Wikipedia
Alliston is a settlement in Simcoe County in the Canadian province of Ontario. It has been part of the Town of New Tecumseth since the 1991 amalgamation of Alliston and nearby villages of Beeton, Tottenham, and the Township of Tecumseth. The primary downtown area is located along Highway 89, known as Victoria Street.
The town grew as a commercial centre for the area farmers and was best known as a potato-growing area. It is still a major industry in the town and is celebrated by the annual Alliston Potato Festival. Honda of Canada Manufacturing operates a large auto manufacturing facility southeast of Alliston, currently consisting of three major factories. In the 2011 census, the town of Alliston grew by 23% since 2006 to 15,379. This is over 4 times the average in the county of Simcoe.
This surname is most popular in South West Suffolk and North Essex England. Variants include Alliston, Elliston, Allaston, Ellystone and Alston.
Most branches of the Alliston variant can trace their heritage back to William Alliston/Elliston/Alston, who was a yeoman at Hedingham Castle, home to the De Veres (Earls of Oxford) in the 15th century.
Lawrence Elliston his grandson was mentioned in the will of the 15th and 16th Earls. William Elliston was mentioned in the will of the 13th Earl of Oxford. They were 40 shilling Yeomen being paid 40 shillings on the death of their Feudal Lord.
see http://www.oxford-shakespeare.com/documents.html for the wills
There is also a mention of a Hugh Austyn or Allstyn mentioned in the medieval soldiers database in 1415 as a soldier with Richard De Vere 11th Earl of Oxford, he would have fought at Agincourt.
Another branch appears to have gone to Scotland in the 14th century when Hugh Alston ending up fighting for Robert De Bruce. See the story of Thinacre Milne.
The coat of arms of the Scottish family are the same as those for the Suffolk Alston branch. The Elliston branch seems to have acquired a new coat of arms about the time of the battle of Bosworth ( 13th Earl of Oxford) when they started using the arms of Maur De Eylston who is mentioned on the Collins roll of Edward I (1290's).