Aunts & Uncles~Andrew Jackson Wallace & Mary Ann (Graves) Wallace

The “Aunts & Uncles” series of biographical sketches are Artificial Intelligence (AI) compiled narratives of selected individuals from my Genealogical database.  The selected AI will used the RootsMagic Individual Summary from my Genealogical Software, Roots Magic. All genealogical data is my research material acquired over the past 46 years of research. Today's Biography of Andre Jackson Wallace & Mary Ann Graves Wallace was compiled with the assistance of Claude Sonnett 4 and is entitled:

Andrew Jackson Wallace

& Mary Ann Graves Wallace

A Family Biography

Chesterfield County, South Carolina

circa 1810–1894

 

 

Prepared by: Charles Purvis  •  Thomasville, NC 27360  •  CPurvis1@gmail.com

Overview

 

Andrew Jackson Wallace was a South Carolina farmer who lived through one of the most turbulent eras in American history. Born around 1812 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina, he was raised during the years of the early American republic, came of age as the nation's sectional tensions grew ever sharper, and lived long enough to see the South rise, fall, and begin to rebuild. His wife, Mary Ann Graves, born about 1825 in the same county, stood beside him through all of it — raising a large family on a modest farm, enduring the hardships of the Civil War years, and carrying on after the fighting stopped.

Their story is very much the story of the South Carolina Piedmont and Pee Dee region. They were not wealthy planters or prominent citizens, but they were solid, hardworking people who left behind a large and lasting family. Together, Andrew and Mary Ann had at least eleven children who survived to adulthood, and their descendants spread across the Carolinas, Georgia, and beyond.

Andrew Jackson Wallace — His Parents and Early Life

 

Andrew Jackson Wallace was born about 1812 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. While his exact parentage has not been conclusively proven, research points toward Elizabeth Wallace 

(born about 1785, died about 1840) as his mother, and Isham (also recorded as Isom) Wallace (born about 1790 in Cheraw, SC, died after 1840) as a close family connection — likely his father or an uncle. These details appear on Andrew’s Find A Grave memorial, though a definitive documentary proof of the parent-child relationship has not yet been established.

The Wallace name was well established in Chesterfield County by this period. An 1839 newspaper notice in the Cheraw Gazette and Pee Dee Farmer lists a letter awaiting pickup for “Jackson Wallace” at the Cheraw post office — suggesting he was a known local resident by his late twenties. Another item from the same paper connects Jackson and a William Wallace as co-defendants in an 1840 sheriff’s sale for military fines on 225 acres of land, indicating that William — likely a brother — lived nearby and that the two men shared property interests.

The early 1800s in Chesterfield County were years of growth and change. The county had been formally established in 1785, carved out of the old Cheraw District. The town of Cheraw, on the Pee Dee River, served as the commercial hub of the area. Cotton cultivation was expanding steadily through the region, and many families like the Wallaces farmed modest acreages, growing corn and other provisions alongside whatever cash crop the land and market would support.

Mary Ann Graves — Her Origins and Family

 

Mary Ann Graves was born around 1825 in Chesterfield County, South Carolina. Her parents are listed in research records as a Mr. Graves (given name unknown) and Mary Graves (born about 1795, died 1860). A note in the family research file is worth emphasizing here: there is as yet no documentary proof connecting Mary Ann to this specific Graves family. The connection is suggested by proximity — the census records show a Mary Graves (age 55) living next door to William Wallace in 1850, and the Graves family appears to be one of the few — perhaps the only — such family in Chesterfield County in the 1820s-1840s. Still, the link remains unconfirmed.

What can be said with confidence is that Mary Ann was a Chesterfield County native, born into the same community where she would spend her entire life. She was about fifteen years younger than her husband Andrew, a fairly common age gap for the era. A daughter’s death certificate — Henrietta Kelsoe Wallace Gainey’s 1916 South Carolina death certificate — names her parents as “A. J. Wallace of Chesterfield Co., SC, and Mary Graves of Chesterfield Co., SC,” which is among the strongest pieces of evidence we have for Mary Ann’s maiden name.

Marriage

I 

Andrew Jackson Wallace and Mary Ann Graves were married around 1840 in Chesterfield County. No marriage certificate has been located, but the date is estimated based on their appearance together in the 1840 federal census, where Andrew is listed as a male age 20–29 with a female age 15–19 (presumably Mary Ann) in his household. The birth of their first child, Andrew Jackson Jr., around 1841, is consistent with a marriage in that same period.

