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John Allison (Pennsylvania politician)

American politician (1812-1873)

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 29, 2026
Entity authorityQ6218804 ↗
Source-derived summary

John Allison (August 5, 1812 – March 23, 1878) was an American politician, most notably serving in the U.S. House as a Representative of Pennsylvania during the 1850s.

Allison was born in Beaver, Pennsylvania and grew up to study law. He was the son of James Allison, Jr. He was admitted to the bar, but did not practice, instead establishing a hat factory. He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1846, 1847, and 1849; he ran successfully for the U.S. House as a Whig in the 1850 election. He lost his bid for re-election in 1852, but won back the seat in 1854 as a Whig. He then retired from the House in 1856.

After retiring from the House, he was active in the politics of the nascent Republican Party; he served as a delegate to their 1856 convention, where he nominated Abraham Lincoln for Vice President.

On April 3, 1869, Allison was appointed Register of the U.S. Treasury, a post he held until his death. He was interred in Beaver Cemetery.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “John Allison (Pennsylvania politician)” is american politician (1812-1873). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through John, Allison and Pennsylvania, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1812, 1878, 1846, 1847—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1812-08-05. For this dossier, John, Allison and Pennsylvania is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american politician (1812-1873)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 29, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6218804. VIAF identifies the subject as 2306977. The Library of Congress control number is nr00017610. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1812, 1878, 1846 and 1847.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
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Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “John Allison (Pennsylvania politician)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow John Allison (Pennsylvania politician) primary sources, John Allison (Pennsylvania politician) archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Allison (Pennsylvania politician)”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “John Allison (Pennsylvania politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.