As of December 2024, this is my biggest brick wall. They are a mysterious couple, and while there are records from their lifetimes, the records are scarce and hard to read.
I got a clue about this pair from an OPR record shared by a fellow Wallace descendant. That’s the OPR birth record of Thomas Wallace.
He is the third down on this page. You’ll see Smith, Black, then “Wallace, Thomas lawful son of Hugh Wallace day labourer Galston and Mary Reid was born 7th Bapt 26 June 1798.”
Perusing other OPR records suggests additional children:
- James (1788-1870)
- Robert (1792-1851)
- Mary (1794-?)
- Hugh (1795-1851)
And following those lines forward, I found a connection to a whole slew of Wallace’s in Australia. But without being certain that this is the *right* Hugh Wallace & Mary Reid – and that it’s the *right* Thomas Wallace, it’s mostly impossible to go backwards.
My 5th cousin, Lorna, has done some amazing work trying to figure out more about Hugh Wallace. In the meantime, that’s all there is on the Wallace line.
Fingers crossed we can one day connect the line into The Book Of Wallace. We’re in the right area – there are Wallace’s all over the greater Kilmarnock area. Wikipedia has an easy-to-read summary of the history of the Clan.