The 1840 census is interesting for another reason: it also shows a female, age 10–14, in the household. This person has not been positively identified — she could have been a younger sibling of Mary Ann living with the young couple, or another relative. It’s the kind of census puzzle that genealogists encounter frequently, and it remains an open question.

Life on the Farm

 

The 1850 federal census captures the Wallace family when they were in full stride — Andrew was 34, Mary Ann was 25, and they had five young children at home. By then they were well established in Chesterfield County, living at Dwelling 206. Andrew was farming, and the 1850 Agricultural Census fills in the details of just what that looked like.

According to the agricultural schedule, the Wallace farm consisted of 20 improved acres and 105 unimproved acres, with a total cash value of $500 — a modest but functional operation. Andrew kept one horse, two milk cows, two other head of cattle, and 25 swine, with livestock valued at $155. The farm produced 150 bushels of Indian corn that year, along with 7 bushels of peas and beans, 10 pounds of butter, and a ton of hay. There was no wheat, rye, tobacco, or cotton recorded. This was the farm of a subsistence and small-market family, raising what they needed to eat and a little extra to trade or sell.

Life in the Cheraw area in those years revolved around the rhythms of planting and harvest, church community, and the social connections of a tight-knit rural county. The Cheraw Gazette carried local news, legal notices, and the kind of everyday information — letters at the post office, sheriff’s sales, military musters — that wove families like the Wallaces into the fabric of the community.

By 1860, the Wallace household had grown considerably. The census shows Andrew (age 48) and Mary Ann (age 35) with eleven children still at home — ranging from Jackson Jr. at age 20 down to young William, just two years old. That same year, the agricultural non-population schedule recorded Andrew as owner or manager of his farm, confirming he was still actively working the land.

The Civil War Years (1861–1865)

 

The Civil War struck the Wallace family hard, as it did virtually every family in Chesterfield County. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union, doing so in December 1860, just months after the last peacetime census was taken. The following spring, the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, and the war that so many had hoped to avoid began in earnest.

Andrew Jackson Wallace enlisted in Confederate service on August 25, 1861, at Chesterfield, South Carolina. He was 44 years old at the time — not a young man by the standards of the era, but old enough to have sons in the field as well. He served as a Private in Captain Kelly’s Company, Light Artillery (Chesterfield Artillery), a unit raised locally from men of the county. His compiled service record, preserved in the Confederate Soldiers records at the National Archives, notes that by April 3, 1865 — just days before the war’s end — he was listed as a prisoner of war at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia. The final days of the Confederacy were chaotic, and Richmond fell to Union forces that same week.

The years of the war were devastating for South Carolina farm families. With men away in service, farms fell behind, food grew scarce, and the threat of Union raids hung over the region. The town of Cheraw itself was occupied by General Sherman’s forces in March 1865 during the famous (and feared) March through the Carolinas. Whether the Wallace farm was directly affected by the Union army’s passage is not known, but the disruption to the entire county would have been profound.

In August 1866, Mary Ann Wallace appears in Freedmen’s Bureau ration records in Cheraw — a striking document that reveals the family’s circumstances in the immediate aftermath of the war. According to the record, Mary Ann was 40 years old, was described as “consumptive” (suffering from what was likely tuberculosis), and had eight children at home. Her oldest daughter Henrietta was 22, son David was 16, and the rest were under 15. The family was living on “Dr. Poe’s place,” about five miles from Cheraw on the Plank Road to Wadesborough, with about 4 acres in corn and peas, one hog, five or six chickens, and one horse. The bureau issued Mary Ann and six of her children free railroad passes for three days. That Andrew Jackson is not mentioned in this record is notable — he may still have been away, recovering from his wartime imprisonment, or may have already died. His whereabouts between 1865 and the 1880 census are not documented.

Reconstruction and Later Years

 

Despite the hardships of the war and its aftermath, Andrew Jackson Wallace appears to have recovered and rebuilt. By 1872, he was sufficiently established that he and his sons David and Caleb entered into a formal supply agreement with S. H. Powers and Company, committing to up to $150 worth of manure, provisions, and family supplies on credit for the 1872 growing season. They were cultivating a tract of land rented from Thomas E. Powe, one of the prominent landowners of the area. This sort of crop-lien arrangement was common in Reconstruction-era South Carolina, where cash was scarce and credit was the lifeblood of farming.

The 1880 census finds Andrew — now listed simply as “A. J. Wallace,” age 64 — at Old Store in Chesterfield County with Mary Ann (age 45) and their son William (age 21). (The census enumerator spelled the family name “Walice,” a good reminder that phonetic spellings are common in these records.) Most of the older children had long since left home to establish their own households.

