Job's Children: Thirty Fathers in Thirty Days: Matthew Wallace

Albert Wallace Cabin

"Sae rantingly, sae wantingly and sae dauntingly gaed he

He played a tune and he danced around below the gallows tree

Take off these bands from off my hands
And give to me a sword
For there's not a man in all Scotland
But I'd brave him at his word

There's some come here for to see me hung
And some to buy my fiddle
But before that I do part with her
I'll break her through the middle

He took his fiddle in both of his hands
And he broke it o'er a stone
Saying "There's nae ither hand shall play on thee
When I am dead and gone"

-from McPherson's Lament - an old Scottish ballad brought to America

Withe the Wallace's I return to my Mecklenburg County, NC, Hornets's nest Scottish roots. But it didn't begin there, oh no, it did not begin there.

The fates of the Wallace's and Alexanders were inveritably tied. In The History of the Rock Presbyterian Church; Samuel Davies Alexander; Princeton College During the Eighteen Century, (New York 1872) Sameul Alexander explains "Joseph McKnitt Alexander was for a time in great danger from the influence of French infidelity, which was then prevelent.....but the truth triumphed and in the meridian of life he became a worshipper of the God of his fathers,"

James Wallace acquired a 238-acre parcel on the waters of Coddle Creek in Mecklenburg County from Henry Eustice McColloch on March 16, 1765. The former name should be familiar to anyone who has perused the oldest deeds from the southern Piedmont area of North Carolina. Before the descendants of Matthew Wallace arrived in North Carolina, they had settled for a while in Cecil County, Maryland, and prior to that, had been in Ireland, but they were not Irish, they had escaped persecution in Scotland before that. I come from a line of Mathias "Matthew" Wallace's.

Mathew Mathias Wallace the First was born February 5th, 1638, in Raphoe, Ulster, Donegal, Ireland. He died in 1716, Manokin, Somerset County, Maryland, the Immigrant ancestor. His wife's name was Elizabeth Alexander.

Matthew Mathias Wallace the Second was born about 1672 in Cecil County, Maryland. He married Sarah Alexander, He died on May 3, 1751, in Manokin, Somerset, Maryland.

Manokin Presbyterian Church, Somerset Maryland

Both of these first generations of Matthew's were buried at the historic Manokin Presbyterian Church Cemetery. When had they arrived in Maryland?

From "Cecil County History" by George Johnston, 1881, and church records and history of "Head of the Christiana" and the Rock (first two Presbyterian churches in the area), chapter XI of county history described the history of "the New Munster Hundred," and how the patent was originally issued to Edwin O'Dwire and 15 other Irishmen but not settled right away. It passed through several hands and was partly broken up. One part passed to Robert Roberts who on April 1, 1714, sold nearly 3,000 acres, a part was east of "the Big Elk" to Thomas Stephenson of Bucks County, PA. on 18th May 1714, Stephenson sold the tract east of the Big Elk containing upwards of 1100 acres to Mathias Wallace, James Alexander, farmer; Arthur Alexander, farmer; David Alexander, weaver; and Joseph Alexander, tanner. Johnston said this group was already upon another part of the New Munster Hundred 'for many years prior,' indicating that this purchase was simply added to their existing holdings. Johnston went on to say that "undoubtedly" Mathias Wallace was a relative of Andrew Wallace, one of the three original elders of "the Head of the Christiana" Presbyterian church, whose congregation was founded in 1709. The church history stated that Andrew Wallace arrived with brothers William and John in about 1707 or 1708. William also was a co-founder of the two sister churches, "Head of the Christiana" and further northward, including persons on the northern part of the New Munster Hundred, "the Rock." Johnston stated that the founders of the churches had arrived at Newcastle and come to the New Munster Hundred along with others from Newcastle. John Wallace, brother to Andrew and William, went back to Ireland. William and Andrew stayed and had children who were in Cecil, Chester and Lancaster counties.

Andrew Wallace's gravestone, a large slab with inscription, is still in the the Head of the Christiana cemetery near what is now Newark, Delaware but was once part of the New Munster Hundred and Cecil County, Maryland. Andrew Wallace died ye 3rd of March 1751 aged 79 years. His wife was named Eleanor. David Alexander was another of the three elders and Alexander graves (some stones still legible) are also in this cemetery. His will did not list all of his chlldren, only the youngest of his sons, for instance. However, other records in the prerogative court indicate other sons, including an Adam who died in 1735 in Cecil County, in his will written in 1733, and proved in 1735, the abstract states that his next of kin were Andrew Wallace (identified in records as his father) and James Wallace, and the administratrix of his will was to be his sister, Margaret Wallace. Adam made his first land purchases in Cecil County in 1713, first a small parcel of 22 acres unnamed, and then on 10 December 1713, a 500-acre parcel named "Castle Fine." He continued to buy land, 2 more parcels in 1723 and a last parcel of 200 acres called Kirkminster, (from Mathew Wallace?), who was originally of Somerset County, on 13 August 1731. Mathew Wallace, himself had moved to Cecil County in 1731, and owned two tracts of land, one of which he sold to Adam, as mentioned. Mathew's other tract was called "Wallace's Serocole" 378 acres deed dated 26 November 1731. A prior (?) Mathew Wallace patented a tract in Somerset County, Maryland called "Kirkminster," 200 acres on 29 May 1689.

