Wallace, John William

The following data is extracted from A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans.

John William Wallace is one of the able and progressive educators in Kansas, now superintendent of schools at Reading. He came to this city from Americus in the fall of 1716. He is a young Kansan by birth and tradition, and had brought to his work as an educator not only thorough training but also a loyal appreciation of this great state and her institutions.

He is of Scotch stock, his great-grandfather having come from Scotland to Massachusetts about the time of the Revolutionary war. Later the family settled in Mohawk Valley of New York. Professor Wallace's father is J. V. Wallace, who was born in Guernsey County, Ohio, in 1862, and is now a farmer and stockman at Waverly in Coffey County, Kansas, where he settled in 1882, when that section of the state was an open range. J. V. Wallace spent the first seven years of his life in his native state, then removed to Iowa, and was married after he came to Coffey County, Kansas. He is a republican who had taken a very active part in county affairs and had served as a member of state conventions. He belongs to the Methodist Church and to the Ancient Order of United Workmen. The maiden name of his wife was Minnie Bazil, who was born in Shelby County, Illinois, in 1868. In the family were fourteen children, mentioned briefly as follows: Mae, wife of Joseph Miller, a retired marble dealer at Burlington, Kansas; John W.; Maggie, who died at the age of fourteen months; Harry, principal of schools at Minneols, Kansas; Howard, who died at the age of two months, and Ethel, who died at the age of six months; Elsie, wife of W. H. Whittington, a farmer in Coffey County; Ray, who died at the age of fourteen months; Ida, Waldo, Opal, Roy and Chester, all of whom reside with their parents and all except Ida are attending school; and Leslie, the youngest, who died at the age of two years.

John William Wallace pursued his studies through the eight grades of the public schools in Coffey County. He grew up on a farm, and had a thorough agricultural training. While teaching he also attended the State Normal School at Emporia and in 1914 was granted a life teacher's certificate by the State of Kansas. After leaving the Normal School he was superintendent of schools at Americus, until he took charge of the schools at Reading in the fall of 1916, where he had done much to organize and introduce efficiency into the curriculum.

Mr. Wallace is a republican, is a member and local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal Church and belongs to the County and State Teachers' Association.

In August, 1914, at Emporia, he married Miss Gracie May Saueressig, daughter of G. E. and Elisabeth Saueressig, who are farmers at Fredonia, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Wallace have one child, Vincent Edmund, who was born in October, 1915.

Source: A Standard History of Kansas and Kansans

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