THOMAS R. WALLACE
Thomas R. Wallace, the present clerk of the courts, was first elected to this office in the fall of 1876, and has continued to hold it ever since, having been re-elected in 1878, 1780 [1880] and 1882, and has served the people in this arduous office for eight years, in an unexceptionable manner.
Thomas R. Wallace, present clerk of the circuit and district courts, is a native of Pennsylvania, and was born near Philadelphia October 20, 1847, his parents being William and Jane (Ross) Wallace. He remained in that city until seven years old, when the family removed to Peoria county, Illinois. There he remained for eleven years, receiving a good education, which subsequently was supplemented by a course of instruction at Cole's Commercial College, from which institution he graduated during the winter of 1866. He was reared upon a farm, which occupation he followed after coming to Iowa, teaching school during the winter season. He came to this State in 1866, and located in Brighton township, this county. His father died in 1882 at the advanced age of eighty years, and his mother in 1868, aged sixty-four years. His first official position was secretary of the school board in Brighton township, which position he held for a number of years. He was afterward elected assessor of the township for two terms. He was school director two terms, was township trustee, and was constable for a number of years. He was elected clerk of the circuit and district courts in 1876, and engaged in the duties appertaining to such office in January, 1877. The multifarious and various obligations of his incumbency were performed in such a manner that he was re-elected in 1878, again in 1880, and again in 1882, thus showing the estimation in which he was held by the people, and the satisfactory manner in which the office was conducted. He is now also serving his third term as a member of the board of councilmen for the city of Atlantic, having been elected the first time to fill a vacancy. He was married October 6, 1874, to Margaret Gill, a native of Iowa, her father being Mason C. Gill, who is now a resident of this county. They have had three children, two of whom are now living -- T. Ross and William Bruce. Carroll, deceased, died in 1876, at the age of eight months. Mr. Wallace is a charter member of Cass Lodge 361, I. O. O. F., and of Hawkeye Encampment. He has passed through the chairs of the subordinate lodge, and has held the position of High Priest in the encampment. He was a charter member of Atlantic Lodge A. O. U. W., and has held all the offices of that order. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, both chapter and commandery. With Mr. R. H. Frost he originated the first loan and building association in Atlantic. When Mr. Wallace first came to the county, with characteristic energy, while engaged in farming and teaching, he read law as opportunity was afforded, and the knowledge so obtained, together with the experience had as clerk of courts, enabled him to pass a satisfactory examination, and he was admitted to the bar at the April term of the circuit court, 1884, Judge Lyman presiding.
Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 362-363.
