Are Matthew Wallis and Sarah Crenshaw the Parents of Matthew Wallis?

 

Wallis/Wallace Clan Crest

Multiple family trees throughout the web identify the parents of Matthew Wallis of Amelia County, Virginia as Matthew Wallis, Sr., and Sarah Crenshaw without any source information[1].

NOTE: The names Wallis and Wallace are used on some records interchangeably, later generations of this line eventually adopted the spelling as Wallace, but Wallis will consistently be used, unless otherwise specified in a documented source.

 

MATTHEW WALLIS

 

Matthew Wallis was born Abt. 1756 in Amelia County, Virginia[2]. In March 1781, he entered the United States Army as a fifer in Amelia County and was transferred to 1^st NC Regiment, under Capt. Thomas Donoho[3]. Matthew saw action in the battles of Guilford Courthouse, Ninety-six and Eutaw Springs. He was discharged at Charlotte, North Carolina in August 1782.

By 1790, he was living in Wake County, North Carolina[4], and later moved to Statesville, Iredell County, North Carolina, where he died on 26 September 1821.[5]

 

MATTHEW WALLIS’S MARRIAGE

 

There is conflicting information for Matthew’s marriage to Sarah Sneed of Amelia County, Virginia. In 1845, Sarah filed a pension application for her husband’s Revolutionary War service, she states that they were married in 1787.[6] A North Carolina marriage record for Wake County, shows Sarah Sneed marrying Matthew Wall on 5 January 1792.[7]

In an un-published family history entitled “Wallis-Wallace” by Verda Womack, there is a transcribed note when discussing the pension that states a clerk of the court attempted to locate a marriage file and found a marriage bond endorsed to Matthew Wallis of Wake County but that the rest was blank. The transcription further explains “about that time, many refused to marry under English law which was so hated and had ceremonies of their own.”[8]

 

Children attributed to Matthew Wallis and Sarah Sneed are:

 

1.       Richard Wallis (1784-

2.       Matthew Franklin Wallis (1786-1860)

3.       Allen Wallis (1792-1868)

4.       Martha Ann Wallis (1793-1883)

5.       Peter Randall Wallis (1795-1868)

6.       Nancy S. Wallis (1796-1879)

7.       Jeptha Wallis (1800-1879)

8.       Sarah Susan Wallis (1801-1877)

9.       Marina F. Wallis (1805-1863)

10.   Matilda Polly Wallis (1807-1872)

 

The birthdates of Richard and Matthew Franklin raise more questions as to the union of Matthew and Sarah. Sarah further states in the pension application that she “was living in Amelia County Virginia and was well acquainted with Matthew Wallis before and after his service”.[9]

Despite the detailed information of Matthew’s Revolutionary War service, along with a duly sworn statement from fellow messmate, Moses Hopper, the pension was ultimately denied lacking “proof of service”.

 After Matthew’s death, Sarah moved to Greene County, Missouri living in the household of her daughter, Matilda Wallis.[10] Sarah died on 31 July 1847, she is buried in Old Salem Cemetery in Greene County, Missouri where her tombstone reads that she was the “Consort of Matthew Wallis”.[11]

 

MATTHEW WALLIS and SARAH CRENSHAW

 

Genealogies on FamilySearch show the elder Matthew Wallis being born in Amelia County, Virginia in 1735 with his death and burial as 1759[12]. Sarah Crenshaw is also shown as being born in 1735 in Amelia County, but no death date is given for her[13].

Multiple trees on Ancestry.com and genealogies on FamilySearch list the children for Matthew Sr. and Sarah as:

 

1.       John Wallis (1754-1845)

2.       Matthew Wallis (1756-1821)

According to the Revolutionary War Pension application filed in 1819 for John Wallis, he entered the service in Virginia in 1775.[14] His regiment joined General Washington, where he participated in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He was discharged as a Dragoon in December 1778.[15] The application is sworn to by witness, Samuel Blakenship, who attests that he knew John before and after his service in the Revolution.[16] The application is applied for in Iredell County, North Carolina, the same place Matthew was living in 1814. It is likely that John is Matthew’s brother or cousin.

