William McAlister was a Revolutionary War soldier who made his way from Maryland to Bradley County. A number of his descendants have been prominent in Hamilton County. The name has been spelled variously.
William McAlister was born March 23, 1762 in Dorchestor County, Md. He married Henrietta Shipley on May 8, 1828, in Hamilton County. She died Nov. 15, 1857, in Hamilton County.
William McAlister applied for a Revolutionary War pension in 1832 while living in McMinn County. He and died Oct. 3, 1842, in Bradley County. Henrietta applied for a pension as his wife in 1853 and received the pension. After her death, Gilbert W. Dearing was the administrator of her estate after she died Nov. 15, 1857, in Hamilton County.
Appearing in the early Tennessee censuses were James G. McAlister, born in the 1770s; Athiel McAlister and William McAlister Jr., born in the 1780s, and a James McAlister, born in the 1790s. Wesley, James B., Jesse, Charles R. and John S. McAlister were born in the 1800s.
Andrew Jackson McAllister was born near Madisonville in Monroe County. He was likely a descendant of the Revolutionary War soldier. He moved when a boy with his parents to near Harrison in Hamilton County. Some of the McAllisters fought on the Union side, including William McAllister, father of A.J. McAllester. William McAllister died at the notorious prison camp that the Confederates operated at Andersonville in South Georgia. His widow was Eliza Ann Wilson McAllister. His other children included Pulaski G., Amanda, Teresa, Elizabeth, Malinda, Thomas, William W., James Buchanan and Mary. Pulaski fought for the Union Army with Company G of the Fifth Tennessee Infantry. He married Laura, who was from North Carolina. James Buchanan McAllister worked first as a brakeman and later as a passenger conductor for the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad. He lived at St. Elmo. His first wife, Marilla J. Pinion, was from Georgia and was the daughter of Berry Jefferson Pinion. After she died, he married Hester Browning, who lived from 1872 to 1936. James Buchanan McAllister had a son, William Thomas McAllister, who also lived at Chattanooga and worked for the railroad. He was a member of First Christian Church. He married Mary Crabtree. Their daughter, Caroline, married George W. Wallace. Another son of James Buchanan McAllister was Paul Newton McAllister, who died in 1909. Other children of James Buchanan McAllister were J.B., who lived at Memphis; a daughter who married C.E. Harvey; a daughter who married William Miller, and a daughter, Rachel Caroline, who was an unmarried schoolteacher who died in 1957. James Buchanan McAllister died in 1941.
Teresa, daughter of William and Eliza Ann McAllister, married John H. Templeton, and they moved to Jasper County, Mo. John H. Templeton was a son of Wiley Templeton, who formerly lived near the McAllisters , but later moved to Missouri also. Malinda, daughter of William and Eliza McAllister, married Linnaeus Risley. Elizabeth, another daughter of William and Eliza McAllister, lived with the Risleys in Chattanooga, but she died on March 3, 1880, of consumption. Mary, the youngest daughter of William and Eliza Ann McAllister, married Thomas S. Haydon in 1880. He died in the late 1890s and she was a widow for many years. She died in Chattanooga on Dec. 11, 1931. She had two daughters, Bessie and Myrtle Alice. Bessie married Fred A. Tomlinson. She died at the home of her sister on Dec. 8, 1940. Myrtle Alice married William T. Watts and later Val Demar Johnson.
A.J. McAllister lived at Harrison until 1867 when he moved into Chattanooga and opened a grocery. He had earlier been a railroad worker and “was a great favorite of the railroad men.” But he had to leave railroading after he lost a leg in the war while fighting for the Union. A.J. McAllister “always took an active interest in public affairs.” He was a longtime member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
A.J. McAllister married Martha Jane McNabb, who had first been married to James Arthur Bell. He died in 1876. She was from a prominent pioneer Hamilton County family. Her parents, Major Robert Lusk McNabb and Eliza Boyd McNabb, were early residents at Ooltewah, having moved there the year of the Indian removal. Martha Jane McNabb Bell McAllister was also active in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. She was for many years a member of the Woman’s Club at Chattanooga. She wrote a number of unpublished poems and wrote several plays that were performed by womens’ organizations of her church. She died in 1937 after suffering a heart attack. Her children by her first marriage were Arthur Bell, who was superintendent of the McAllester Hosiery Mill, and Nellie E. Bell, principal of H. Clay Evans School.
