Dropped Stitches in Tennessee History: Little Known Facts in the Earliest History of Tennessee

In addition to the area's early history learned from his mother, much of Allison's information was obtained by visiting and conversing with older residents in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina. Having possession of the very earliest court records made in Jonesboro (1778 to 1800), he made original investigation of the facts and the men who constituted the court. He quotes extensively from these old records kept in Washington County, noting that it was the first county established and organized in the state and included for quite a time all of the early settlements in what has been commonly known as "upper East Tennessee". Along with stories about Jackson and others well known in Tennessee's early history, numerous other names (like Hump Gibson and the Widow Dyckes) are found in the old court records.

First and foremost concerned with accuracy, Judge Allison gave us an easy-to-read volume of interesting information, including an Appendix with Dr. R.L.C. White's classic "A Centennial Dream".

John Allison was born in 1845 in Tennessee's oldest town, Jonesborough. Prominent in political circles in the state, he was elected Secretary of State in 1885. After serving the state for a total of 16 years, Judge Allison returned to the private practice of law in 1916, in Nashville. He soon became general counsel for the Bon Air Coal and Iron Corporation and remained in this position until his death in 1920.