Biographical Sketch of Henry C. Wallace, Lafayette County, Missouri

>From "History of Lafayette County, Mo., carefully written and compiled
from the most authentic official and private sources" St. Louis, Mo.
Historical Company, 1881.
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Hon. Henry C. Wallace was born August 18, 1823, in Woodford county, 
Kentucky.  He is the son of Henry and Elizabeth Wallace, the latter a
daughter of George Carlyle, a soldier of the revolution, of Woodford
county, Kentucky.  He is a descendant of the oldest and most honored
families of the "dark and bloody ground."  His ancestors are traced back
to Scotland, but in this country they settled first in Virginia.  The
father of Henry C. Wallace, Capt. Henry Wallace, was born in Kentucky,
in March, 1792, soon after the admission of the state and is supposed to
have been the first male child born in the state after its admission into
the union.  He was a soldier of the war with England in 1812, under Gen.
William H. Harrison, and served with that officer in the north, then 
known as the Northwestern Territory, against the hostile Indians.  He 
removed to Missouri and settled in Lexington in the spring of 1844, 
where, in the vicinity, he resided until his death in 1875.  He was a 
man of high moral character and unspotted integrity, a useful member of
society and of the Baptist church.  He lived to the advanced age of 83 
years, honored and respected by his fellow citizens and revered by his
numerous children and grand children.  Hon. Caleb B. Wallace, eldest
brother of the subject of this sketch, was a member of the senate of
Kentucky, in 1850-51, from Boyle county.  Henry C. Wallace enjoyed the
advantages of Sinking Spring academy in his native county, and was atten-
ding Center college, at Danville, Kentucky, when his father emigrated to
Missouri; but was forced by impaired health, resulting from a long and
severe attack of typhoid fever, to leave college in 1844.  Though his
health gradually improved after removing to Missouri, it did not permit
his resuming his collegiate course, and he continued to prosecute his
studies during several years with such assistance as he could then secure
at Lexington.  He then taught school in that town for a year and a half,
when he commenced the study of law with F. C. Sharp, Esq., his brother-
in-law, afterward a prominent lawyer of the St. Louis bar.  He was 
admitted to practice in 1849, and after practicing for eighteen months
with good success, he attended the law school at Louisville, Kentucky,
and graduated in 1851.  He then returned to Lexington, and has ever since
been assiduously engaged in the study and practice of the law.  Besides
holding the office of justice of the peace and that of city attorney,
each from 1849 to 1853, he has never until his election to the constitu-
tional convention, which met in 1875, held or desired to hold official
position.  He was elected to the constitutional convention from the
three counties composing the 17th senatorial district, Lafayette, Pettis
and Saline, by a large and flattering majority.  In religion he is a
Baptist, and a member of the first Baptist chuch of Lexington.  He is 
also a Mason and a Knight Templar.  Politically, he was an old line Whig,
but since the dissolution of that party he has affililated with, and is a
warm supporter of the Democratic party.  He was married June 4, 1863, to
Miss Lizzie Sharp, sister of F. C. Sharp, above mentioned and daughter of
Absalom Sharp, of Christian county, Kentucky.  By her he has five child-
ren surviving, three boys and two girls, the oldest being in his twelfth
year.

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