The above-named Matthew Wallace's were my 8th and 9th Great Grandfathers. Sarah Alexander Wallace. my 8th Great Grandmother, was born August 28, 1680, in Pocomoke, Somerset, Maryland and died in Frederick, Frederic, Maryland on May 3, 1751. She was the daughter of a Samuel Alexander and wife, Mary Taylor, and they were not my only Alexander line, and certainly not my only Taylor. The Alexanders and Wallace were woven together like plaid.

Clan Wallace

Clan Alexander

The arrival to the area of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where this interwoven band of Scotts would plant roots, was not in a straight line, of course. They had first arrived at Northampton County, Virginia, not after settling in Maryland, but before. Having belonged to a group of Nonconformists (Presbyterians, Calvinists etc.) and having been driven from Scotland to Ireland by the British, and then strongly influenced to remove to the American Colonies, the group was forbidden to preach, either publicly or privately, in Northampton. Facing banishment from Virginia, the group, including my Taylor, Wallace and Alexander ancestors, looked to Maryland. Lord Baltimore of Maryland had granted religious tolerance so the band of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, which in addition to the Wallace's' and forgoing families, also included the names of Brevard, Harris, Steele, Davidson, McKnitt and Polk. They settled along the eastern shore of Maryland in Somerset County, their home, and stationed themselves upon the site of an abandoned Indigenous village that had been ravaged by Smallpox. Soon, the groups, along with English Congregationalists, would spread out along the Manokin, Pomoke, and Wiccomicco Rivers. There upon arrives Rev. Francis McKemie.

I have previously mentioned the hallowed Rev. McKemie in my recent post on Rev. John McKemie Wilson, an indirect relative or Francis, and a Presbyterian minister, and Professor, in Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Burke Counties, who is a 4th Great Grandfather of mine. Rev. Francis McKemie was sent from missionary work in Barbados to establish the first Presbyterian Church on American soil, in Somerset and another in Annamessix.

Samuel Alexander, the father-in-law of Matthew Wallace II, had first settled in Somerset along the Pomoke, removed in 1723 to Cecil County and established two plantations called Sligo and Bullen's Range, near the mouth of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. He was an Elder the same year of the Broad Creek Presbyterian Congregation. Samuel and his wife, Mary Taylor, daughter of George and Comfort Anderson Taylor, are also 9th Great Grandparents of mine, with the Taylors being my 10th. Samuel Alexander also established a third plantation he named Hispania. His Will is dated March 29, 1727.

Matthew Wallace II was the second of the seven children of Matthew Sr. and wife Elizabeth Alexander the other were:

Catherine, who married William Alexander Jr. in Somerset,

Matthew, of course, who married Sarah Alexander in same, and later, Johannah Wallace in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania in 1762, after the death of Sarah,

Jane, who married John McKnitt Sr. in Manokin, Somerset,

Ezekiah, who married Ludia Knox in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina,

Dorothy, who married John McKnit Jr., at Manokin Hundred in Somerset, Maryland,

James, who married Sarah McKnitt in Sassafras, Cecil County, Maryland and

John, who married Sarah Newman in Sassafras, Cecil County, Maryland.

Matthew and Sarah Alexander Wallace, themselves, would have eight children, and possibly a few more. Most of their sons, and at least one daughter, my line, Catherine Wallace, who married Theophilus Alexander, were among that group of their generation who would relocate from the Eastern shore of Maryland, to what became Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, in the mid 18th Century, joining a greater Scotch Irish flow out of Maryland. Yes, another Alexander. I feel so inbred, it's embarrassing. I'm only outweighed in Alexanders by Burrises.

The children of Matthew and Sarah Wallace were, to the best of my knowledge:

James born around 1708.

Matthew III born around 1710.

William about 1712.

George about 1715.

Alexander about 1718

Joseph about 1720.

Ezekiel, John and Catherine.

Alexander married Martha Cathey and is buried at Sugar Creek. Ezekiel married Margaret McKnitt Alexander and later, Lydia Gillespie. He is also buried at Sugar Creek Presbyterian.

Joseph may have arrived to Mecklenburg with his siblings, but tarried not long, as he took off soon to Tennessee.

Catherine and her husband had settled in Maryland, but after she was widowed, she joined her brothers and some of her children who arrived with them, in Mecklenburg. She is buried at Hopewell Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, NC. Some family trees add sisters, Jane, Elizabeth, Margaret and Ann.