Andrew’s last documented act is a land deed dated May 18, 1889, in which he conveyed a 147-acre tract belonging to the heirs of William Wallace to his son Hampton Wallace, for the sum of $100. This suggests that into his late seventies, Andrew was still managing property and providing for his family. His tombstone at Five Forks Methodist Church Cemetery in Pageland, as recorded in the Chesterfield County Cemetery Survey, gives his birth year as 1812 and his death as 1888 — though the deed activity of 1889 raises questions about the accuracy of that date, or suggests the cemetery record may be approximate.

No record of Mary Ann has been found after the 1880 census. She is buried alongside Andrew at Five Forks Church Cemetery, Pageland, Chesterfield County, South Carolina (Find A Grave Memorial #202050730), though her death year is not recorded on the stone.

Their Children

 

Andrew Jackson and Mary Ann raised a large family. At least eleven children are documented, most born in Chesterfield County. The table below summarizes each child’s vital dates and known spouse.

 

Child	Born	Died	Married
Andrew Jackson Jr.	abt. 1841, SC	unknown	not known
Clement Clermont	abt. 1844, SC	17 Feb 1914, Darlington Co., SC	not known
Henrietta Kelsoe	7 Jul 1846, Cheraw, SC	21 Jan 1916, Cheraw, SC	Louis J. Gainey (1851–1915)
David James	10 May 1847, Chesterfield, SC	15 Nov 1888, Chesterfield, SC	not known
William Caleb	11 Sep 1848, Chesterfield, SC	3 May 1928, Chesterfield, SC	not known
Laura C.	abt. 1850, Chesterfield, SC	12 Dec 1929, Kershaw Co., SC	Samuel John Hunter (1847–1923)
Hampton Henry	12 Sep 1853, Chesterfield, SC	21 May 1927, Mt. Croghan, SC	Sarah Anne Ross (1855–1918)
John Duncan “Dock”	12 Oct 1854, Chesterfield, SC	19 Mar 1915, Charlotte, NC	Phallie Jane Plyler (1859–1935)
Harriet Elizabeth	16 Jul 1857, Chesterfield, SC	4 Nov 1913, Carroll Co., MS	Robert Daniel Taylor (1852–1905)
William	abt. 1858, Chesterfield, SC	unknown	not known

 

Note: Children listed in the 1860 census also include “Elizabeth,” age 4 (born abt. 1856), and “Doctor,” age 6 (born abt. 1854) — both likely nicknames. “Doctor” in 1860 appears as “D.” in the 1880 census. Elizabeth is sometimes listed in Find A Grave records as Elizabeth A. Wallace Turner (1855–1919). Birth order and exact number of children may vary slightly depending on source.

A Closer Look at Some of the Children

 

Henrietta Kelsoe Wallace Gainey (1846–1916)

Henrietta — sometimes spelled Harrietta or Henerietta — was born on July 7, 1846, in Cheraw. She is one of the best-documented children, thanks to a surviving South Carolina death certificate. That certificate, filed after her death on January 21, 1916, in Cheraw, identifies her parents as A. J. Wallace and Mary Graves of Chesterfield County — one of the key pieces of evidence for Mary Ann’s maiden name. Henrietta died of chronic nephritis and bronchopneumonia and was buried in Cheraw the following day. She was widowed at her death; her husband, Louis J. Gainey (1851–1915), had died the year before.

Hampton Henry Wallace (1853–1927)

Hampton Henry, known as “H. H.,” was born September 12, 1853, in Chesterfield County. He married Sarah Anne Ross around 1870 and together they raised a large family, eventually settling near Mt. Croghan. The 1910 census shows him at age 64 with ten children listed, nine surviving. Hampton outlived his wife Sarah, who died in 1918, by nearly a decade.

His obituary, published in The Chesterfield Advertiser on June 2, 1927, paints a warm picture of a man well-loved in his community. It notes that he “was married about sixty years ago” to Sarah Ann Ross, and that he left seven surviving children, fifty-one grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren at his death. Among his children was a “Mrs. J. W. Purvis of Morven” — a connection of interest to the extended Wallace-Purvis family network. Hampton was laid to rest at Zoar Cemetery.

John Duncan “Dock” Wallace (1854–1915)

John Duncan Wallace — called “Dock” in the family — was born October 12, 1854, in Chesterfield County. He eventually moved to North Carolina, where he died on March 19, 1915, in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County. He married Phallie Jane Plyler (1859–1935) in 1891. A probate folder (#1373) exists for his estate.