The sons of A.J. McAllister and Martha Jane McNabb Bell McAlleste were Samuel J. and William Lusk, and the daughters were Mary E. and Edith. Mary married a dentist, Dr. Charles E. Smith. Edith married Joseph P. Adkins, an Army officer who committed suicide. She later married L.D. Miller, a Chattanooga attorney who became Criminal Court judge.
A.J. McAllister was living on Early Street in Chattanooga when he died of Bright’s disease in 1905. He was 59. The funeral was conducted by Dr. E.G. McLean at the McAllister residence. He was buried at Forest Hills Cemetery in St. Elmo. Some leading citizens served as pallbearers, including W.J. Dobbs, Hiram D. Rider, D.E. Lee, W.B. Cox, Kelly O’Rear, William G. Oehmig, T.F. Ware and G.F. Alexander.
Samuel J. McAllester, son of A.J., was born Aug. 7, 1884, in Chattanooga. He graduated from the University of Tennessee after finishing high school with the class of 1901. He taught science and history at Chattanooga High School and for four years was a teacher of mathematics and history at Baylor School. Sam McAllester decided to switch from teaching to the law. His law training was at the University of Chattanooga, then he began his law career in 1912. His specialty was corporation law. In 1913, he married Margaret Spears, daughter of attorney William Douglas Spears. W.D. Spears was the senior partner in the Chattanooga law firm of Spears, Moore, Rebman and Williams. W.D. Spears was a three-sport athlete at McCallie School, then he was an All-American football player at Vanderbilt University. Sons of Samuel McAllester were Samuel J. and Spears McAllester. Margaret Spears McAllester died in 1922 when her sons were still young. She attended the Christian Church, while Samuel J. McAllester was at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Samuel J. McAllester was active in Republican politics and became United States Commissioner for the district and a judge in Bankruptcy Court.
The younger brother, William Lusk McAllester, was born December 29, 1889, on College Hill. He was an outstanding athlete, playing baseball, football and basketball in high school. He went to City High and then to Baylor, but he transferred back to City when his brother became athletic director there. He played three sports at the University of Chattanooga for two years. But he then decided to play baseball professionally, joining Knoxville of the Appalachian League. He later played for Montgomery, then he was spotted by big league scouts. In the spring of 1913, he joined the St. Louis Browns as a catcher. William McAllester played against Ty Cobb and Casey Stengel was his teammate at Montgomery. He remembered Walter Johnson as the greatest pitcher he ever saw. He played the full season and reported the following spring to St. Petersburg for spring training. But he ruined his baseball career when he hurt his arm and shoulder in a hard slide during practice. William L. McAllester returned to Chattanooga and went into coaching. He helped his brother, Sam, at Baylor, then he coached at City and later at McCallie. In 1921, he coached McCallie to the Southern championship. While at City, his greatest ambition was to beat McCallie. He discovered a natural open field runner, who was a deaf mute – Louis “Dummy” Davis. He kept Davis a secret until the day of the game, when the surprise player led City to a 49-6 trouncing of the Blue Tornado. He was football coach at the University of Chattanooga for three years, then was succeeded by Frank Thomas. William McAllester went to law school at night and earned a degree at the Chattanooga College of Law. But in 1921 he turned his attention to business, founding the Southern Hosiery Mills. The name was later changed to McAllester Hosiery Mills. He remained passionate about sports, and for many years he funded the “Knothole Gang” that allowed youngsters to get into ballgames and to take part themselves.
William Lusk McAllester in 1923 married Winifred Ewing, daughter of H.O. Ewing. They made their home on Lookout Mountain at 814 W. Brow Road. They had a daughter, Ewing, and three sons, William L. Jr. and twins Robert McNabb and Chamberlain. All three sons were 6’2” and played prep football at Choate, the Yale preparatory school. They then all graduated from Yale. At one time, each owned and flew his own airplane. William L. Jr. was a vice president of McAllester Hosiery Mills and he founded McAllester Electronics. The McAllester twins set up a Chattanooga law office. Ewing McAllester was the best all-around athlete at Vassar. She was twice city tennis champion and state champion, and she also won the state title in North Carolina.