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793
Vikings: Scandinavian pre-Wallaces
DNA analysis of the Dawson Alonzo Wallace (DAW) line affirms several important genetic connections. One such historical point of origin is the connection to Scandinavia early in the evolution of the line that ultimately became the Wallaces. Accordingly, we start this timeline in the age of the Vikings. -
Period: 793 to 1042
Viking Age
Our DNA record has a strong "Viking Index" due to a clear ancestral presence in Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark and Sweden) connected to Norman ancestry - a typical Viking evolution. Vikings were primarily farmers working as seafaring raiders to secure money to buy farmland. Some Viking groups raided the northeastern British Isles directly. "Our Vikings" chose to remain in warmer and more farmable coastal France in an unusual agreement with the Frankish king. -
911
Vikings to Normans
Pre-Wallace Vikings settle in north coastal France (today's Normandy) with the support of the Frankish King. The former Vikings mix with the indigenous Franks and become "Normans" over time. Normans were a highly acquisitive group set on expansion and conquest. The big island across the Channel was very tempting. -
Period: 911 to 1066
Norman Period
Former Vikings and indigenous West Franks became deeply entwined to form a historically significant new group - the Normans. The Normans had a major political, cultural and military impact on medieval Europe and were famed for their martial spirit and their Catholic piety. They are noted for both their distinctive culture (including architecture and music) and for their significant military accomplishments and innovations. -
1066
Norman Conquest of England
Pre-Wallace Normans join William the Conqueror in an invasion of southern England. The conquering army moved on ultimately taking lands in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. -
Period: 1066 to 1124
Norman Conquest & Expansion
William the Conqueror (Duke of Normandy) led the 11th century Norman invasion and occupation of England. An estimated 8000 Normans settled in the conquered land, primarily in the western coastal area up into Wales and then Scotland. Our ancestors were part of this group, settling in the southwest region of Scotland. The land further north was considered poor and isolated. Our people fought at times against English tyranny in conflicts such as the one led by Sir William Wallace
. -
1100
Wallaces Become Wallace
While in Wales as part of the Norman Conquest the surmame "Wallace" was established and carried forward. -
1124
Wallaces Settle in Scotland
Moving north from Wales the Wallace clan settles in southwestern Scotland from Ayrshire northeast to Glasgow. A significant number of clan families lived in the Renfrewshire/Lanarkshire area and worshiped at Paisley Abbey. This group included Sir William Wallace, Hero of Scotland (who is not likely to be our ancestor). -
Period: 1124 to
Clan Wallace in Scotland
The clans of the Kingdom of Scotland derived from two sources. The Scottish Lowlands (adjacent with England) was populated significantly by people from the south (English, Welsh, etc.). Highland clans came from northern Pictish tribes. Clan Wallace settled in Lowlands southwest of Glasgow. They were prominent land and business owners but not aristocrats. They benefited from proximity to coast, rivers and city. Northern Ireland was not far away. Trade with the Colonies grew. -
1401
Early in the DAW Line
A Wallace man descends the stairs to the family root cellar. Winter is coming to southwest Scotland, and food storage is key to survival. The family owns good land, and their cellar is full of grains, vegetables and salted meats. There is peace with the English, for now. It has been a century since Sir William led the rebellion in these parts. Wallace’s wife is pregnant, and he hopes for a male heir to sustain the land and family name. If it is a boy he will name him John. -
1402
Birth of John Wallace (I)
The earliest record in our lineage is the first in a series of John Wallaces of coastal southwest Scotland. Born (1402) in the Late Middle Ages, John probably lived in one of the burghs southeast of Glasgow and worked as either a tradesman or a merchant. He may have been Catholic and worshiped at Paisley Abbey (as had Sir William Wallace prior to his brutal execution in 1395). -
1440
Birth of John Wallace (II)
John Wallace (1440-1507) was born - and spent his entire life - in the Clan Wallace area southwest of Glasgow. His mother was a Douglas and his wife was a Kennedy. We only know of one child - John Wallace III. [Research regarding this ancestor is ongoing] -
1463
Birth of John Wallace (III)
John Wallace ( 1463-1507) was born - and spent his entire life - in the Clan Wallace area southwest of Glasgow. His mother was a Kennedy and his wife was a Rutherford. We only know of one child - John Wallace IV. [Research regarding this ancestor is ongoing] -
1497
Birth of John Wallace (IV)
John Wallace (1497-1586) was born - and spent his entire life - in the Clan Wallace area southwest of Glasgow. His mother was a Rutherford and his wife was a Cunningham. We only know of one child - John Wallace V. [Research regarding this ancestor is ongoing] -
1550
Birth of John Wallace (V)
John Wallace (1550-1586) was born - and spent his entire life - in the Clan Wallace area southwest of Glasgow. His mother was a Cunningham and his wife was a Stewart (a historically significant name!). We only know of two children - William and Isabel. [Research regarding this ancestor is ongoing] -
1581
Birth of William Wallace
William Wallace (1581-1640) was born - and spent his entire life - in the Clan Wallace area southwest of Glasgow. His mother was a Stewart (significant historical name!) and his wife was a Maxwell. We only know of one child - John Wallace, Sr. [Research regarding this ancestor is ongoing]. -
Birth of John Wallace, Sr.
