The final section (the third) is now published. The full citation is:
George Wallis of Little Harbor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and His Descendants for Several Generations New Hampshire Genealogical Record 33 (2021):3-20, 39-74, 34 (2022): 3-20.
And several in the title means five generations down.
As I was preparing the profiles of each of my patriot ancestors, I was also googling their names to see if anyone, other than I, was researching them. The answer is no one. I still am the only one interested in these people. You would think that after 250 years, there would be at least one other genealogist in the family, but no.
I came across a New Hampshire court case: Leavitt v. Wallace on google books. It shows someone suing Meribah Wallace for her farm premised that it all belonged to her father Nathaniel Wallis and he lost it in a law suit in 1834. Meribah prevails because her father deeded 7 1/2 acres to her previous to the lawsuit. That was her house and land.
But it shows that Nathaniel Wallace left this earth with nothing to his name. That's why there's no probate for him. Or gravestone. Or death certificate. This does show that Nathaniel Wallace was alive up to 1834. After living over 80 years, he left so few clues to his and his wife's identity. Nothing ties him to his children except for three: Joseph, Isaac, and Meribah. By the way, things don't go well for Meribah. By the 1850 census she's in the poor house in Moultonborough.
So poverty means you leave fewer records and therefore, there's fewer records today to go on.
Nathaniel Wallis is the last of my patriot ancestors. He is likely the same man who was a private in 1775 on Seavey's Island near Portsmouth. [New Hampshire State Papers 14:235.] He certainly is the right age for it.
No one has gone in on Nathaniel from either the SAR or DAR. Mostly because he left so few records and the way we tie him to children is through their marriage records in Moultonborough. The Moultonborough baptisms have been lost.
I just profiled Nathaniel in my latest article: "George Wallis of Little Harbor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and his Descendants for Several Generations," The New Hampshire Genealogical Record 33 (2021):59-61. I can prove three children for Nathaniel including my proposed ancestor Joseph Wallace. The problem generation is the next one from Joseph to Mary Chamberlain Wallace. That clogs up Nathaniel, Benjamin York and Abner Coffin. Here's a quick rehash of Mary Chamberlain Wallis:
Mary married at New Durham, N.H., on 27 April 1840, as his second wife, Luther Hale Pinkham 1815-1873, son of Jonathan and Alice (Runnels) Pinkham. His ancestry is covered in my article: The Pinkhams of Strafford County, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Genealogical Record, Vol. 22 (2005):1-7, 63-67, 115-25, 164-71, 23 (2006):27-76. This marriage is recorded at the state level but gives no parents for either bride or groom. She is listed as Miss Mary Wallace residing at New Durham. The intention for marriage was filed on 8 March 1840 and the marriage was performed by Nathaniel Berry, minister [and cousin of the groom, a grandson of Thomas and Bridget (Berry) Pinkham]. Luther and Mary appear in the 1850 U.S. Census on 30 September at New Durham (p. 596) as Luther H. age 36, farmer, b. N.H.; Mary age 34, b. Me., Charles L., age 10, George H., age 7, and Nathl. E., age 4, all born, N.H. Luther and Mary next appear in the 1860 U.S. Census on 29 June at Alton (p. 81) as Luther H. age 44, day laborer, Mary, age 44, Charles L., age 19, shoemaker, George H., age 16, Nathaniel E., age 13, Horace J., age 9, Seth T., age 6, the entire family all born in N.H. This is the last record for Mary. Her death on 22 January 1866 is from a secondary source: A Genealogy of Runnels and Reynolds Families in America; with Records and Brief Memorials of the Earliest Ancestors, so far as known by Rev. Moses Thurston Runnels (Boston, 1873), p. 208. This seems likely since Luther remarried on 20 August 1869 [N.H. Vital Records]. No primary source has been found to corroborate this date.
Mary's identity is then given as Mary C. (---) b. Newfield, Me. in her son George's marriage certificate in 1869; Mary C. Wallace in his death certificate of 1888; Mary Wallace in her son Charles' death certificate in 1903; Mary Chamberlain Wallace in Charles's obituary in the Dover Morning Star of 11 February 1904 as well as his biographical entry in The Native Ministry of New Hampshire by Rev. Nathan Franklin Carter (Rumford Press, Concord, NH, 1906) p. 542. The death certificates of sons Nathaniel (1907) and Seth (1919) do not list any parents. This is all we truly know of Mary.
The Runnels Genealogy claims she was of Moultonborough, N.H. Because the write-up of Luther and his family was written within his lifetime and I've been able to verify all the other information contained in the sketch, I trust this as good source. Additionally a Nathaniel A. Wallis married Luther's sister Hannah Avery Pinkham at New Durham on 6 March 1850 [N.H. VRs, which again do not list parents for either bride or groom]. He may very well be a brother or some other relation.
