The American history of the Wallace family closely followed that of my Leech family in Maryland, South Carolina and Alabama. There was some association between these two families earlier, but it was not until the middle of the 19th century that an intermarriage occured: between Mary Jane Wallace and William G. Alexander in Lawrence Co. AL. Their son, William Samuel Alexander, married Sarah Pamela Ash, who was named for her grandmother, Sarah Leech Ash, my gggg aunt.
Beginning in the middle of the 17th Century many Scotch Irish families settled on the eastern shore of Maryland and particularly in Somerset Co. Among them were ALEXANDER, WALLACE, LEECH and a number of other families who appear to have joined them in a migration westward, then southward.
A documented alliance between ALEXANDER and WALLACE provides clues to the movement of a much larger group of families, among them the LEECH family, ancestors of the writer. Matthew Wallace was one of the early settlers in Somerset, and another Matthew Wallace was married to Sarah Alexander. Very likely this was not the first (of many) intermarriages between the two families. They were on or near the Manokin River and were prominent members of the Manokin Presbyterian Church.
The 1685 will of John Wallace of Manokin names a son, Matthew and also mentions a brother also named Matthew. It appears that the son of John was the Matthew who married Sarah Alexander. Matthew Wallace, b. 1672 appears in the 1707 Quit Rent Rolls for Somerset Co. The same year Matthew Wallace named his friend William Alexander, Jr. (likely his brother-in-law; he was married to Catherine Wallace) P/A to settle his estate in Somerset; he was moving to Cecil Co.
Here is a list of the children of Matthew and Sarah
Alexander Wallace:
1. James Wallace
2. Matthew Wallace, Jr.
3. Willliam Wallace.
4. Joseph Wallace.
5. George Wallace.
6. Alexander Wallace.
7. Ezekiel Wallace.
8. John Wallace.
Many if not all of these sons appear to have also moved to Cecil Co. and a number of them continued the migration down into Carolina.
In the early Somerset settler lists was a man named Thomas Stephenson. Later a man of that name, said to be from Bucks Co. PA was instrumental in facilitating the movement of "Matthew Wallace and his company" (made up largely of his Alexander relations) from Somerset to Cecil Co.
In the late 17th century the proprietor of Maryland felt the need of additional settlers, especially in the northeastern corner of the colony, some of which was under dispute with the Penns. He granted Susquehanna Manor to his cousin, George Talbot with the condition that Talbot import 640 people from the British Isles into the area within the next 12 years. In 1683 a portion of this area, called New Munster was conveyed to a band of "Irishmen"; it was in the northeast corner of Cecil County along the Elk River--an area very close to both Delaware and Pennsylvania. In fact a portion of New Munster was later determined to lie within the bounds of Chester Co. PA.
In the course of time New Munster fell into the hands of Thomas Stephenson of Bucks Co. PA (As mentioned above there is some question in the writer's mind that this may be the Thomas Stephenson found in early tax lists of Somerset Co.) In 1714 Thomas Stephenson deeded 1100 acres of the property to Matthew Wallace and a number of Alexanders. Matthew had married Sarah Alexander, said to be the daughter of Samuel and Mary Taylor Alexander. All of these grantees had lived in Somerset Co.
The original deed was to "Matthew Wallace and his company" (Deed Book 2, pp 280-83, Records of Cecil Co. MD.) It went on to name Matthew Wallace and a number of Alexanders. That was in 1714. In 1718 a Power of Attorney is recorded on page 198 in Book 3 of Cecil Co. Land Records: "Thomas Stevenson of Bucks Co. PA, because he is moving" appointed his friend Gavin Hutchison of Cecil Co. to acknowledge 8 deeds, five of them to various Alexanders, one to Matthew Wallace, Jr., one to John and William Gillespys, and one to Mary Allex, widow.
(According to June D. Brown's Abstracts of Cecil Co. MD Land Records p. 125 this Mary Alexander was the widow of the said Thomas Stevenson, but a couple of pages later the deed in question is abstracted and she is referred to as "the widow and relict of James Alexander of Newmunster, of Cecil Co. carpenter, deceased" Does this indicate something significant about Mary and Stevenson, or is it a simple typo??")
GILLESPIE is another of the Scotch Irish families that apparently moved from Cecil Co. Md to Carolina. Others were POLK, SHARP, Ewing, and BREVARD, and probably quite a few others.