The most significant thing we know about John Wallace, Sr. (1607 - 1684) is that he was the father of our immigrator, John Jr. He apparently lived his entire life in Lanarkshire near Glasgow. The western part of this county in now Renfrewshire (Wallace central). The River Clyde connects Lanark to Glasgow. Work in the region included transport, farming and importing (especially tobacco). -
Birth of John Wallace, Jr.
Our immigrator, John Wallace, Jr. (1630 - 1693), is believed to have been born near Edinburgh and may have left Scotland in the late 1650’s. On Jan. 17, 1664, he is documented as being in either Albemarle Precinct of North Carolina or Albemarle County, Virginia. Records cite him as being an “Adventurer and Settler.” He served as a juror in Albermarle Precinct in 1693. He was described as strong of character, of marked executive ability and a successful business man. -
Birth of Thomas Wallace
THOMAS WALLACE was born in 1680 in Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He arrived in New England between 1700 and 1715. Thomas married ELIZABETH ROUNDTREE in 1715 in Nansemond, Virginia. She was born in 1681 in Virginia. Their son William D. Wallace was born in 1730 in Chowan County, North Carolina. Thomas died on 28 October 1750 in Chowan, North Carolina. -
Wallace Immigration
It is possible that the original Wallace immigrators came to America via Barbados. This was a common route from Scotland and the record suggests that John (perhaps with his sons) came to the colonies this way. -
Wallaces Immigrate to America
John Wallace Jr. (1630 - 1693) immigrates to the Virginia Colony with his young son Thomas Wallace (1690 - 1750) to engage in tobacco exportation. Our theory is that the pre-immigration Wallaces were involved initially in tobacco importation and sale. Glasgow was the prime point of tobacco importation in Europe. The import was insanely popular. Our ancestors likely chose to move to the more lucrative export side. -
Period: to
Wallaces in Virginia
Arriving at the common immigration point of Norfolk, Virginia John and his son Thomas engage in the lucrative tobacco business. Thomas marries Elizabeth Rountree of a recently immigrated Irish family. -
Wallaces Settle in North Carolina
After many successful years in Virginia Thomas Wallace moves the family to the Albermarle region of coastal North Carolina and becomes a very successful plantation owner. -
Period: to
Wallaces in North Carolina
We are anxious to learn about Wallace history in NC. We know they owned tobacco plantations and had slaves. Their potential role in the Revolutionary War (most likely through the famed NC militia) is a great interest.
We will go to this former homeland to do research in mid 2023. We will also visit historic Nansemond, the original Wallace settlement in Virginia, plus take a close look at the Rountree family (Irish immigrants that intersect importantly with our history). -
Birth of William D. Wallace, Sr.
WILLIAM D. WALLACE was born in Chowan County North Carolina. William and Martha Andrews probably married in 1745, and they lived in Chowan County, North Carolina. Together they had William Wallace Jr. (b. 1755-1824); Heziah (b. 1752-1800), Dinah (1754-?), Quotina (1756-1828), Agnes (b. 1747-1795); Abba (1750-1827) -
Birth of William D. Wallace, Jr.