There is a large Wallis family in Moultonborough at the time in question. Unfortunately the baptisms at Moultonborough no longer exist, only the marriage records survive. Nathaniel and Deborah (---) Wallis had possibly nine children, seven of which were sons [of which only five can be identified] and possible fathers of Mary. The eldest, Samuel is ruled out since he had twelve known children by his wife Lois Huckins [NEHGR 67 (1913):271-72]. Nathaniel, Jr. married Phebe Whipple in 1800. In 1820 he is listed in the U.S. census at Moultonborough with a boy 10 to 16, a man 26 to 44, a girl 10-15, one 16-26, and a woman 26 to 44. In 1830 he is listed in the U.S. census with just a man and woman aged 40-50. According to those census returns, he can be ruled out. The next son Joseph is noted below. Son Jacob married Bethia Chandler and abandoned his family. Only two children are given in the Chandler Genealogy (1883), pp. 667-68, but the entry is written by one of the children, who would have known all his siblings. Lastly, son Isaac married Mehitable Whitman on 27 February 1819, too late to be considered a possible father. This family, however, did move to New Durham.
Joseph married at Moultonborough, on 4 September 1808, Rebecca York, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Coffin) York. In the 1820 U.S. census he is listed with a boy under 10, a man 26 to 44, three girls under 10, two 10-16 and a woman 26-44. The 1830 census show Joseph next to his father Nathaniel and with a household of one boy under five, one 5-10, one 10 to 15 and a man 40-50, 2 girls 10-15, 1 girl 15-20, one girl 20-30 and a woman 40-50. Lastly, in 1840, Joseph is still at Moultonborough with a household consisting of 2 males 15 to 20; one 20 to 30; one 50 to 60; two females 20 to 30; one 30 to 40; and one 50 to 60. Based solely on these census returns, this is the only male Wallis in Moultonborugh that could be Mary's father since she would be under ten in 1820, about 14 in 1830, and about 24 in 1840.
So this line is doomed.
The latest installation of the George Wallis family article has been published.
The New Hampshire Genealogical Record 33 (2021):39-74.
I have studied three main families and published lengthy articles on them for five or more generations. These families are the Wallis, Pinkham and Yeaton families. I have done many more articles but those articles only cover 2-3 generations (Rider, Runnels, Clark (2 families), Barrows, Buss). In each of my longer articles I uncovered the ancestry, or the correct placement of certain people that heretofore were not placed in the family correctly. I have just posted the ancestry of these three men: William Weymouth Wallis, Abijah Pinkham, and Hopley Yeaton. I don't descend from any of these men but I do descend from their families. William Weymouth Wallis is related to me twice over since both his parents were Wallises. I descend from his mother's brother (who was his father's first cousin). Likewise I am related to Hopley Yeaton twice over (his mother was my ancestor's half sister and his father was my ancestor's nephew). Abijah Pinkham is the most remote relation being a second cousin many times removed.
I am very proud of having published these things. Previous generations and books missed them but now they have their rightful place in their families.
The second part of my article on the descendants of George Wallis will be published shortly. In this installment, we find the correct placement of William Weymouth Wallis who went by Weymouth Wallis early in his life and Wallace towards the end. Up to now if you look at the Internet or go to the DAR website, Weymouth is given as a Scotsman and immigrant. Nothing could be further from the truth. I published on this blog, his ancestry 13 years ago. Now it will be in print. Here's an ahnentafel for his child Samuel which shows all the ancestry lost to his descendants who don't know the truth.
My latest article is out in print and digitally.
George Wallis of Little Harbor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and His Descendants for Several Generations.
New Hampshire Genealogical Record 33 (2021):3-20.
This is just the first part of a continuing series.
In June I wrote about an article I wrote on the family of George Wallis of early Portsmouth, N.H. It is a four generation study and I'm happy to report that it will be published by the New Hampshire Genealogical Record.
So right now I'm helping to edit the article. The editors are really putting me through my paces. Every genealogical fact big or small is footnoted. That's a lot of footnotes. Things have changed in genealogical publishing since I started out. They don't even use abbreviations in footnotes anymore. Some of the sources I used (like the N.H. State Papers) have very long citations and they must be repeated over and over.
I'll let you know in 2021 when the article appears. It will be done in stages over several issues of the journal.
As a pandemic project, I hauled out an article I had written ten years ago. I revamped it and edited it and it turned into a 40 page 350 footnoted article which I have submitted to a journal for publication.
I've done three main family studies, all for New Hampshire families: Pinkhams, Yeatons, and Wallises. Each case I did a five or six generation study. My goal for two of them was to find my ancestress in the family. In each case, there were no comprehensive genealogies, so I started from scratch. Alas, despite my efforts I have never been able to prove in a genealogical sense where my two ancestresses fit into each family. I have good educated guesses. But I assembled the families and I felt I should share my work, since I did discover wives' maiden names and other relationships heretofore unproven.
Even now George Wallis has no genealogy. He has some writeups like in the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire and Early Settlers of Epsom. But no comprehensive genealogy. What's on the Internet is less than stellar.
We'll see if they agree to publish it. Genealogical publishing is somewhat dead. Internet genealogy never got scholarly. So there's a huge hole in good genealogy and its availability (in my opinion).
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