Given by his grandchildren & great-grandchildren

2002

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JOSEPH MARION (JOE) & SARAH JANE WALLACE

Joseph Marion Wallace was the second child born to William J. and Nancy (Brown) Wallace, on August 11, 1854, in Alabama. A mid-wife the family called Aunt Caroline, an ex-slave, delivered Joe into this world. Joe grew up on his father’s farm in Cleburne County, Alabama. Being the oldest boy in the family, he shouldered much of the farming responsibility with his dad. While living in Alabama Joe met Sarah Jane Pollard who lived on a neighboring farm. In 1867, when Joe was thirteen years of age his friendship with Sarah Jane was interrupted when the Wallace family moved a few miles east, to the Cave Spring, Georgia area. As a young man, Joe began courting Sarah who still lived in Alabama. The only transportation he had was a mule. It would be interesting to know how many miles Joe put on that mule before he married Sarah Jane Pollard on January 9, 1876.

After they married they moved to a farm near Forney, Alabama. Census records indicate Joe and Sarah lived in Alabama in 1880, the same year their first child, Emma (Stapp), was born on December 6. Other children were also born in Alabama. Foney in 1882; Cleveland in 1885; and Nancy (Ferguson) in 1887. Joe moved the family back to Georgia in 1887. While living near Cave Springs three more children were born; Newman in 1889; Melvin in 1891, and Loraine (Ryan) in 1893.

In the early to middle 1890’s, three of Joe’s brothers moved from Georgia to McLennan County, Texas. The reports from Texas sounded promising so Joe began to consider a move to Texas. In 1895, Joe’s house burned down. That event prompted him to make the move to Texas. Joe’s brother, Will, also decided to move his family to Texas. Joe and Sarah had seven children; Will and Jo Ella also had seven children. Some of the kids who made the train trip had vivid recollections in their later years of the move from Georgia to Texas in 1895. Newman shared the following account.

The Wallace family first lived with Joe’s brother Ike on the Caufield Ranch near McGregor. They later lived in the Camp Verde area where they farmed. While living in this area Rosa (Turner) was born in 1896. In 1898, their last child Virgil was born. Soon Joe’s oldest children begin to marry and start their own lives.

In 1902, Joe moved the family to Oklahoma Territory where he heard there was plenty of rich and fertile farmland. His oldest son, Foney, who had recently married, made the move to Oklahoma Territory with him. They settled near the Washita River in today’s Garvin County near Pauls Valley. They worked the rich, red bottomland for three years. The land they worked belonged to a friend and neighbor named Doc Howell. They raised good crops and made many friends during the three- year stay.

In 1906, Joe and his family returned to Texas; where they settled along the Bosque River near Clifton. Joe bought a place on the south side of the river near Bosque Switch. He later moved to the north side of the river about a mile up river from the old iron bridge. He had a large white frame house (which family and locals of that time period called the "Wallace Place.") The house burned to the ground in 1935 while his grandson Everett and wife Sadie were living there.

Joe was a rather large man who spent most of his working years in farming. His wife Sarah Jane was a small, friendly, active woman. She suffered a stroke in 1915, and was confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life. Family members remember that she took shock treatments to help her paralysis, but to no avail. Many of her grandchildren and other older nieces such as Ella Wallace Wright (of McGregor) remembered her well:

Sarah Jane died on May 13, 1926, at the age of 69. She is buried in the Oswald Cemetery, which is near the Wallace home place. Joe spent the remaining years of his life hunting, fishing and visiting his children and relatives. Visiting his children was pretty much a full time job since he had so much family in the county. He would spend a few days with one of his children and family, and then move on to another. This way if the kids got on his nerves he would just move on. Grandson, J. M. Wallace recalled:

Joe Wallace was a friend and neighbor to many people in the Clifton area. He was an honest, hard-working man who instilled the same qualities in his children. He loved children and he enjoyed life to the fullest. Children enjoyed being around him because he kidded, teased, and paid attention to them. Joe Wallace suffered a stroke and shortly afterwards died on March 16, 1932. He is buried beside his wife Sarah in the Oswald Cemetery. He was 78 years old.

Most of Joe and Sarah’s children resided in Bosque Country throughout their lives. Emma (Mrs. Ed Stepp), Foney, Cleve, Melvin, Loraine (Mrs. J.C. Ryan), Rosa (Mrs. Tom Turner) lived in or near the Clifton community. Other children who resided in other cities were: Nancy (Mrs. George Ferguson) of Chillicothe; Newman lived in Clifton and later in Waco; Virgil spent years in Travis, Clifton, and Rosebud.

JOSEPH MARION WALLACE

SARAH JANE POLLARD

1854-1932

1857-1926

bp. Alabama

bp. Alabama

b. 8-11-1854

b. 3-27-1857

d. 3-16-1932 (78)

d. 5-13-1926 (69)

Oswald Cemetery

Oswald Cemetery

Clifton, TX

Clifton, TX

Marriage: 1-9-1876

CHILDREN:

bd.-dd. (age)

Birthplace

1880 – 1948 (68)

Alabama

1882 – 1952 (70)

Alabama

1885 – 1926 (41)

Alabama

1887 – 1956 (69)

Alabama

1889 – 1988 (99)

Georgia

1891 – 1944 (53)

Georgia

1893 – 1981 (88)

Georgia

1896 – 1992 (95)

Texas

1898 – 1980 (82)

Texas