WILLIAM D. WALLACE Jr. was born at Halifax, Martin, North Carolina. He married Susannah Exum in 1774 in Martin County, North Carolina. Together they had eight sons: Etheldred E. Wallace (b. 1775); William D. Wallace, III (born circa 1777); John Evans Wallace (b. 1782); Edmond Wallace (born circa 1786); George Washington Wallace (born circa 1788); Abithel Wallace (born circa 1794); Eaton Wallace (born circa 1798); Axum Green Wallace (born circa 1800). -
Birth of John Evans Wallace
JOHN EVANS WALLACE was born in Martin County, North Carolina, one of eight sons of William Wallace, Jr. and Susannah Exum. -
Birth of Evans Wallace
EVANS WALLACE was born in Edgecomb County, North Carolina. He lived in Stewart County by 1830, and is listed as a farmer on the 1860 census. Evans married Sarah Williams in 1826. Children of Sarah Williams and Evans Wallace: Sarah Wallace (b. 1827); Wilson (Wilse) Wallace (b. 1829); George Riley Wallace (b. 1833); Nancy Wallace (b. 1835); William Gideon Wallace (b. 1837). Evans married Sallie Clark on August 15, 1839. -
Wallaces Move to Tennessee
William D. Wallace Jr. moved the family to Stewart County in northwest Tennessee in the area of Bumpus Mills thereby taking advantage of a "Survey Grant" of land he earned as an early surveyor of the new Tennessee territory after the Revolutionary War. -
Period: to
Wallaces in Tennessee
Our line of Wallaces prospered and grew in Bumpus Mills, TN for more than 100 years. Family members bought land, built houses, and married locally (especially to the Williams - the other prominent family in town). In addition to subsistence farming the Wallaces grew tobacco and cotton for sale, worked in the thriving timber trade and crewed on building projects. They seem to have done some moonshining . The last family property, the "old Bally place" was sold in 1987. -
Birth of James Evans Wallace
JAMES EVANS WALLACE was born in Stewart County, Tennessee. ). James and Charolette (Lottie ) Vick were married in 1869. Together they had Bob Lee (b. 1869-1954); Dawson Alonzo (1877-1959); Maniza Jurethia Ponola (Nolie-b. 1879-1939); James Wesley (b 1881-1930); Sula Walton (b1883-1950); Barnie (b. 1886-1978); Hattie Lena (b. 1889-1965); Josie (died as a little girl). -
Birth of Dawson Alonzo Wallace
DAWSON ALONZO WALLACE were born in Bumpus Mills, Tennessee. Elmitte Williams married Dawson Alonzo Wallace in 1894, but they were divorced in 1895. They remarried about two years later in 1898, and had nine children: James Carlie (b. 1898-1986); Nola Mae (1901-1997); William Harrison (1903-1993); Reba Pearl (b. 1906-1998); Theo Thelson (b. 1909-1964); Ray Leslie (1911-1993); Sally Floyd (1917-1989); Edgar Hollis Wallace (1918-1999); Robert Lonnie (1922-2008). -
Wallaces Move to Providence, KY
In 1920 Dawson Alonzo Wallace took the monumental action of moving his entire family (including a very pregnant wife carrying their final child, Robert Lonnie) across the border to Providence Kentucky. It would be hard to overstate the difficulty of such a move at that time. There, along with at least one son, he tried his hand at coal mining. -
Period: to
Wallaces in Kentucky
A strong desire to leave farming and logging compelled Dawson Alonzo Wallace (DAW) to move his entire family across the border to Providence Kentucky. After several years the family moved east to Corydon Kentucky for a shot at an entirely different lifestyle. -
Wallaces Move to Corydon, KY
Unhappy with his job a a coal miner Dawson Alonzo Wallace moved his family west to Cordon Kentucky in the late 1920's. There he bought a grocery store that came with a good size house. The family's good start at reinvention was destined to be disrupted soon by the Great Depression. -
Wallaces Move to Middletown, OH
The Great Depression disrupted every aspect of American life, and by 1935 the Dawson Alonzo Wallace family had moved to Middletown, Ohio. One major attraction of the area was a huge steel mill, Armco Steel. Several male members of the family would eventually work there. DAW took another turn at operating a neighborhood grocery store but it ultimately failed. His son Ray, however, had more success with his own store. -
Period: to
Wallaces in Ohio
In 1935 Dawson Alonzo Wallace moved his family one final time to Middletown in southern Ohio. His neighborhood grocery store could not survive the travails of the Great Recession. -
Death of Elmittie Wallace
Death of Elmittie Parazade Wallace (Williams) following the death of her husband, Dawson Alonzo Wallace, in 1957. -
Wallace Genealogy Project
This timeline is a resource of the expansive Wallace Genealogy Project organized by Linda Wallace Bentz (1956) and Steven Ray Wallace (1952). The project covers an unbroken genealogical line from medieval Scotland to Dawson Alonzo Wallace (1877-1957). Linda and Steve are grandchildren of Dawson Alonzo via Edgar Hollis Wallace (1918 - 1999). They love to collaborate and can be contacted at lindabentz@gmail.com and steven.wallace@icloud.com.