aka  Walker/McCallister

Adams Township

Location: west side of SR 109, between SR 36 and SR 38, south of Lick Creek

      The McAllister holds several pioneer families important to the development of southern Madison County.  John Markle, who was born in 1793 in New York, came to the area in 1823 and laid out the village of Markleville in 1854.  According to county historian Samuel Harden who knew him personally, John was "strictly honest; his word was as good as his note; ... a man of strong mind and will, though he had little education.  He was a great reader, and had the Constitution of the United States by heart."  John Markle died in 1865. (For more on Markle and Markleville, go to Adams Township page.)

William McAllister, whose family gave its name to this cemetery, is also of special note since he had a commission in the War of 1812.  He was born in 1788/92 in Kentucky but was moved to Virginia with his parents where he grew up and eventually married Bellana Frazier, 1796-1841.  In that state, he held offices in the county government.  He and family members moved to Madison County in the fall of 1835.  William and his family settled in Adams Township, and he lived on the same farm for twenty-nine years.  He died in February 1864.

    Relatives Thomas,1794-1852, and Garrett,1813-1864, McAllister and their families also came from Virginia and settled on the south bank of Lick Creek in the spring of 1828/9, earlier than William, according to family genealogists.  In years to come, other family members followed including several McAllister females who arrived in the area, married, and established homes. (For more on Garrett McAllister and Susan McAllister Brown, go to the Hardy-Culp page.)  The large McAllister family helped civilize and populate the untouched timber of Adams Township in those early pioneer days.  Along with other family members, all three McAllister men, mentioned above, are listed among the burials in this cemetery.   

    Among the other early Adams Township settlers buried at the McAllister is John Davis, 1800-1886, whom Samuel Harden, in his book The Pioneer, refers to as "one of the grand old men, whose memory we all revere."

    One of the earliest burials at the McAllister had to have been Meshach Collier.  Meshach was born in 1778 and died in 1833, according to his stone which is pictured at left.  Meshach and wife Rebecca, also listed below, were the parents of Rev. J.F. Collier who began the Union Baptist Church and accompanying cemetery southeast of this location. (See the Collier Cemetery page for more on the church, family, and cemetery.)

    Early 20th century Madison County historian Glen Walker was the first to make gravestone transcriptions of several of the pioneer cemeteries in the southern townships.  The McAllister was one of those he recorded, an arduous task considering the number of stones and the conditions of some of the graveyards at that time. Mr. Walker compiled the original list of gravestone data for the McAllister Cemetery in 1932 and revised it in 1962.   Mr. Walker turned over his records to the newly formed Cemetery Committee of the Madison County Historical Society in 1967.  Glen Walker's efforts remain invaluable.

    The McAllister pioneer cemetery is still in use.