early Wallaces

I have some observations about the post below, in which the Find-a-grave site for John Wallace made some strong claims. In short, it claimed he came over (to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, from Northern Ireland) with three brothers, William, James, and Hugh, in 1770; William ended up in Goshen NY; James ended up in eastern Pennsylvania; and Hugh ended up in South Carolina, all with large families and important connections; and that John himself had a son William in Carlisle only to abandon him (upon his wife's death) to being raised by grandparents, as he went back to Ireland to marry Geneva Jane and have six more children, among them our Robert.

That last part is verifiable, although several Williams claim to be that William, who would have been born after 1770 but not long after. Everything is sketchy in that era, and I blame the revolution, but also the fact that such names as William Wallace were extremely common among all kinds of people. I believe I will be able to find the son William among Carlisle Wallaces and figure out which of the claimants is really him, and even find the mother, if I look hard enough.

But I am having trouble with the other three 1770 brothers, who supposedly had clear trails off into Goshen, NY, eastern PA, and South Carolina. I'm beginning to suspect that that poster is talking of the top of his/her hat. Of course there are lots of Hugh Wallaces in South Carolina. Why is none of them marked as coming from William Wallace of Ayrshire/Ireland? Perhaps because we have no real handle on that William, where he lived, who he married (someone named Mary?), or when he was born. In fact we have no birthdates for any of the boys, which in Wallace genealogy means we're doomed.

A cursory look at the facts we do have allows some observations. John himself supposedly has a birthdate of ~1750. This makes him 20 at the passage and my guess would be he was among the youngest if not the youngest. William would be the first, maybe, as if a father is going to name kids after himself they'll do it right away.

The other thing I would say is that if the "two boys stole a pig" story (or its variants) is true, that the boys stopping over in Northern Ireland would be looking for their brother(s), since having no money, they needed some respite from the cruel world. One or more brother was already in Northern Ireland at least surviving, possibly with means for the passage ticket to Pennsylvania. How long did it take to procure four passages? Not sure, not even sure that post is real. But if we have four boys coming over at once, then scattering to the winds, it's a whole new ballgame.

John, when he gave up Pennsylvania, and left his son to be raised by grandparents, went back to Londonderry, not Scotland. There was nothing for him in Scotland, but Londonderry had Geneva Jane, who he may have known. She may even have invited him to come back. Did letters cross the ocean, from Donegal to Carlisle? Just speculating here.

When he comes back to the states, he settles in Cecil County, Maryland. Again, trail very murky. He and Geneva Jane now have six kids, among them John Jr. and Robert, ours, but those two are the only ones with a clear trail. No gravesite for John or Geneva Jane, no information about the other four. One is named Jane, uncertain birthdate; another has 1776 as a birthdate, but no name. Oh well. Back to the drawing board, as they say.

PS one more riddle to solve according to the above information. Knowing that uncle James had a whole clan in Wallace Run, I went looking for him and his people, and found some. Some accounts have him born in the early 1740s (makes sense), marrying a Mary Fulton around 1762, having William Wallace (~1764) and then Mary Wallace (~1769). In this account his son William marries Mary McClelland and they come over in 1789, settling in Dauphin County Pennsylvania. William and Mary married in County Down (Londonderry) and she was from there. Their daughter Jane is the one who finds her way up to Beaver County which means she's not there until 1815 or so which still could have made it possible for Robert to find her; she would be a cousin? But the discrepancy is whether that James was in Pennsylvania or went back for any significant period of time, as John did. He coulen't be in both places at once. And naming his kids William and Mary and then Jane sounds very much like this family - the information was compiled and put in the genealogy on this very blog.