Charles Frederick Allison Plaque

William Gush portrait

 
CHARLES FREDERICK ALLSION
1795-1858
Born in Cornwallis, N.S. in 1795 Charles Frederick Allison came to Sackville in 1816 where he became a partner of William Crane and in time a prosperous merchant. His conversion to Methodism in 1836 was a decisive event in his life and was responsible for his interest in education. He is remembered as the founder of Mount Allison University, specifically of the Mount Allison Wesleyan Academy for boys (1840) and of an academy for girls (1854) which along with the later Mount Allison Wesleyan College (1862) developed into the present Mount Allison University.Allison’s house stood on the site now occupied by Convocation Hall and is commemorated by a plaque:
THIS BUILDING STANDS ON THE SITE
OF THE RESIDENCE
of
CHARLES FREDERICK ALLISON
WHO FOUNDED MOUNT ALLISON
July 9th, 1840.
THIS TABLET IS ERECTED IN REVERENCE TO HIS MEMORY
HIS GRAVE IS IN THE LITTLE CEMETERY A FEW HUNDRED FEET AWAY
Plaque on front wall of Convocation Hall, 37 York Street, Sackville, N.B., placed by Mount Allison University, in 1966

 
Allison’s grave is in the nearby Lower Sackville Methodist Cemetery, 112 Main Street, Sackville, N.B.

For more information on Allison’s grave see Charles Frederick Allison on the Find A Grave web site.
Grave of Charles Frederick Allison, east side.

 
IN MEMORY OF
CHARLES F. ALLISON ESQ,
WHO FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS
NOVEMBER 20, A.D.1858
AGED 63 YEARS”BLESSED ARE THE DEAD
WHO DIE IN THE LORD
FROM HENCEFORTH, YEA, SAITH
THE SPIRIT, THAT THEY MAY REST
FROM THEIR LABORS,
AND THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM.”

 

Grave of Charles Frederick Allison, north side.
IN ALL THE RELATIONS OF
LIFE HE EMINENTLY ADORNED
THE DOCTRINE OF GOD HIS
SAVIOUR BY A BLAMELESS
AND BENEFICENT CHARACTER,
WHICH REFLECTED WITH
PECULIAR LUSTRE THE MEEKNESS
AND GENTLRNESS OF CHRIST,
FIRMLY ATTACHED TO THE
PRINCIPLES AND CONNEXION OF
METHODISM. HE WAS ALSO A LOVER
OF ALL GOOD MEN,

Grave of Charles Frederick Allison, west side.
AND REJOICED IN THE SPREAD
OF THE RELIGION OF CHRIST
BY WHATEVER AGENCY
ACHIEVED, HAVING LIVED TO
SEE THE NOBLE INSTITUTION
FOUNDED BY HIS MUNIFICENCE
OCCUPYING A HIGH POSITION, AND
EXERCISING A WIDE AND
SALUTARY INFLUENCE.
On Charles Frederick Allison (1795-1858) see

Reid, John G. “ALLISON, CHARLES FREDERICK,”, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Vol. VIII, pp. 15,16.

Milner, W.C., History of Sackville New Brunswick (Sackville, N.B.: The Tribune Press, 1934), pp. 110-112 (also available online at History of Sackville New Brunswick).

On Allison’s role in the establishment and opening of the Academy for boys, see Reid, John G.,Mount Allison University: A History to 1963, Vol. I: 1843-1914, (Toronto: University of Toronto, 1984), pp. 3-25.

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