George Wallace

William Wallace, of Scotch-Irish extraction, came from the north of Ireland, with his wife, four sons, and two daughters, about the close of the Revolutionary war, and settled in Maryland, where his wife died. The children were John, who settled in Goshen, where he was a teacher for some time, afterwards a merchant, and for one term was county treasurer. He died there. William, born in 1777, went to Crawford, Orange Co., while a young man, where he married, about 1806, Kezia MacDowell, of Scotch extraction. About 1809 he purchased ninety acres of land near Scotchtown, in the town of Wallkill, where he spent his entire business life. He resided for a few years in Middletown, and died in 1862 at the residence of his son George, subject of this sketch. William Wallace was a strictly honorable and upright citizen, quiet and unassuming, and a deacon in the Presbyterian Church at Scotchtown, of which his wife was also a member. She died in 1842, aged fifty-two. James, settled in Milford, Pa., where he was a large farmer, and there died. Robert, was a lumber merchant in Philadelphia, and there died. Jane, was the wife of Robert Lougheed, of Wallkill. Mary, was the wife of Robert A. Thompson, of Hopewell.

The children of William and Kezia Wallace were fifteen, viz.: John C., was a merchant at Goshen, was county clerk, 1843 to 1846, and from 1876 to 1879; William, was a carriage-maker by trade, was a merchant at Bullville for some time, and died in 1863, at Middletown; Mary W., is the widow of Theron Libolt, and resides at Scotchtown; Rebecca, is the widow of Walter B. Sears, of Montgomery; Robert, was engaged in mercantile business at Goshen from boyhood, and there died about 1840; Andrew T., a farmer in Crawford; Harvey, a merchant at Goshen; Martha Jane (deceased), was the wife of John E. Corwin of Scotchtown; George; Alfred, died at the age of thirteen; Matilda; Theodore, died at the age of eighteen, in 1846; and Elizabeth, James (1st), and James (2d), died young.

Of these children, George Wallace, our subject, was born July 17, 1823, and spent his boyhood at home. At the age of fourteen he went to learn the wagon-making trade with his brother-in-law, Walter B. Sears, in Montgomery, where he remained most of three years. He then returned home, where he remained until his marriage.

He married, Nov. 11, 1846, Susan C., daughter of Oliver Bailey and Susan Millspaugh, of Goshen, who were formerly residents near Scotchtown. Oliver Bailey died Dec. 20, 1867, aged seventy-eight. His wife died July 5, 1873, aged eighty. Both were members of the Presbyterian Church at Scotchtown. Oliver Bailey was the son of Capt. Daniel Bailey, born on Long Island, who was the progenitor of his family in Orange County, and settled near Phillipsburgh, in the town of Wallkill.

Susan C. Bailey was born July 29, 1825. Their children were Georgianna, died at the age of six years, March 21, 1855; Susan Alice, is the wife of John W. Clark, of Goshen; Theodore; and Carrie H.

In the spring of 1848, Mr. Wallace settled on his present farm of one hundred and forty acres, known as the Baldwin homestead, once owned by Rev. Mr. Baldwin, the first settled pastor of the Scotchtown Presbyterian Church. Here he has resided since, engaged in stock-raising and dealing in cattle and sheep. In 1873 he began the manufacture of brick in Middletown, and has furnished brick for many substantial buildings of the village, and in 1880 he furnished one and a half millions of brick for a portion of the asylum building in Middletown.

Mr. Wallace has been a stockholder in the banks at Middletown for some time, and owns considerable real estate in the village. Both himself and his wife have been members of the Presbyterian Church at Scotchtown since 1855, and he has served the church as elder for several years.