John and Matthew “Wallace” are both listed together on the 1800 Census for Salisbury, Iredell County, North Carolina along with a Thomas Blankenship on the same page.[17]

 

Figure 1 – 1800 U.S. Federal Census for Salisbury, Iredell, North Carolina

 

Marriage records for Matthew Sr. and Sarah Crenshaw were not found in Amelia County Marriage Bonds 1735-1755.[18]

A will dated for 2 January 1754 written by John Wallace, Sr. of Nottoway Parish, Amelia County, Virginia, lists wife, Mary, his sons as Matthew, John, Jeff, and several daughters.[19] Two of the daughters Sally and Molly, are later in Mary’s will 15 July 1773 both with the last name “Blankingship”.[20]

An Order Book for Amelia County was located which contains a chancery case for “Jeff Wallace vs Matthew Wallace, son and heir of Matthew Wallace Decd” on 25 July 1760.[21] It appears there was a dispute regarding ownership of land. Matthew is advised that he can contest the decree “within six months” after he reaches the age of twenty-one.

If Matthew was born about 1756, he cannot be the Matthew referred to in the above chancery case as he would have only been five years old at the time of the dispute.

An entry in Will Book 1 for Amelia County has an entry for Matthew Wallis with a death date of 19 May 1759, but no family members are listed.[22]

In 1768, Sarah Davis, wife of Robert Davis and “former widow of Matthew Wallace” has a dower laid off and assigned for the estate of Matthew Wallace, the death date of Matthew Wallis of 19 May 1759 is listed under the entry.[23]

A will dated 7 March 1786, by William Crenshaw of Nottoway Parish, Amelia County, Virginia bequeaths three slaves to his daughter Sarah Wallis.[24] One of the witnesses on the will is Matthew Wallis. It is noted that the will was sent to “John Wallis living in Iredell, near Statesville” North Carolina. This raises yet another dilemma.

John was also married to a Sarah, as listed in the pension application[25] and on a widow pensions list for John Wallis, dragoon in North Carolina.[26] A FindAGrave entry identifies her as Sarah Granger[27] who died 14 November 1846 in Iredell County, North Carolina.

Ryan Wadleigh, a Wallace researcher cites on his blog that the names Granger and Crenshaw are “variations of the same name”[28] This assertion is also a topic of discussion on Ancestry message boards[29] and research of unrelated Crenshaws, as the names are seemingly interchangeable amongst some known records.

 

GRANGER/CRENSHAW

 

An Ancestors entry on FamilySearch for Thomas Joseph Granger Crenshaw of Lunenburg County, Virginia, explains that several phonetic versions, mostly using the letter “G” were used in pre 1850 records. These include Grancha, Cranshaw, Granger, and Granchawe.[30]

An account of the “Old Slave House”, owned by John Crenshaw, notorious for being a Reverse Underground Railroad, where free blacks were kidnapped and sold back to slave states, recounts the testimony of a victim in 1828. The kidnapped victim, names her attacker as John Granger, but in the legal documents, Granger is crossed out and Crenshaw is written in.[31]

An Abraham Granger of Pickens and Greenville Counties, SC show census records where the names Granger and Crenshaw are used interchangeably.[32]

No marriage record for John Wallis and Sarah has been located and according to her account in the pension application, they were married on 25 May 1780 in Amelia County and that they were “married without license was published and married in church as was customary at that time of which there is no record to her knowledge”.[33]

 

ONE MATTHEW OR TWO?

 

The 1782 Census for Amelia County lists Matthew Wollis along with 2 other white people in his household.[34] Others listed in the same grouping are William Crenshaw, George Holland, Phoebe Holland, and William Sneed, purported father of Sarah Sneed. Details of the month the enumerations were done has not been found.

Matthew Wallis was stated to be in the service between March 1781 and August 1782.[35] Someone else could have provided the census information, but who were the other two people in the household?

A 22 June 1786 entry in an Amelia County Order book shows an indenture between a Matthew Wallace and Mary his wife relinquishing her “right of dower” of lands to Phoebe, Zachariah and George Holland.[36] This entry is the cause for online speculation that Matthew was married prior to Sarah Sneed, while this fits with the 1787 marriage date offered by Sarah in the pension application, it does little to prove that Matthew was married before or that this is the correct Matthew.

A court order book lists Matthew Wallace on a Grand Jury in Amelia County on 24 May 1787.[37]

Matthew’s son, Matthew F. Wallis was born in 1786 in North Carolina, confirmed by his entry in the 1850 Census.[38] This would mean that Matthew was already in North Carolina, making it possible that another Matthew was the man referred to in the 1760 Chancery case, the 1782 Census and the one married to Mary.

