JAMES WALLACE

The following bio was taken from page 423 of the book entitled "Rusk County History" compiled and edited and used with permission of the Rusk County Historical Commission.

Transcribed by Claudia Schuster

Submitted by Gloria Briley Mayfield, Rusk County TX Coordinator

The earliest known member of the Wallace family is James Wallace (1793-1863), who was born and died in York District, South Carolina and lived in the community of Mt. Etney. James Wallace and his wife, Margaret Ewart Barnett, had twelve children. Those that did not come to Texas were: Rachel E. Wallace (1820-1854), who married M.E. Henry and had no children; Joseph A.R. Wallace (1823-1894); Margaret Rebecca Wallace (1825-1894), who married Samuel L. Campbell.

Joseph Franklin Wallace (1831-1910) and his wife, Margaret Phillips, were the first to come to Texas in 1858; however, they returned to South Carolina in 1861. They had two daughters. Also there was Mary Eliza Wallace (1833-1836), and John R. Wallace (1838-1862), who died May 28, 1862 from wounds received in a battle near Richmond, Virginia during the War Between the States.

Several of the children came to Rusk County. They were James Adams Wallace (1818-1895), buried at Shiloh Cemetery, Rusk County, and his wife, Margaret Elizabeth Farris, according to their Bible, "emigrated with their family of eight children to Rusk County in the year 1859, landing in Texas, November 28, 1859." Margaret E. Wallace is buried at Shiloh. Thomas Stanhope Wallace (1821-1886) and his wife, Martha Wood, sister of Achsah Wood Wallace, came to Rusk County in 1861. They had four children before coming to Texas and five born in Texas. The parents are buried at Shiloh Cemetery.

William Marcellus Wallace (1827-1884) married Josephine G. Ray in Rusk County in 1861. The couple died near Mt. Enterprise and are buried in the Ross Cemetery. They had eight children, but none of their children had children.

Samuel Watson Wallace (1841-1923) and his first wife, Harriet E. Cook, came to Rusk County on December 20, 1872. With them came his mother, Margaret Ewart

Barnett Wallace, and her sister, Martha Adeline (1836-1927). A daughter was born in Texas. She had two daughters. There are no other descendants. Later Samuel Watson Wallace married Elmina Virginia Peters. The mother, and Samuel Wallace and his two wives are buried in Shiloh Cemetery. Martha Adeline later moved to California with her niece and died in Inglewood, California at the age of ninety-one.

Harvey Alexander Wallace (1829-1865) and his wife, Achsah Wood, daughter of a Revolutionary War soldier, Aaron Wood and his wife, Matilda Mayhew, came to Rusk County with their three children in 1861. With them came Achsah’s mother, Matilda Mayhew Wood, then sixty-two years old. Harvey Wallace had been an officer in the Confederate Army in South Carolina before the war started. He came to Texas, obtained a farm, and a home for his family in Minden, Texas. From May 4 until July 28, 1862 he organized Company H, 18^th Texas Infantry with one hundred thirteen men from Rusk, Panola, and Nacogdoches counties. He was still commander of his company camped near Crockett, Texas when word was received that the war was over. Captain Wallace died the following September as did three of his children in July and August of that year, 1865. Another child died in 1866. All are buried at Shiloh Cemetery, near Mt. Enterprise, Texas.

Achsah Wood Wallaces’s second marriage was to Duncan Poovey, also of South Carolina, who helped raise her two surviving sons, William Thomas and Aaron Wood.

William Thomas Wallace (1855-1929) married, first, Emma Dorcus Dulin in Rusk County and they had seven children. He married, second, Mary Lena Jackson and they had seven children. They are buried in Prospect Cemetery, Cherokee County, Texas.

Aaron Wood Wallace (1857-1947) of Minden, Texas married, first, Flora Amanda Welch, and the couple had two sons, Elmer Elias Wallace married Winnie Cariker in Rusk County. They lived in Dallas and their children are: Jessie Wood and Elmer Eugene, both deceased, are buried in Dallas; Georgia Cariker Farrell, also buried in Dallas; James Harvey Wallace, who married Roxie Holleman in Rusk County and had two children, James Cecil and Anita Mardell Bolling. The J.H. Wallaces are buried in Houston. Aaron Wood Wallace married, second, Sarah Ellen Peters, sister of Elmina Virginia Peters. Their son, Burleson Holt Wallace, had one daughter, Carolyn Perry. Burleson is buried at Shiloh.

Achsah Irene Wallace married Benjamin Alton Evans of Minden. Their sons are Ercell Wood and James Alvord. Mr. Evans is buried in the Shiloh Cemetery. Austin Smith Wallace married Lilly Cloud, and they had no children. He is buried at Shiloh.

Elmina Wallace married Willie Francis Beall of Henderson, and their children are: Ruby Lee Stevens, Francis Florine Shank, and Sarah Ellen Goodson. Mrs. Beall lives in Jacksonville, Texas.

Anna Lee Wallace married Joe Bailey Keeling, and their sons are Owen Wood, Robert Austin, and James Monroe. Mr. and Mrs. Keeling live in Mt. Enterprise. Aaron Wood Wallace and Sarah Ellen Peters are buried in Shiloh Cemetery. Both of Aaron Wood Wallace’s grandmothers, Margaret Ewart Barnett Wallace and Achsah Wood, are also buried there. Submitted by Mrs. T. D. Stevens