There is a militia list for 1739, compiled by Murtie June Clark in her Colonial Soldiers of the South. She named Michael Wallace in the troop of Capt. Thomas Johnson, along with John, Joseph, Theophilus, and Jedidiah Alexander. In the foot company of Capt. John Veazey she named Thomas Wallace along with Nathaniel Alexander, William Boyd, and Charles and David Leech. In a fragment that may be part of this company she named John Wallace. All of these surnames appear in reasonable proximity later in York Co. SC.
In 1751 the administration of the estate of David Leech is recorded in Cecil Co. records. Joseph Wallace received the sum of 3 lb and 4 shillings. Theophilus Alexander: 15 shillings.
Within a few years of his arrival in Cecil Co. James Wallace, said to have been born in 1680, was in PA and moving westward together with other Wallaces and Alexanders.
James Wallace is believed to have had three sons:
Oliver, Sr. born ante 1716
John, Sr. was born ca 1718; Major in SC militia;
lived on Fishing Creek in York Co. SC; he died in
Rutherford Co. TN ca 1804.
Thomas, Sr. born ca 1720.
In 1737 Oliver Wallace got a warrant for land in Lancaster Co. PA. He got another in 1748; both were on Conodoguinet Creek. He was adjacent to his father, James' land.
In 1740 Oliver, presumably grandson of Matthew Wallace, married Annisbell McNabb, daughter of Andrew and Ann McNabb; this was in Lancaster Co. James and Oliver Wallace later lived in Cumberland Co. PA.
In 1763 James and his son Oliver, and likely other members of the family moved to Carolina. It appears that they may have traveled with members of the McNabb family.
Mecklenburg Co. NC was formed from Anson Co. in 1763. From 1768 to 1772 the area which became York Co. was part of Tryon County, split off from Mecklenburg. In 1772 the boundary between the two states was modified, and York Co. and points south and west of it were first referred to as the New Acquisition [of SC], but then became the Camden Precinct. In 1775 York District was created. All of this means that a piece of property--on Turkey Creek or Fishing Creek for example, acquired in the 1750's might successively be named in each of the above political jurisdictions.
There is extensive documentation of the movement of many Alexanders from Cecil Co. to Carolina, beginning ca 1745. I have found much less documentation re the Wallace family. However Robert E. Wallace on pp 1-2 of his book, The Family of Samuel W. Wallace, listed a number of deeds and other mention of the family between 1764 and 1824. They start out re Mecklenburg Co., change to Tryon Co. when that unit was split off from Mecklenburg, and eventually name Camden District, a SC unit and finally York.
Here are some of the records that Mr. Wallace lists: (These deeds are found in the records of Mecklenburg, Tryon, Camden and York.
In 1765 William Wallace bought 162 acres adjoining
James Wallace and David Alexander. (Mecklenburg deed book
2 p 114).
In 1765 James Wallace, Sr. was conveyed by John
Harden 300a on Fishing Creek (became York Co. later).
In 1766 Oliver and James Wallace witnessed a deed
from James Hanna to John Wallace Sr.
In 1768 John Wallace, Sr. and Andrew McNabb witnessed
a deed of Phillips to Killough on Fishing Creek. It was
property adjacent to James Wallace, Sr.
In 1770 William Henry deeded property to Oliver
Wallace adjoining Oliver and Kerr.
In 1775 Capt. John Wallace led a company against the
Cherokees. His cousin, John Wallace, Jr. was in the
company.
In 1776 Oliver Wallace deeded property to his son,
James, adjacent property of Oliver and John Wallace.
In 1783 Oliver's son, John had served under Major
John Wallace and Capt. James Wallace in the Revolutionary
War.
In 1784 John Wallace was bondsman for the estate of
John Sadler (John Sadler's sister, Margaret, married
William Leech; all of these families lived on Fishing
Creek.)
In 1787 William Henry deeded property to Oliver and
James Wallace; witnessed by Joseph Wallace.
The 1789 will of Oliver Wallace, Jr. names wife:
Judith, 3 unnamed daughters and son Oliver Berry Wallace,
a minor. Executors were friend Thomas Wallace and Andrew
Love; witnesses: James Mitchell, James Wallace, and
William Davison.
In 1793 Thomas and Joseph Wallace were jurors in the
York Co. court.
In 1824 Thomas Wallace, Jr. was buried at Bethesda
Presbyterian Church cemetery in York Co.
Mr. Wallace cited many other court records in the various political units during this time frame. Most of those I've selected appear to be in the area around Fishing Creek in what is now York and/or Chester Co SC.
