Bio – Hannah McAllister Darling White

013 – Hannah McAllister – (1886-1913)

Darling-Huber Research
Darling-McAllister Line
By Don Taylor

Anna (Hannah) McAllister Darling, circa 1910.

Hannah McAllister was born in England on 15 August 1886.  She was the fourth of six children — four boys and two girls.  At the time of her birth, her father, Peter, was probably in the United States establishing himself and preparing the way for his wife and children to come to the States.

By 1889, Hannah’s mother and siblings joined her father in Catasauqua, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.  By 1900, the entire family moved to Pittsburgh.  Sometime in 1905, she met Rufus Darling. She was eighteen and he was forty-seven.  In March of 1906, they had a daughter, Elizabeth Grace Darling.  Family history states that there was a rift between Hannah and her father. Certainly, a granddaughter born out of wedlock from a man more than twice the age of his daughter could cause such a rift.

It appears that Rufus and Hannah kept separate households during that time, he in Chicago and Hannah in Wheeling, West Virginia. In December of 1906, Hannah became pregnant a second time. This time Rufus married her, so on 16 February 1907, Hannah and Rufus were married in Kittanning, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, a small town about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River.  Family history indicates that she changed her name from Hannah to Anna so that she would be “A. Darling” and became known as Anna after that.   An interesting side note is that Elizabeth appears to have modified a copy of the Marriage Certificate to indicate that Hannah and Rufus were married in 1905, thus legitimizing her.  Family history indicates that this may have been a cause of disagreement between her and cousin Katherine Lane.

In August of 1907, their son, Robert Harry Darling, was born in New Kensington (about 20 miles northeast of Pittsburgh on the Allegheny River), Pennsylvania.
In 1910, Anna was living with her two children, Elizabeth and Robert, as a roomer at the home of Robert & Emma Hennig at 2219 Ward Street (Ward 4).

Anna and Rufus divorced by 1911, after which she married Thomas White. Anna died on 15 July 1913 at the age of 26. Family memory holds that Hannah was buried where Thomas White was later buried at Chartiers Cemetery. At her death, her name was recorded as Annie White.