The Wallace's and Alexanders were members of the Manokin Presbyterian Church, one of the oldest Presbyterian Congregations in the nation. Rev. Francis Mckemie had arrived in 1683 and organized not only Manokin, but Rehobeth, Pitts Creek, Snow Hill, and Wicomico.

The family lived along the Manokin River, and when certain of them expanded into the Cecil County area, they were also members of the Head of Christiana Presbyterian Church, now in Delaware, and Rock Presbyterian Church near the Elk River settlement. These congregations still hold members of the Wallace, McKnitt and Alexanders.

The Land

In 1714, Thomas Stevenson of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, between 1050 and 1150 acres on the Elk River, referred to as part of the "New Munster Tract" to 'Matthew Wallace and Company', for 172 pounds. The group had already been inhabiting and working this section of land for a period of time before they owned it. The names included in the document as an incorporated possession was: Matthew Wallace, Yeoman; James and Arthur Alexander, farmers; and David and James Alexander, weavers. Yes, two James Alexanders. By four years later in 1718, they had acquired another 900 acres. These tracts were part of the larger New Munster Grant that had been surveyed for a group of Irish settlers in 1683 by Edwin O'Dwire. Matthew is named as the leader of the clan from Somerset who were moving into Cecil. The original deed, found in Deed Book 2, pp 280-83, Records of Cecil Co. MD, in 1714. On page 198 in Book 3 is a Power of Attorney from Thomas Stevenson of Bucks County, PA, appointed his friend Gavin Hutchinson of Cecil County, because he 'was moving" to acknowledge eight deeds, five to Alexanders, one to Matthew Wallace Jr., one to John and William Gillespys and one to Mary Alexander (or Allex), widow.. Mary is later referred to as "the widow and relict of James Alexander of Newmunster, of Cecil County, carpenter, deceased" It is also implied that she was also the widow of Thomas Stevenson, so she must have remarried at some point.

In a milita list for 1739, Matthew Wallace (Jr) is listed along with John, Joseph, Jedidiah and Theophilas Alexander (his son-in-law). In the foot company of Captain John Veazy was Thomas Wallace, Nathaniel Alexander, William Boyd, Charles Leech and David Leech. Most of these would later end up inYork County, South Carolina.

Matthew and his family appear in records in the New Munster and Society Hundred area of Cecil County until the 1740's. Theophilus Alexander, husband of Catherine and son-in-law of Matthew Wallace, was a blacksmith by trade, and in possession of a substantial amount of land in the New Munster area. He was very active in civic and church affairs and my 7th Great Grandfather. He served in the Colonial Milita under the command of Captain Thomas Johnson. He was a ruling Elder of the Rock Presbyterian Church, which is now in between Lewisville, PA and Fair Hill, Maryland.

Theophilus and Catherine lived on the road between Cowanton and Kimbleville and North of a telegraph road to Newark, an area that was at one time known as Appleton Crossroads. One source stated he ran an old stone tavern called the 'Seven Stars' located at a crossroads.

Theophilus died on August 7, 1768 in New Munster, Cecil County, Maryland. He had written his Will in February of that year, so he must have had some inkling that the end was near. He left provisions for Catherine, and cash bequests to his daughters and the remainder to be divided between his children. The most eventful precedent in his will was that he left his land in North Carolina to his son Joseph. This means that he may have been planning relocation prior to his death. His executors were named as Catherine, his wife, his brother Amos, and his son, George He was buried at the Head of Christiana Presbyterian Church. He was only 53 years old.

Theophilus and Catherine had nine children: Martha, Margaret, Joseph, Keziah, Sophia, George, Ann Marie, Catherine and Silas. Two died young, two remained in Maryland, near New Jersey, five removed to North Carolina, Catherine with them. One was Margaret who married John Wilson, my line. Another was son Joseph, his oldest son, who was educated at Princeton and had become a prominent Presbyterian minister in Maryland and later in the Carolinas. He settled finally in York County, SC.

Catherine died July 20, 1775, the year of our Independence. She died an American. She was buried in the Hopewell Presbyterian Church Cemetery near Huntersville, as I have already mentioned. This church was organized around 1762, and one of the earliest in this area for the Presbyterian Congregations. Many of the Wallace and Alexanders are among its attendees. Catherine's brother, Matthew, helped found Sardis Church.

The Scotch-Irish Presbyterians that first settled in Maryland are inevitably woven together by unbreakable threads. It's difficult to pull one thread at a time from the pattern. They arrived in groups to the area of Mecklenburg County, NC, with Cabarrus, Union and South Carolina spillover and continued their tightly crossed connections for generations afterwards. They were among those who rose up for the cause of Independence. Margaret, the daughter of Catherine Wallace Alexander, married John Wilson and became the mother of trailblazing minister, Rev. John McKamie Wilson.