WALLACE GENEALOGY

The URL for this page was once http://mypage.siu.edu/leverett/walgenintro.html but that was removed by siu mypages.

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First a little bit of background. While Marnie and I were tooling about the country in our RV, we stayed a while near Beaver Falls, PA. The first discovery was Wallace Run. We went up the hill, and found a cemetery with stones for several Wallaces. The cemetery was on the site of a Wallace homestead. The land had been donated for use as a cemetery. The house was no longer standing.

We then visited the Beaver Falls Public Library. We found a 271 page manuscript entitled "WALLACE and CRAWFORD HISTORIES" by Marie McConnell (Mrs. F. M) of Lakeland, Florida. We photocopied the entire manuscript. Marnie then entered all the names and dates into the Brothers Keeper program. What we are able to offer here are reports generated by the program. The book contains numerous anecdotes which have not been entered.

In the last year or so we have had numerous inquiries about the book after mentioning it on the Roots-L mailing list. We decided that this way of making part of the book available would be of service to other genealogists. Since putting this on internet, two other people have added their updates: Ed Emery and Mary Carol Sheets. We welcome the input and will continue to update the file as we hear new information.

No claims are made as to the accuracy of the original work or the computer entries. Anyone who spots errors is cordially invited to report them to us. Respond The following is a partial quote from Mrs. McConnell's book. -James Leverett

OUR WALLACES

The idea of researching our Wallace background came to me while visiting my parents in 1941, and after listening to my mother reminisce about her grandparents. When I mentioned the idea, it seemed to please her, so, on a trip to Pennsylvania that summer, we visited the cemetery where they are buried and I talked to two of our Wallace relatives in Newcastle as a beginning.............

My first Wallace research was based mainly on a biography of Charles P. Wallace, published in Warner's History of Beaver Co., Pa., 1888, which mentions only four brothers who immigrated to America. They were John (our ancestor); William, who went to Goshen, N.Y.; James, who settled at Philadelphia; and Hugh, in South Carolina. It also claims as related to our family; Ex-Governor William Wallace of Washington Territory; General Lew Wallace, distinguished soldier and author of Ben Hur; and other notables of the name. From the time that I was a small child I have always heard that General Lew Wallace was a cousin of Great Grandfather Robert Wallace, son of John. My mother said she had asked her grandfather if General Lew Wallace really was his cousin and he answered yes, that he was. When I attempted to follow through on this by studying the published genealogy of the general's family, it seemed that such a relationship would have been impossible. Some years later, however, I learned that this genealogy was correct only to and including Andrew Wallace, General Lew's grandfather. His great grandfather was named as a Samuel Wallace, whereas court house records prove definitely that he was David Wallace of Lack Township, then Cumberland County, of which the county seat was Carlisle.

I have always thought that probably the reason our John went first as a young man to or near Carlisle, Pa., when he came to America alone, in 1770, was because he had relatives there. David was in Lack Township as early as 1763, when he was on a list of taxables and paid four shillings on 200 acres of land which had been warranted to him. Although I have studied many early Wallace families, I have been unable to fit this David into any of them so wonder if he may have been an older brother of John, which would have given the cousinship with General Lew Wallace, though not a first; however, in those early days cousins of varying degrees were claimed just as "cousin."

Descendants of James, as well as our families, seemed to know only of John, William, James and Hugh, though some sources have mentioned a brother Robert, "who may have come later."

(Margret Leverett)