My Genealogy Hound

Judge Jeremiah G. Wallace, judge of the Fifth Judicial District, is a native of Fulton County, Ky., born January 2, 1850, and was sixth in a family of seven children born to James and Mary E. (Goldsby) Wallace. The father was also a native of the Blue-Grass State, and was an agriculturist by occupation. He was married in Tennessee, and died in the year 1858, in Kentucky. The mother died in 1853. Both were members of the Baptist Church. The paternal grandfather, Andrew Wallace, was born on the Emerald Isle, and was immediately brought to America by his parents, who were Calvinists. They came to this country about 1792, settled in the Palmetto State, and here Andrew grew to manhood, and was married. At the age of twenty-three years, he went to Kentucky, and later moved to West Tennessee, where he remained until 1860. He then came to Arkansas, located in Pope County, and there his death occurred in 1873. He and wife were also members of the Baptist Church. The maternal grandfather, Edward Goldsby, was a native of North Carolina, and died in North Carolina. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. Judge Jeremiah G. Wallace was reared by his grandparents, with whom he came to Arkansas, and his educational facilities were not of the best, for he never attended school more than about nine months altogether. After the war he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until about eighteen years of age, after which he taught school in Polk County for about three years, and also clerked for some time. He began the study of law while teaching, and was admitted to the bar in the fall of 1873. In the fall of 1875 he returned to Dover, opened an office for one year, and then went to Ann Arbor, entering the law department of the University of Michigan, from which he graduated in the spring of 1877. From there he returned to Dover, and in the spring of 1878 he came to Russellville, where he has remained ever since. In 1882 he was elected prosecuting attorney, and re-elected to this position in 1884. He was candidate for circuit judge in 1889, and was elected to that position on September 1, 1890. Success is the best test of merit in this life, and Judge Wallace is in every way a successful man. He is a stanch and willing friend, a compliment that is equal to any that may be paid him in these days of selfish and sordid ambitions, and he is a self-made man, what he has won in the way of this world’s goods and personal achievements being wholly due to his own good fighting qualities. He was married in the spring of 1878 to Miss Mirand Berry, a native of Leeds, England, and the daughter of Joseph Berry, who came to America about 1859. To the Judge and Mrs. Wallace were born six children: Mabel, Mary Elizabeth, Catherine, Lewis A., Grace and Robert. Mrs. Wallace is a member of the Episcopal Church. Judge Wallace is a member of the A. F. & A. M., the K. of P. and the K. of H. He is the owner of a fine farm, seventy-five acres under cultivation and 600 in timber, and has a residence in town. He is a close and attentive student to his profession, and his recent election to the office of circuit judge of the Fifth Judicial District shows the estimation in which he is held by the people of this and ad joining counties.