The Wallis Family Tree
The story of the WALLACE/WALLIS family is another example of why I appreciate the honesty of my ancestors in telling their story. Eliza C. TURNER (1833-1918) was the daughter of James and Mary TURNER. She was the second wife of William WALLACE (1813-1903). William had married Eliza VANSKIKE (??-1852) in 1845, and she bore him three children. Her death occurred in the same year their third child was born, so her death may have been due to complications from childbirth. Unfortunately, I can find no record for her on Ancestry; I will try to get her death record from the state of Missouri.
William then married Eliza TURNER September 28, 1856. Her first child, Alice, was born in 1857, and
according to my grand-aunt Lizzie, this child may not have been William’s, and
he may have married her out of pity, or because they may have already been
engaged and he did it to “save face.”
The third child born to Eliza was my great-grandfather, John
Glover WALLIS (1861-1945), and according to my mother and my grand-aunt Jessie Irene,
Eliza’s husband William was not John’s father either! When John was old enough to understand the
significance of that, he changed the spelling of his name to WALLIS. If the family had not been so open about this
spelling change, doing genealogical research would have been impossible, not to
mention frustrating, since I would be looking for WALLIS, not WALLACE!
In 1861, the same year John Glover was born, the Civil War
began. William WALLACE served in the
Union Army, Co G, 11th Mo Cavalry. I wonder if his enlistment had anything to do
with his home life, he was 48 years old and quite a bit older than the average
soldier at that time. It’s interesting
to note that when Eliza applied for a widow’s pension after William’s death,
she spelled the last name WALLIS for both her and William. I will try to obtain a copy of her pension
application, but with the name misspelling I highly doubt she received a
pension. Regardless, the pension
application itself can contain great genealogical information – I’ll let you
know if I find anything and what I find.
So, since John Glover WALLIS is not a WALLACE by blood, I will
spend some time tracing the family back through his wife Lucretia’s
ancestry.
John married Lucretia “Lutie” Virginia SMITH (1870-1937), the
daughter of Jeptha Rufus (1845-1915) and Martha Virginia PATTERSON SMITH
(1839-1931). The oldest photograph I
have in my entire genealogical collection is from about 1895. It is of my grandmother Iva, her older
brother Archibald Eugene “Archie” and younger brother Rufus Monroe, “Monroe,”
all as young children. In the photo, Monroe
is a toddler, and since he was born in 1894, I date the photo as 1895. Also in the photo, are their parents, John
and Lucretia SMITH WALLIS, Lucretia’s brother Rufus Ira SMITH, and her parents
Jeptha Rufus and Martha Virginia PATTERSON SMITH. I have a copy on display, but the original is
in our safe deposit box!
1895 photo
Lucretia’s father, Jeptha Rufus SMITH, was the son of Elijah
(1820-?) and Eliza Mildred HUCH SMITH (1820-?).
Jeptha fought in the Confederate Army in the Civil War, Co K, 1st/4th
Consolidated Volunteers, C.S.A. He was
seriously wounded and his injury was recorded in “History of Shelby County:”
“At the battle of
Corinth, October 3, 1862, he received a terrible
wound, his recovery from which seemed almost a miracle. He was
shot through the body from his right to his left side, just under
the
arms, an ounce ball passing in at one side and out at the
other.
Notwithstanding the severity of his wound, however, he soon recov-
ered and bravely resumed his place in the ranks with his comrades.”
He was also wounded at Allatoona, Georgia, in
1864. While in Alabama he met and
married Martha Virginia PATTERSON, in October of 1865.
Martha Virginia PATTERSON was the daughter of Ira (1805-1863) and
Lucretia Jane ALLEN PATTERSON (1814-1903).
Ira died in 1863, from pneumonia.
