William Craig WALLACE

Submitted by Descendants:  Steven Charles and Waldo William WALLACE Jr.

William Craig Wallace was born July 9 1848 at Soddy, Hamilton County, Tennessee and was educated in schools of that state, graduating from King College in Bristol TN and later attending and graduating from the Union Theological Seminary in Richmond VA.  He was ordained at Soddy TN as a minister in the year 1871.  The first few years of his ministry work was spent among the Indians in Indian Territory.  From there he went down to Texas for a few years and then back to South Georgia.  In 1888 he married Viola Augusta Maxwell of Cairo, Thomas County, Georgia, daughter of Joel Williams Maxwell and Louisa Mary Trulock.  They made their home in Georgia for several years and then moved to Kansas, but there his health failed and he came south again and was forced to give up all activity.  Seeking to regain his lost health, he left Cairo, Thomas County, Georgia and came to Panama City, Washington County, Florida in 1909, where he lived until his death 23 December 1920 and is buried at Oakland Cemetery in Panama City, Bay County, Florida.

William was instrumental in organizing the first Presbyterian Sunday School and he was the first superintendent and held this position at the time of his death.  He was active in Panama City both before it became Bay County and after.  He and his wife had five children when they moved to Panama City and four of these lived to adulthood and some of his descendants live in Panama City, Florida today.

William Craig Wallace was first established as a Florida Pioneer in 2001