Harriet Elizabeth Wallace Taylor (1857–1913)

Harriet Elizabeth was born July 16, 1857, in Chesterfield. She married Robert Daniel Taylor (1852–1905) in 1870 and the family eventually relocated to Carroll County, Mississippi, where Harriet died on November 4, 1913.

Burial and Remembrance

 

Andrew Jackson Wallace and Mary Ann Graves Wallace are both buried at Five Forks Methodist Church Cemetery in Pageland, Chesterfield County, South Carolina. Their graves were recorded in the “Chesterfield County, South Carolina Cemetery Survey” compiled by James C. Pigg and published by Chesterfield County Genealogical Services in 1995. Andrew’s tombstone gives his birth year as 1812 and his death as 1888.

Find A Grave memorials have been created for both: Andrew (Memorial #196825436) and Mary Ann (Memorial #202050730). Several descendants have left flowers at these memorials over the years, reflecting the affection of a family that has not forgotten its roots in Chesterfield County soil.

Historical Context: A Life in Time

 

To appreciate Andrew and Mary Ann’s lives, it helps to place them in the sweep of American history they witnessed. Andrew was born around the time of the War of 1812, grew up during the Era of Good Feelings, and came of age as the Age of Jackson — named for President Andrew Jackson, perhaps his own namesake — reshaped American politics. The 1830s and 1840s brought rising sectional conflict over slavery and the destiny of new western territories.

South Carolina was at the center of these conflicts. In 1832–1833, the Nullification Crisis pitted South Carolina against the federal government over tariff policy — a preview of the deeper rupture to come. As Andrew and Mary Ann were starting their family in the 1840s, the Mexican-American War (1846–1848) and the ongoing debate over slavery in new territories was inflaming public opinion across the South. South Carolina senator John C. Calhoun, who died in 1850, had spent decades arguing for states’ rights and the protection of the slave-based Southern economy.

By the time Andrew enlisted in the Confederate artillery in 1861, he was joining a cause his entire community had embraced. The war that followed brought four years of suffering, the loss of a way of life, and for hundreds of thousands of Southern families, the loss of fathers and sons. Andrew himself was captured near the war’s end and survived. The Reconstruction period that followed brought new hardships: the crop-lien system, economic dislocation, and social upheaval. That Andrew and Mary Ann persevered and kept their family together through all of it is a testament to their resilience.

 

Mary Ann (Graves) Wallace, wife of Andrew Jackson Wallace is my 3rd Great Grand Aunt.

Sources and Further Research

 

This biography was prepared from the Family Group Sheet compiled by Charles Purvis (16 June 2026), drawing on the following primary and secondary sources:

Federal Census Records: 1840, 1850, 1860, 1880 (Chesterfield County, SC); 1900, 1910 (for children’s households). Agricultural Census: 1850 and 1860 Non-Population Schedules, Chesterfield County, SC. Confederate Service Records: A. Jackson Wallace, Pvt., Capt. Kelly’s Co., Light Artillery (Chesterfield Artillery), compiled service records, U.S. National Archives (via Ancestry.com and Fold3). Freedmen’s Bureau Records: Cheraw, Chesterfield County, SC, p. 155, 1865–1872; NARA microfilm M1910. South Carolina Death Certificates: Henrietta Kelsoe Wallace Gainey, #25210; Chesterfield County Death Certificates (Caucasian) 1915–1920, compiled by James C. Pigg (1996). Cemetery Survey: Five Forks Methodist Church Cemetery, in Chesterfield County, South Carolina Cemetery Survey, by James C. Pigg (Chesterfield County Genealogical Services, 1995), p. 626. Land Records: Chesterfield County Deed Book 3, p. 704 (1872 supply agreement); Deed Book 10, p. 85 (1889 land conveyance). Newspapers: Cheraw Gazette and Pee Dee Farmer, July 5, 1839; The Chesterfield Advertiser, June 2, 1927 (H. H. Wallace obituary). Find A Grave: Andrew Jackson Wallace, Memorial #196825436; Mary Ann Graves Wallace, Memorial #202050730.

 

Note on open questions: The parentage of Andrew Jackson Wallace and the exact connection of Mary Ann’s Graves family remain unconfirmed and are areas for future research.

 

 

Prepared by Charles Purvis  •  Thomasville, NC 27360  •  CPurvis1@gmail.com

16 June 2026