Charles Wallace

Charles Wallace was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1777 and married Nancy Benton 16 April 1797. Charles and Nancy moved to Ohio County in 1798 where he built the first water mill on Rough Creek. He also built the first two Ohio County courthouses, and built a fine home for himself north of Hartford.  There was a Wallace family cemetery on the property.

Below is an image (a painting) of the Charles Wallace home I found on Findagrave.com that was added by Charles Westerfield, II.

And here is another image of the house found on the internet dated 1810. This is also a painting.

Below is an actual photograph of the Charles Wallace house I found on Kentucky Digital web site. The photo was made by Carolyn Murray-Wooley and is undated, but it was undoubtedly taken when the home was in distress (front porch gone).

Also, a historical marker was installed on KY 69 near the Wallace home with the following information:

Builder and owner Charles Wallace erected first two courthouses in Ohio Co. The carpenter-contractor and his brother operated county's first water mill. Wallace came to area in 1798 and built his home ca. 1820, 1/2 mi. north. House had movable wall, which the Wallaces often raised for early Methodist meetings. Home listed on National Register of Historic Places.

[I have been unable to find a photo of the historical marker]

Charles married Nancy Benton in Maryland and they moved to Ohio County in 1798. He and his wife were zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  They were the parents of 14 children.

Charles Wallace died 14 Oct 1838 at age 61 and was buried in the family cemetery which is located about 4 miles east of Hartford and north of Highway 69.

In recent time someone living in house got tired of folks coming to see the home and destroyed the historical marker.  Later the house was abandoned and fell down, and later the man farming the property got tired of the cemetery in middle of the field and removed the grave markers.  

Recently some descendants of Charles Wallace met each other in Hartford for the first time and were told about the Charles Wallace property, historical marker, and cemetery. So they decided to find the location of the Wallace Cemetery and raise some money to restore the grave markers that had been removed.  The markers that were removed have also been found and are in the process of being restored.  It is hoped that the historical marker will be reinstalled.

A short film was made in 1981 and published in 1987 by the Genealogical Society of Utah titled “House of Charles Wallace, Ohio County, Kentucky” (author Richard O. Lindsey) that portrays a painting of the house built by Charles Wallace and a portrait of Charles Wallace. It looks like this can be seen at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and at the Willard Library, Evansville, IN.  I have not seen this.

Here is a photo of a water mill built by Charles Wallace in Hartford, dated 1897.