On p. 299 of Worth Ray's Tennessee Cousins we have a listing of Mecklenburg Co Wallaces in the 1790 census: Ezekiel, Matthew, George, Alexander, William--all in the Sugar Cr. section. John and James were just to the north on Stony Creek. Most of them had substatial families with grown children. The author considered them likely sons of Matthew Wallace of Cecil Co. But we have earlier records of the settlement of John and James in what became York Co. SC.
John and James Wallace show up on Fishing Creek in 1765-6. This was Mecklenburg Co. at the time, but with the Revolution it became part of York Co. SC.
In 1767 James Wallace conveyed the 300a on Fishing Creek, which he had acquired from John Harden, to his son, Oliver. Oliver died in Clark Co. GA in 1802. One of his sons, John Wallace, was a J.P. in Clark Co. in 1802.
Another son of Oliver Wallace was Oliver, Jr. (1748-89). During the Rev. he served in the SC militia under Capt. Wm Hanna, Lt. John Hanna, and Capt. Robert Sadler. He married Judith and had among three daughters Sally, born 1785. Sally married John Kidd, a member of Bethesda Presbyterian Church in York Co.
(In 1900 John Allen Kidd married in Wise Co TX Mary Jane ALEXANDER b 1880 Frosa, Limestone Co TX. [This from Ruth in the Alexander Family Genealogical Forum Nov 17, 2000, #5183 or 5845]. Mary Jane was undoubtedly a descendant of Oliver Wallace, Sr., whose granddaughter, Sally had married an earlier John Kidd about 100 years before. The family of John Allen and Mary Jane Kidd can thus claim WALLACE, ALEXANDER, ASH, AND LEECH among their ancestors. All of these families except Alexander appear with John Kidd on the membership roll of Bethesda Presbyterian Church.)
James L. Wallace (1850-1838), son of Oliver Wallace, of York Co. SC was born in 1750 in PA. He married (2) Mrs. Mary Good Bratton, widow of James Bratton ca 1814, but most of his children were born to his first wife, whose name is not known. James and Mary are buried at Bethesda Presbyterian Cemetery in York Co. SC.
James L. had a son, Samuel W. who was born in York Co. in 1795.
Samuel W. Wallace, son of James L., was born 1795 in York Co. SC. He married Frances Hodges in Shelby Co. AL in 1818. He lived in Dallas Co. AL in 1820 and was a militia Captain there. In 1821 he lived in Perry Co. AL, and in 1826 he moved to Oakville in Lawrence Co. In 1829 he was a J.P. in Lawrence. In 1864 he purchased 160 acres in Sec. 25 of 5R 9W. Samuel W. died in 1886 and is buried in the Masterson Cemetery near Wolfe Springs in Lawrence Co. AL.
Samuel W. and Frances Wallace had 11 children:
Martha Lou (1820); in 1837 she married Thomas
Jefferson Harris and had 10 children.
Elizabeth (1821) married William Balch, a Baptist
minister.
James Milton (1823) married Eliz. Craig Finney.
Margaret E. (1826) married John W. Gailey, a teacher
and JP.
Mary Jane (1827) married William G. Alexander (see
below).
Elizabeth C. (1829) married William D. Harris.
William W. (1830) a Baptist minister and bureaucrat,
married Mrs. Nancy Smith, whose mother was a Moore. A
confederate soldier he became Superintendent of Schools
in Rutherford Co. TN.
Cynthia L. (1832) married Lycargus Carpenter.
Frances Mariah (1833)
John Robert (1836) married (1) Sarah Gibson and (2)
Melissa Ann Gibson.
John M. (1847)
All of these children except the first two were said to be born in Lawrence Co. AL, and many or most of them died there. It was Samuel's daughter, Mary Jane, b. 1827, who married William G. Alexander. (I am very interested in learning the parentage of William G. Alexander!! I have some reason to suppose that William G. may have been the son of David Alexander, who was in the neighborhood in 1820. It was William G's son, William Samuel, who married Sarah Pamela Ash, named for her grandmother, Sarah Leech Ash, my gggg aunt.)
In 1815 William Alexander, Esq was an executor of the will of Andrew Morrison in Franklin Co. TN. The will was witnessed by James Harris. (Might this William Alexander be of the family of William G. and William S.?)
In 1689 Matthew Wallace named his 200 acres Kirkminster.
In 1695 William Wallace patented two tracts of 100 acres each and
named them Golden Quarter and Great Neck.
In 1695 James Wallace named his 200 acres Wallace's
Adventure.
In 1700 Richard Wallaced named 85 acres Father and Son's
Desire.
(This material taken from Peter Coldham's Settlers of Maryland
published in 1995.)
For corrections, comment, or inquiry e-mail Larry Clayton.
� 2001 Larry Clayton