Marion-Jefferson County IL Archives Biographies.....WALLIS, Matthew S. August 11, 1833 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarch.org/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarch.org/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: J. Robison normadeplume@wmconnect.com June 10, 2008, 4:10 pm Author: J. H. G. Brinkerhoff rom 'Brinkerhoff's History of Marion County, Illinois by J. H. G. Brinkerhoff 1909 MATTHEW S. WALLIS Mr. Wallis, who comes of an old and honored North Carolina family, is now living in retirement in Centralia, Illinois, having spent a life of industry and frugality, which can be vouched for by the neighbors among whom his fifty- two long years in Clinton county were spent. He is one of those whose presense in any gathering is a sure indication of geniality and comradeship. Our subject was born at Walnut Hill, Marion county, Illinois, on August 11 1833, being the son on John G. and Susanna (Smith) Wallis, both natives of North Carolina, His mother, who was the daughter of Isaac Smith, came in 1825, at the age of twelve years, to Marion county, where her father settled on a farm at Walnut Hill. Here Isaac Smith went to work and spent his life making improvements upon his land and in the course of time dying there. He and his wife were the parnets of nine children, namely: Franklin, Miller, Newton, Lucinda, Bickie, Susanna (the mother of our subject), Jane, Rachael and Pollie. Isaac Smith married secondly Ruth Janes, a native of North Carolina, who died at Salem. Three children were born to this union: Lena, Ann and Henry H. Our subject's grandfather on the father's side was Mathew Wallis, who married a Miss Cobb, of North Carolina where his wife died; he died some time afterwards in Texas. They were the parents of eight children: Martin, John G. (our subject's father), Richard, Sylvester, Matthew, Washington, Elizabeth and Salina. John G. Wallis was educated in the common schools of North Carolina. He came in 1830 to Morgan county, Illinois (near Alton), where he spent one season and then moved to Walnut Hill. Here he taught school and did some farming, having bought a farm two miles west of Walnut Hill, at Grand Prarie, Jefferson county, which comprised one hundred and sixty acres of government land. This he started to improve and lived on the same for twenty years until he moved to Clinton county, Illinois, in 1853, to a spot two miles west of Centralia, where he took a farm of five hundred acres. His wife died on February 22, 1877, and he died in the year 1885. He was through life a staunch Democrat and a faithful member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He and his wife were the parents of eight children: Matthew S. (our subject), William M., deceased, who lived in Clinton county, Illinois, and was for a period of four years a member of Company H, of the Eightieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, during the war; Elizabeth, who married John C. Smith and lived in Clinton county, Illinois, both now deceased; Newton W., who is a carpenter by trade, was in Company H, Eightieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he served four years; he went to La Butte county, Kansas; John C. was also in Company H, of the Eightieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and also served four years in active service; he is a farmer in Belmont, Oklahoma; Silas was in Company E, of the Sixty-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in which he served five years, having run away as a boy and enlisted; he is a farmer and carpenter and resides five miles east of Mt. Vernon, Illinois; Isaac S. is a farmer in Clinton county and Joseph who died in infancy. The subject of our sketch as a boy had little chance to go to school. Whenever he did go, it was to an old log building in which greased paper was used for window glass, and in which the benches were made of split logs. There was an abundance of game in the county at the time and Matthew became an expert hunter, killing his first deer at the early age of eleven. He lived with his parents at Walnut Hill until his marriage, which took place on March 17, 1853, when he espoused Sarah Catherine Smith, who was bron in Jefferson county, Illinois,on and a half miles southeast of Walnut Hill, and was the daughter of Miller and Polly Wilson (Porter) Smith, both North Carolina folk, who came to Illinois in 1830 and located on Walnut Hill Prairie in Jefferson county, Illinois, where they got one hundred and sixty acres of government land. His wife died and he married a second time, Martha Parkinson, of Jefferson county, Illinois. Miller Smith and his first wife were the parents of nine children: William, who was in the Civil war; John C., now deceased; Samuel, deceased, who was in Company H, Eightieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry; James, who served in the army during the war, is also dead; Clark was in Company H, Eightieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry; Joseph resides in Centerville, Kansas, and was a member of Company E, Sixty-second Regiment; McHenry lives at Woodward, Oklahoma, and was also a member of the Eightieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry (Company H); Sarah C. in the wife of the subject of our sketch, and Ellen, who married Isaac Dew, is dead. Martha Parkinson was previously married to a Mr. McWilliams and became the mother of two sons, Hugh and Silas, both of whom served in the war and are now dead. Matthew S. Wallis and his wife were the parents of nine children, five of whom grew up. In order of birth they were: Wesley Washington, who died single at the age of twenty-six; Florence, who married George Berry, lives at Carlyle, Illinois, with her husband and her tow children, Murray and Helen L.; Louretta A. married Samuel P. Boren, of Clinton, Illinois, and has three children, Walter, Hayden and Mabel; Harvey Leander, a carpenter and farmer of Centralia township, married Sallie Borup and has four children, Mathew A., Minnie, Flora and Maude; Helen Lelia married Clarence D. May, grocer, of Centralia, on January 15, 1890. Her husband, who was born in Centralia October 19, 1871, was the son of Thomas R. and Nancy B. (Kail) May. Thomas R. was an native of Virginia and his wife of Ohio. They came to Centralia in 1856, where Thomas R. was associated with E.S. Condit in the grain and lumber business for several years, and in the milling business of May, Johnson & Cunningham. Previously he was associated with Peter Heiss in the same business. While engaged in milling operation he was seized with a paralytic stroke and died in 1885; his wife 1885. Thomas R. May was a Mason and his wife belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. They had seven children: Jackson, Asbury, Maggie, Albert, Florence, Sumner and Clarence D. Clarence D. was educated at the common schools, after which he engaged in business with W.W. Scott, grocer, for about fifteen years, and later with J. W. Danhour, Courtney Brothers and the Pittneger & Davis Mercantile Company, of Centralia. He wa Tax Collector of Centralia for two years and is a Republican voter. In 1908 he started his grocery store at 215 East Fifth street, South. He is a Knight of Pythias, a Redman, an Odd Fellow of the No. 179 Queen City Lodge of Centralia. He and his wife have five children: Albert, Edwin, Ralph and Leslie and Bessie, who are twins. Matthew S. Wallis and his wife, after their marriage, lived in Clinton county, Illinois, three miles west of Centralia, and here for fifty-two years he carried on a general farming and fruit growing business. In January, 1905, he moved to Centralia where he has since lived a life of retirement. He owns two dwellings in Centralia. He is a Republican in politics and was a School Director for over thirty years, also Justice of the Peace four years. He has also held other local offices. He helped to build the Baltimore & Ohio and the Illinois Central railroads. He made the first five hundred ties for the road at Centralia. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They are very popular. On the occasion of their golden wedding celebration some time ago as many as one hundred and three friends attended. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/marion/bios/wallis62bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ilfiles/ File size: 8.4 Kb