“George Benjamin Wallace”
By Annie Wallace Bawden (granddaughter)
George Benjamin Wallace was born February 16, 1817 at Epsom,
Merrimac, New Hampshire. He was the son
of John Wallace and Mary True. He was
married to Mary C. McMurphy, (Nellie). They had two children, James Berney Wallace and Sarah Ellen (Nellie)
Wallace. George B. Wallace was converted
to the Gospel, joined the Church and was baptized in December, 1842 by Elder
Freeman Nickerson. He was selected by
the Prophet Joseph Smith, in the spring of 1844, to campaign in his behalf to
become the President of the United States. He was out campaigning for the Prophet at the
time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He was ordained a High priest by Brigham
Young, at Boston, Massachusetts in July 1844. George B. Wallace owned a large lumber mill in
Boston and was carrying on an extensive business, employing hundreds of men. He gave it all up and emigrated to Nauvoo, in
1844, with the Saints soon after the death of the Prophet. In Nauvoo he was the undertaker during some of
the most trying times of the Saints. He
was also the first sexton to dig civilized graves in the Valley of the Great
Salt Lake; and also laid out the Salt Lake City Cemetery. His two children by Melissa King were the
first to be buried there.
When at Nauvoo he married Melissa M. King, (wife of Howes
Crowell) who had died while they were on the their forward march. George B. Wallace was 30 years of age and
Melissa 24 years of age when at Winter Quarters. He traveled in the fourth hundred, under
Abraham O. Smoot, Captain in charge of the first fifty. George B. Wallace departed from Winter
quarters on June 17, 1847, and arrived September 25, 1847 in Salt lake Valley
leading a group of 198, the second largest group, with Daniel Spencer leading
in the largest group, which comprised 200. After they were established in the Valley,
George B. Wallace built one of the largest and most commodious houses in the
Old Fort on Pioneer Square. The general
authorities held many important meetings at his residence. At a meeting of the First Presidency, held at
the home of Brother Wallace in the Old Fort on February 12, 1849, Charles C. Rich,
Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow and Franklin D. Richards were ordained Apostles and
15 of the first bishops were set apart. George B. Wallace was set apart as Counselor
to Joseph Young of the High Priests. In
1849 when the first missionaries were called from Salt Lake Valley to nations
of the earth, George B. Wallace was called to go to Great Britain. His home remained in the Old Fort until 1849,
when it was moved to Second West, the old 17th Ward homestead. He left for his mission crossing the plains
and mountains in the fall of 1849 with other Elders, arriving in Liverpool,
England on June 9, 1850. He labored in
the British Isles as Counselor to Franklin D. Richards for most of the two
years. Upon his release, President
Richards gave him his blessing and the blessings of thousands of Saints, for
the strength he had given them. George
B. Wallace was loved by all the Saints and upon his release they gave him a
beautiful gold watch and chain as a token of their friendship. Brother William Silver told me that George B.
Wallace was loved by all who knew him. Brother
Silver was one of the number who gave him the watch. George left for home on March 20, 1852 and
arrived home the following August, after being away three years. He converted the Edward Davis and Sarah
Drabble family to the Church and they came to the home of George B. Wallace. He was obedient to the higher law of marriage
and took an active part in the Valley. George
B. Wallace’s first wife, May C. McMurphy, having died in Epsom, Merrimac, New
Hampshire, he asked Hannah Davis to be his wife. He also married Lydia and Martha, the other
two daughters of Edward and Sarah Drabble. He was the father of 45 children. His two oldest children, James Berney and
Sarah Ellen (Nellie) stayed with their mother’s people, the McMurphy’s. Nellie came to Salt Lake to see her father at
the time she was to be married. James
did not get to Salt Lake City until after his father’s death. (The request of his father, George B. Wallace,
was that two family portraits (paintings) of himself and James and Nellie’s
mother, Mary C. McMurphy Wallace, be given to his some James B. Wallace, upon
his death.) James and his wife came to
Salt Lake City and met his brothers and sisters. George B. Wallace visited his two children at
the home of the grandparents, the McMurphys, while on his way to and from his
mission. The grandparents insisted upon
keeping the children, their mother having been buried in the states. Mary C. McMurphy was born April 27, 1818; died
September, 1853; both in Epsom, Merrimac, New Hampshire. George B. Wallace, when a member of a High
Priest Quorum dedicated the North West Corner Stone of the Salt Lake Temple
April 6, 1853. In 1867 he was
instrumental in organizing the Brighton Ward, west of the Jordan River. He was sustained as the Second Counselor to
Daniel Spencer of the Salt Lake Stake in 1860 at the April Conference. During the April Conference in 1866 he was
ordained at the First Counselor and on May 9, 1874 he was called to be the
President of the Salt Lake Stake until 1876. From 1877 until the time of his death, January
30, 1990, he was the President of the High Priest Quorum and resided at
Granger, Salt Lake County, Utah, where he was loved by all who knew him.
In 1886 he was arrested and imprisoned for having entered
plural marriage. He was acquitted as not
guilty after six months, but paid $1,000.00 bail.
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