Union Cemetery

Wallace, William P


BORN IN: Denmark
DIED: 6/8/1877
AGED: 52
CAUSE OF DEATH: Bite of Scorpion
DEATH LOCATION: Cloverdale

OCCUPATION: Lumber Merchant
MEMBER OF: IOOF

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BURIED IN UNION CEMETERY WITH THE SAME LAST NAME:

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CURRENT EVENTS:
  • 1831 Reaper (Cyrus McCormick)
  • 1836 Revolver (Samuel Colt)
  • 1845 Texas annexed into U.S.
  • 1846 Mexican-American War
  • 1849 California Gold Rush
  • 1850 California became the 31st State
  • 1860 The Pony Express
  • 1861 Abraham Lincoln elected President
  • 1861 American Civil War
  • 1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated
  • 1866 Ku Klux Klan
  • 1869 National Woman Suffrage Assoc.
  • 1871 The Great Chicago Fire
  • 1876 Telephones (Alexander Graham Bell)
  • 1876 Baseball's National League
  • 1877 Phonograph (Thomas Edison)
OBITUARY ---------------

WM. P. WALLACE

Times and Gazette

June 16. 1877

Excerpts from the funeral address given by Rev. Jewett of the Congregational Church. The funeral obsequies of Wm. P Wallace took place last Sunday under the auspices of Bay View Lodge No. 109 100F of which he was a member, assisted by Redwood City Fire Company of which he was an exempt member. A long procession conveyed the remains from the residence of Chas. Hanson, where he had lain since their arrival from Cloverdale, to the Congregational church where the funeral took place.

The friend whose sudden death we mourn today made many voyages upon the sea in his early life. William P Wallace, whose birth place is a little town on the island of Falster in Denmark, was from early life familiar with the sea. His father was a sea captain, who in childhood may have seen the English men-of-war which bombarded Copenhagen and carried captive to Great Brittan the Danish fleet, and who in the Crimean war, twenty one years ago, lost his own vessel at the hand of pirateers. When about ten years of age, William, with the spirit of adventure stirring within him, undertook his first great sea voyage to New Orleans to be with a brother. The brother soon died and the young sailor began to follow the sea in earnest, visiting various regions of the globe, until 1850, he sailed around Cape Horn, coming through the Golden Gate to the city of San Francisco. With others, he left very soon for the mines where he met with fluctuating success until 1853, he came back to the salt water and in company with a warm friend, Capt Baker, since deceased, he came upon the sloop, Julia, up the Redwood City Creek to the little embarkadero, which has since grown into our thriving town.

After several years he again sought the mines, going with a friend, who is present today, to Fraser River. Even on that expedition in search for gold, they showed themselves true sons of the seagirt Denmark, for they stopped at Victoria to build a vessel.

Upon his return to California in 1860, Mr. Wallace took up his residence in this town, first working in the lumberyard of Mr. Chas. Hanson, then occupying a position as clerk in the office and soon being received as partner in the firm of Hanson, Ackerson & Co., as well as in San Francisco, Puget Sound and Redwood. It is the testimony of those who knew him most intimately associated with him in business, that he was capable, honest, and faithful. Important interests have been placed in his keeping and he has managed them faithfully for others as well as for himself. His sympathies were easily aroused and the needy often found him ready to aid. He was one of the original Fire Company. At the time of his death he was an exempt fireman. For fourteen years he has been with the 100F under whose auspices he is buried today. He leaves in America no relatives.

Odd Fellows Plot

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