Also, in 1786 the William Crenshaw will was witnessed by a Matthew Wallis.

Matthew Wallis was living in Wake, North Carolina in the 1790 Census.

 

JOHN WALLIS, BROTHER, OR COUSIN?

 

When John Wallis died in 1845, his wife Sarah applied for his Revolutionary War pension. Since there was no formal marriage record, Samuel Blankenship again testified that although he was not present for the wedding, he knew them to be married, and that Sarah was of a trustworthy character.[39]

He went on to state that they were all “raised in the same neighborhood in Amelia County” and that at the time of the marriage (1780), John’s father was very displeased with the union and that Sarah and John had lived with Samuel’s grandmother for two years, before moving to North Carolina.

While there were Wallis women married to Blankenship’s, it has not yet been determined who Samuel was related to or who his grandmother is.[40]

A letter written to Sarah Sneed Wallis in December 1821, three months after the death of Matthew, from Sarah and John Wallis, addresses her as “beloved and affectionate cousin”, the letter ends with Sarah writing that she hopes to visit her one more time before she dies and that she is her “kind cousin until death”.[41] Perhaps this was the way the Sarah’s addressed one another, but it would seem odd, if they were indeed “sisters-in-law”.

 

CONCLUSION

 

Misinformation is often propagated on many trees across many platforms online. While using this information to provide clues to our research, it is important to verify and source as much as we can, especially in eras where records can be scarce.

 In this case, there is not enough evidence to confirm that Matthew is the son of a man named Matthew Wallis and wife, Sarah Crenshaw. Often, there are shreds of truth in this un-cited information, such as Sarah Crenshaw being married to a Wallis, just not the one she is typically linked to.

 Returning to the will of John Sr., date 1754 naming three sons as Matthew, John, and Jeff; it is likely that the Matthew named, is the man who died in 1759 and the subject of the 1760 Chancery case. Eliminating him as a candidate for Matthew’s father. This would also remove the Sarah who re-married Robert Davis in 1768 as a candidate for Matthew’s mother.

 Ryan Wadleigh, has guessed that John may be the son of Jeff,[42] however Jeff died 19 August 1763,[43] so that would invalidate him as a candidate for John’s father, who was upset about his marriage to Sarah as related by Samuel Blankenship but does not eliminate him as a possible candidate for the father of Matthew.

Little has been found on John Sr.’s son John, who is a potential candidate for the father of John or Matthew.

The Blankenship’s, Crenshaws, Sneed’s and other repeating names are often found among the census, property, and other town records with the Wallis/Wallace Family of John Sr. This “FAN” club requires a deeper study to figure out where our probable cousins, Matthew, and John fit in, or if they are in fact cousins.

 STAY TUNED!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS], “International Genealogical Index”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:9FMC-KRR : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Matthew F. Wallis, submitted by gknittle68296; no source information available.

[2] Ibid, entry for Matthew F. Wallis

[3] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, 1800-1900, digital images, Ancestry.com (https://ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1995/images/MIUSA1775D_173113-00803?pld=18805 : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Matthew Wallis/Sarah

[4] “1790 United States Federal Census”, digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Matthew Wallis, Wake, North Carolina

[5] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, entry for Matthew Wallis/Sarah

[6] Ibid, entry for Matthew Wallis/Sarah

[7] “North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Index, 1741-2004”, database, Ancestry.com, (http://ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Sarah Sneed and Matthew Wall 5 Jan 1792

[8] Womack, Verda M., Wallis-Wallace, Unpublished, Undated, scanned file, The Genealogical Society of Iredell County, NC

[9] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, entry for Matthew Wallis/Sarah

[10] Womack, Wallis-Wallace

[11] FindAGrave.com, digital images, (http://findagrave.com/memorial/33143930/sarah-wallis: accessed 22 March 2021), gravestone for Sarah “Sally” Sneed Wallis

[12] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS], “International Genealogical Index”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:9FMC-KRR : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Matthew F. Wallis, submitted by gknittle68296; no source information available.

[13] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [LDS], “International Genealogical Index”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:9FMC-KRR : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Sarah Crenshaw, submitted by gknittle68296; no source information available.

