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ELMER E. WALLACE, a retired farmer of Cedar township, was born August 6, 1861, in Hamilton, Illinois, and came to Benton county in 1868 with his family. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Crabb) Wallace, the former a native of West Virginia, where he was reared. John Wallace removed in early manhood to Ohio, where he spent a short time, and was there married, in 1857, after which he settled in Hamilton county, Illinois, and in 1862
enlisted in the Seventy-eighth Illinois Volunteer Infantry; he took part in most of the battles of the campaign from the battle of Chattanooga until Sherman's march to the sea, among the engagements in which he participated being, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Kenesaw Mountain, the last of which he remembers as a very fierce and bloody fight. Mr. Wallace was mustered out in Washington, in 1865.
At the close of the war John Wallace removed to Livingston county, Illinois, where his family had lived during the war, and there purchased a farm of eighty acres. He worked this farm until 1868, when he located in Benton county, Iowa, and purchased the one hundred and twenty acres now occupied by his son Elmer. He carried on the farm successfully until 1900, in which year he retired, and still lived on the old home. He died October 7, 1901, while preparing to locate in Mount Auburn. His wife, whose parents were natives of Ohio, died on the old home in 1875. Their children were: Anna, wife of D. C. Lattel, of New Florence, Pennsylvania ; Elmer C.; Hattie, wife, of John McLaughlin, of North Yakima, Washington, who died in December, 1906; and Luta, who died in 1888.
Elmer E. Wallace was a small boy when his parents settled in Benton county, and he has spent most of his life on the farm he now owns. He received a common school education, and when a young man spent three years in Kansas. He owns his father's old home, one hundred and twenty acres in section 20 of Cedar township, and has met with such success in carrying on the farm that three years ago he was able to retire. Though he rents the farm, he still lives there.
Mr. Wallace is an intelligent, enterprising man, and takes great interest in the local public affairs. He is a Republican and has served as township trustee, school treasurer, etc. He is prominent in the community, and stands well with his associates. He is a member of the United Presbyterian church. Mr. Wallace married, in 1896, Emma, daughter of David and Elissa (Kelly) Stevenson, who removed from Wisconsin to Iowa.
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