The Hisson Family of Glen Allen outside their home, Peel Township Left to Right: Annabelle born Jan.12, Edward John Hisson (1881 - 1949) Elsie, Mabel M. (Lawson) Hisson (1890 - 1974), Grandmother Lawson holding baby Ada, born 1918, unknown girl beside a dog.

The family settled in Newmarket in the 1800s. Once the land had been stripped of trees by a logging company, the Hisson family purchased it and began farming. Edward John Hisson was born in 1881 in East Gwillimbury, York County, the son of Henry and Sarah Jane Hisson.

Edward moved to Guelph when he found work making stoves. Two of his brothers, Samuel and Israel, also moved to Guelph and lived on Essex Street and Bedford Street respectively. It was in Guelph, where Edward met Mabel Lawson.

Mabel was born in 1890 on the 4th Line of Peel and was one of ten children born to William (escaped slave) and Mary A. Lawson. She found employment in Guelph doing domestic work. Mabel had a brother who lived and farmed on the 3rd line of Peel.

Edward and Mabel were married in the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Glen Allan on the 26th day of April 1911 by Rev. Gaynor, witnessed by Audrey Lawson. They had seven children: Annabelle (1912), Elsie (1914), Ada (1918), Alice (1920), Edward Harold (1923), Norman Israel (1926), and Samuel John (1928). The children were raised on 15 acres located two miles west of Glen Allen. They all went to school in Glen Allen and worked as farmhands.