[14] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, 1800-1900, digital images, Ancestry.com (https://ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1995/images/MIUSA1775D_137113-00707?pld=81802 : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[15] Ibid, entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[16] Ibid, entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[17] “1800 United States Federal Census”, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Matthew Wallan, Iredell, Salisbury, North Carolina

[18] De Krafft, H.W. “Amelia County Marriage Bonds, 1735-1755”, The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 19, no. 3, 1911, pp. 174-176, JSTOR, (http://jstor.org/stable/1915597 : accessed 23 March 2021), no results

[19] “Amelia County Wills, 1734-1761”, Virginia Pioneers, (http://virginiapioneers.net : accessed 23 March 2021, entry for John Wallace, Sr

[20] “Wallice Probate Records, 1754-1773, Amelia County, VA”, US GenWeb Archives, (http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/amelai/wills/wallice1.txt : accessed 23 March 2021) entry for Mary Wallice

[21] “Order Books, 1735-1904”, Virginia. County Court, Amelia County, v. 6-8A, digital images, FamilySearch.org, image 43, entry for Jeff Wallace vs. Matthew Wallace

[22]McConnaughey, Gibson Jefferson, compiler, Will Book 1, Amelia County, Virginia Wills 1735-1761, Virginia Book Company, Berryville, Virginia 1979, 47, Greenville County Library, South Carolina Room

[23] McConnaughey, Gibson Jefferson, compiler, Will Book 2, Amelia County, Virginia Wills 1761-1771, Virginia Book Company, Berryville, Virginia 1979, 27, Greenville County Library, South Carolina Room

[24] “Abstracts of Unrecorded Wills, 1788-1915 and Will Book III, 1845-1868 of Iredell County, North Carolina”, scanned copy, The Genealogical Society of Iredell County, NC, entry for William Crenshaw

[25] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[26] Ibid, entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[27] FindAGrave.com, digital images, (http://findagrave.com/memorial/80709882/sarah-wallace : accessed 22 March 2021), gravestone for Sarah Granger Wallace

[28] Wadleigh, Ryan, “Wallace Surname”, Wadleigh-Brown-Plymale-Bixby, (http://ryanwadleigh.com/wallace.html#sources : accessed 21 March 2021

[29] Message Boards, Ancestry.com, (http://ancestry.com/boards/surnames.crenshaw/238.2 : accessed 26 March 2021

[30] “Ancestors page”, FamilySearch, (http://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/LZJQ-Q99/thomas-jospeh-“granger”-crenshaw-1668-1758 : accessed 26 March 2021), entry for Thomas Joseph “Granger” Crenshaw

[31] Musser, Amy “Old Slave House” McKendree University, digital article, (http://mckendree.edu/academics/scholars/issue13/musser.htm : accessed 26 March 2021)

[32] “Abraham Granger/Crenshaw of Greenville & Pickens Co, SC.” Crenshaw Family, CarolsHouse.com (http://carolshouse.com/familyhistory/crenshaw : accessed 26 March 2021

[33] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[34] Heads of Families at The First Census 1790, Records of the State Enumerations: 1782-1785, Census.gov, digital images, (http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1790m-02.pdf : accessed 19 March 2021, entry for Matthew Wollis, 13

[35] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, entry for Matthew Wallis/Sarah

[36] “Order Books, 1735-1904”, Virginia. County Court, Amelia County, v. 17-20, digital images, FamilySearch.org, image 166, entry for Mary/Matthew Wallace

[37] Kidd, Reiley, compiler, Amelia County Order Books 17 & 18, Amelia County Historical Society, Amelia, VA, digital images, Cousin-Collector.com, (http://cousin-collector.com/Media/Documents/va-amelia/court/order_book_17_18.pdf : accessed 21 March 2021, 226

[38] “1850 United States Federal Census”, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com : accessed 19 March 2021), entry for Matthew Wallis, Alexander, North Carolina

[39] “U.S. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files”, entry for John Wallis/Sarah

[40] “Wallice Probate Records, 1754-1773, Amelia County, VA”, US GenWeb Archives, entry for Mary Wallice

[41] Womack, Wallis-Wallace

[42] Wadleigh, Ryan, “Wallace Surname”, Wadleigh-Brown-Plymale-Bixby

[43] McConnaughey, Gibson Jefferson, compiler, Will Book 2, Amelia County, Virginia Wills 1761-1771, 44-45