COL. WILLIAM H. WALLACE, – The subject of this sketch was born in Troy, Miami county, Ohio, July 19, 1811. His early life was spent in Indiana, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1835 he removed to Iowa, and was appointed, by Governor Lucas, colonel of the state troops. He was elected a member of the first legislature, and served as speaker of the house. He was thereafter elected to the council, and was president of that body. He was appointed, by President Taylor, receiver of public moneys at Fairfield, Iowa.
In 1853 he removed to Washington Territory, and served for several sessions in the territorial legislature, and was chosen president of the council of which he was a member. He was appointed by President Lincoln, in 1861, governor of Washington Territory, and was afterwards elected delegate to the Thirty-seventh Congress. Before his term expired, the territory of Idaho had been set off from Washington, and he was commissioned the first governor of that territory. Upon his arrival thither, pending the first election, he was nominated by the Republicans, and was elected first delegate to Congress from that territory. When his term had expired, he returned to his Pierce county home, and resumed the practice of his profession.
He was then elected probate judge of Pierce county, which honorable position he held until his death, which occurred in Steilacoom on February 7, 1879. Judge Wallace was a Mason for over forty years, and was at the time of his death master of Steilacoom Lodge, No. 2, A.F. and A.M. During the Indian war he was captain of a company which did good service in the field, whilst his wife and son slept in the blockhouse at Steilacoom, to help hold the fort.
He was married February 3, 1839, to Miss Suzana Brazelton, a native of Guilford county, North Carolina. She was a daughter of General Brazelton, of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, and had a family of three children, two daughters and one son. The son, William W. Wallace, is living in Washington, District of Columbia. He is in his forty-sixth year, and has been clerk in the third auditor’s office for twenty-one years. He is married and has a family of six children.