In a letter to my uncle Harold William CHURCHWELL from his cousin Wesley
Taylor ALLEN (Harold’s mother Iva and Wes’s mother Lizzie were sisters), he
tells the story of Ira’s death:
“Ira Patterson died in Tuscaloosa
Alabama from pneumonia. The
was
attending the University of Alabama, when The Union troops were
getting
close to Tuscaloosa. The weather was
bad, rainy, cool etc. and
he
got wet on the way and went into pneumonia.
Tuscaloosa is about
60
miles north of Demopolis.”
Ira was the son of John PATTERSON (1758-1837) and Anne Mira
THOMPSON (1768-1853). John parents were
Henry PATTERSON (1730/35-1781) and Elizabeth (surname unknown) (1768-1853).
Henry’s birthplace was either Ireland or Pennsylvania; Elizabeth was born in
County Armagh, Ireland. They were both
from Northern Ireland, therefore they were Scots-Irish. Without going into too much detail, in the 17th
century, the British authorities decided to settle Presbyterian Scotsmen from
Lowland Scotland into Northern Ireland.
By the American Revolution, the colonies were approximately one-sixth
Scots-Irish. See https://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/scotirish.htm#:~:text=In%20the%20fifth%20century%20CE,of%20Britain%20was%20taking%20place.
Henry was a Revolutionary War Patriot. All I had known about him was that his grave
marker reads, “Henry Patterson died in General Green’s Camp on the Hills of the
Santee Oct A. Domn 1781 These (Henry and
Elizabeth’s markers) set by their first son John Patterson.” I could find no military record for Henry,
and wondered why a man in his 50s was fighting in the war. Then, I found the answer at the Family
History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah!
He did not fight in any battles, but he helped keep the Continental Army
fed. I found a North Carolina
Revolutionary Pay Voucher dated 7 August 1781, certifying that the Rowan County
Commissioner purchased “500 of Beef” from Henry Patterson “amounting in the
whole to Twenty Seven and a half Spanish Milled Dollars which sum is to bear
interest at 6/Cent until paid. . .” Unfortunately,
Henry died in October of 1781.
Hopefully, the heirs of Henry received the payment due for the cattle. (Since the Colonies had no currency of their
own, and their printed paper money was really worthless, Spanish Milled Dollars
– aka Pieces of Eight – were used to set the value in trading goods during the
Revolutionary War. For more information
see https://coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/FAQ/cc-notesinfo.html#:~:text=By%201780%20forty%20dollars%20in,As%20worthless%20as%20a%20Continental.%22
I’ve been moving backward in time instead of forward, as I’ve
jumped from tracing the WALLIS name, to tracing back the maternal lines of SMITH
and PATTERSON. Now, I’ll return to the
WALLIS line, picking up with the children of John Glover and Lucretia Virginia
SMITH WALLIS. John and “Lutie” had 9
children, 7 of whom lived to adulthood. In
birth order they were Archie, Iva, Monroe, Lizzie, John, Charley, then they
lost a baby boy and a baby girl, and finally, Irene. I remember different occasions when some of
them would come to visit Archie and Iva who lived in Denver, Colorado.
1967 Sloan’s Lake Wallis
photo
Seated: Iva, Eulelia, Archie, Lizzie
Charley had gotten married in 1919, and he and his wife had three
daughters, then, on March 31, 1924, he just disappeared. Some of his brothers thought, on different
occasions, that they might have seen him in a crowd. On one occasion, someone called out “Hi, Charlie”
to one of the brothers, but when asked if they knew a Charlie Wallis, the
person clammed up. It’s sad that
Charlie’s parents, siblings, wife and children never knew what happened to him
or what caused him to desert them.
That’s a brick wall I’d like to knock down, but doubt I ever will.
Iva Louise Henrietta WALLIS (1891-1980) was the second child and
oldest daughter of John Glover and Lucretia Virginia SMITH WALLIS. She was born in Shelby County, Missouri, near
where Mark Twain(1835-1910) lived in Hannibal, which was in both nearby Marion
and Ralls Counties. Iva had family that
lived in Marion County.
