WALLACE, Leverette K. - 1912 Bio (1856-1944)

WALLACE, PEABODY, BURNHAM, STEPHENS, KNIFFEN, OWENS, WOOLUMS, WHITE

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 10/4/2007 at 19:34:20

History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago
Pages 422-424

Leverette K. WALLACE, a retired farmer who now resides in Packwood, was born in Athens, Athens county, Ohio, August 7, 1856, his parents being John and Mary (PEABODY) WALLACE, who were residents of Illinois for many years. John WALLACE was born in Arbroath, Scotland, April 15, 1832, and came to America with his parents when but eleven years of age, settling in Washington, Tazewell county, Illinois, and engaging in farming. Here, on the 17th of November, 1853, he married Miss Mary PEABODY, who was born in Pennsylvania of Yankee descent, August 20, 1833, and here, where later on Leverette K. WALLACE became a successful and prominent agriculturist, they remained until 1856 when they came to their present place in Washburn. They were the parents of twelve children, namely: Laura M., Leverette K., Clara F., Fidelia, Thomas, Jeanette, Minnie, John F., Myra A., May, Charles and Bennie. In 1861 John WALLACE commenced dealing in live-stock and his business increased so rapidly that he soon was conceded to be the largest dealer in this line in the vicinity. He always took great interest in political affairs and filled the office of assessor, collector, school director and supervisor, which later position he held for seventeen years. He also was a candidate on the republican ticket for county judge. His demise occurred January 12, 1907, while his wife had preceded him in death, on February 2, 1898. While John WALLACE prepared a home for himself and was building the house, Mrs. WALLACE went to Ohio, and it was on this trip, when she was the guest of her sister, Mrs. Jeanette BURNHAM, that her son Leverette was born. The following autumn she rejoined her husband.

Leverette WALLACE spent his early life at home, attending the district school and assisting his father on the farm. At the age of twenty-two years he began his independent career by leaving the home place and renting an adjoining farm from his uncle, which he worked for one year. At the end of that time he rented for five years a two hundred and sixty-acre farm about five miles from his father's property, but before the expiration of this lease he purchased one hundred acres of it and later on, the remaining one hundred and sixty acres, and this was his home from the spring of 1881 until 1894, when he sold it and came to Iowa, locating on the farm of two hundred and forty acres, one and three-quarters miles northwest of Packwood, Polk township, Jefferson county, which he had purchased, and later added to it two hundred and forty acres, so he now owns four hundred and eighty acres in all. For sixteen years he successfully cultivated this property but in 1910 he rented it and moved to Packwood, where he is now living in the comfortable home he remodeled and improved. Outside of his land interests Mr. WALLACE is a stockholder in the Farmers Savings Bank of Packwood, of which institution he serves as a director.

Mr. WALLACE was married December 10, 1879, to Josephine STEPHENS, the daughter of Edward and Susan (KNIFFEN) STEPHENS, who were both born near Albany, New York, and were of Yankee descent. In the early '50s Mr. and Mrs. STEPHENS came to Illinois but after a short sojourn returned to New York from where they again removed to Illinois, settling in Peoria county. Here Mr. STEPHENS engaged in farming, the occupation for which he had been trained in his youth, and he continued it until he retired from active life and removed to Washburn, Illinois, where he is now residing with his daughter, Mrs. L. B. OWENS. Mrs. STEPHENS' death occurred in 1895, in Washburn, Illinois.

To Mr. and Mrs. Leverette K. WALLACE four children have been born. Dora, the eldest, is the wife of Curtis WOOLUMS, a prominent farmer of Black Hawk township, and they are the parents of three children, Velna, Lilah and Edward. Mary died at the age of eighteen years. Nora is the wife of Loren WHITE, a tea and coffee merchant of Fairfield, and to them one child has been born, Wallace Hazen WHITE. John Edward, a resident of Burnside, Illinois, is a graduate of Franklin high school, of Fairfield and was a student at Parsons College and at Elliott's Business College at Burlington, Iowa. After receiving this training he became assistant cashier in the Burnside Bank.

Mr. WALLACE is a republican, firmly believing that the principles of that party are most conducive to good government. He has always been interested in all projects which will serve the general welfare of his community and for ten years he acted as school director in Polk township, an office which he filled conscientiously and ably. Both he and Mrs. WALLACE are members of the Christian church, the latter being active and prominent in the Willing Workers' Society of the church. Packwood has in Mr. WALLACE a citizen who is well known and esteemed for his integrity, progressiveness and advocacy of what is best in moral and social development.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.