succinctly! Isabella has two siblings that I know of, Thomas and Sarah, born 1781 and 1786 respectively. Their father is also Thomas Allot, born about 1753. His father I believe to be Martin Allott (unconfirmed).

The ancestors on this branch of the Allotts are among my oldest Horbury ancestors, so I’m quite fond of them in that respect. As I mentioned in my post On the Luddites a couple of days ago, Isabella’s husband was a weaver, and quite likely to have been working in Horbury around the time of the Luddite attacks.

It is interesting in itself that there are two lots of Allotts in my tree. It seems to me quite likely that there is some connection, even if very distant, between the two families. If I can confirm this in the course of my research (I suspect this is going to be tough!), then what an interesting story it would make. Distant relatives, both with strong connections to the textile industry – one the wife of a wealthy millowner, and the other the wife of a lowly weaver, just one generation and a few miles apart...

L x

Tomorrow: B is either for Birchall or Buswell, I haven’t decided yet!