I don’t know how my grandparents met, but they were married when
Will was 21 and Iva was 19, on April 19, 1911.
Iva’s mother was not able to attend the wedding; she was “in
confinement,” expecting their ninth child a few months later. In those days a woman “in a family way” was
not to be seen in public - like I’ve said before, different standards in
different times in history. Lutie stood
at an open window so she could hear her oldest daughter exchange her wedding
vows. Iva’s youngest sibling, Jessie
Irene WALLIS, was born August 29, 1911.
Will and Iva’s first two children, Francis Wallis (1912) and Harold William (1915), were born in Shelby
County, Missouri, then the family of four moved to Colorado
and the rest of the children were born in Kit Carson County: Richard Webster (1917), Kenneth Weldon (1919), Louise Virginia (1920), Warren Calvin (1921), Mildred Elizabeth (1923), and Beckie Jean (1927). Iva had miscarried a set of twins.
My mother always told me that after moving to Colorado, Iva never
saw her mother again; she said Will promised Iva’s parents that he would see to
it that Iva got back to visit them every year; apparently, that promise was
broken year after year! Then, going
through my Wallis photos I came across a photo of John and Lucretia with their
six children, dated July 21, 1935, Emden, MO. This may have been the only time Iva saw her mother after moving West in about 1917.
1935 - John, Lucretia and 6 children
Mom’s diary entry for October 8, 1937 reads: “Got a card that Grandma pasted[sic] away. Mama is preparing to go back to Mo.” When Iva returned home, she brought back some of her mother’s things for some of her children; my mom received her grandmother’s cream and sugar bowls. I now have that set on display in my home.
Iva’s dad came
out for a visit in 1939, along with Mom’s cousin Lawrence (Archie and Eulelia’s
son) and his girlfriend Clara. My mom
wrote in her diary for Wednesday, August
16: “Just about dinnertime Grandpa, Uncle Arch & Aunt Euleah[sic], Cousin
Lawrence & Clare[sic] his girl all came in for dinner.” My mom and Aunt Jean told me their Grandpa was upset that Iva's family was living in a rough, sod house, and he wanted to take Mildred and Jean back with him to Missouri (Louise had gotten married in July of that year). Of course, Iva and Will declined the offer. Aunt Jean recalled how her grandfather always told her and Mildred to be good girls. She wondered if it had to do with his own mother's behavior. My mom told me that her Grandpa thought she was boy-crazy, which did not set well with either her or her mother! While their grandpa was visiting, Mildred's boyfriend stopped by and Mildred went over and sat on his lap; her grandfather was very displeased with her, but her mother knew it was to spite him for his earlier remark, and she didn't say a word!
1939 - 4 Generations
Iva, John holding Marietta (9 mos.) and Francis
Aunt Irene was the youngest WALLIS child, and she and her husband Virgil BRODERS lived in Iowa their entire married life. They were never able to have children. In 2006, Irene had a stroke, and for some reason the family in Iowa could find neither Uncle Calvin’s nor Aunt Jean’s phone numbers, but they had mine, so I got the call and notified the other relatives. I was called again when she passed away a short time later, and was told since Irene had no children, there might be inheritance for Irene’s nieces and nephews. (My sister Kim thought it must be a rare thing for anyone in their 80s to receive an inheritance from an aunt, and 5 of Irene's Churchwell nieces and nephews were still alive!) I said I would let the family know, and that if no one in the family wanted any of the old photographs and/or letters that Irene had, I would like to have them. Well, a few weeks later, I got a large box in the mail, Wow! It had dozens and dozens of photographs – and best of all, most of them were labeled with names and dates!! Many were in a beautiful old album. They were such a welcome sight to see! I removed them from the album and placed them all in archival quality sheet protectors on archival paper. I wanted to preserve Aunt Irene’s handwriting, so I clipped the photo captions and taped each below its photo onto the archival paper. I have the photo album stored in an archival box.
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