User:Acdixon/Caleb Wallace

Caleb Wallace (1742–1814) was a Presbyterian minister and judge in Kentucky.

Caleb Wallace, the eldest child of Samuel and Esther (Baker) Wallace, was born in Charlotte County, Virginia in 1742. His grandfather, Peter Wallace, was a Scotsman who immigrated to Virginia in 1734. The family lived in a Presbyterian settlement called Cub Creek. Caleb Wallace graduated from Princeton University in 1770.

In 1771, Wallace began to prepare himself for the ministry, studying under John Witherspoon. During his studies, he became close friends with future president James Madison. He was licensed to preach on May 28, 1772, and called as pastor of Cub Creek Church on October 13, 1774.

About April 1774, Wallace married his second cousin, Sarah McDowell, daughter of Samuel and Mary McDowell. She died in 1775 or 1776.

By 1776, he was serving as clerk of his local presbytery. Concerned about a lack of religious freedom in Virginia, he drafted a document condemning state religion and defending the separation of church and state. After the document, entitled "Memorial of the Hanover Presbytery", was approved by the elders, they commissioned him to carry it to the Virginia House of Delegates. In response, the House passed a measure that declared "all penal and persecuting laws against and mode of worship, etc. null and void."

Wallace moved to Botetourt County, Virginia in 1779. On May 11, 1779, he married Rosanna Christian, sister of Colonel William Christian and of Anna Christian-Fleming, wife of William Fleming. They built their home, "Green Spring", adjacent to the estate of Joseph Breckinridge. Wallace became the pastor of Tinker Creek Presbyterian Church, where he served until 1783.

On October 1, 1782, Wallace was appointed to the Virginia commission to adjudicate western accounts. The commissioners departed for the west shortly following the Battle of Blue Licks. They returned to report to the legislature on April 12, 1783. On his return, he took his seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he helped pass legislation to establish Transylvania College (later Transylvania University) in Lexington. The act creating the college named Wallace as one of its twenty-five trustees.

In November 1783, Wallace was appointed to succeed John Floyd as a justice on the Kentucky district court. He moved to Crow's Station near Danville to take his seat. In 1786, he relocated to Fayette (now Woodford) County, settling near Elkhorn Creek. He was a delegate to all ten conventions that drafted the first Kentucky Constitution.

Upon his arrival in Kentucky, Wallace associated with the Presbyterian church at Cane Run. In 1787, he represented Fayette County at the Danville Convention of the Presbyterian Church. As a legislator, he had been active in the creation of Woodford County, and at this meeting, he was instrumental in the formation of the Woodford Church.

When Kentucky became a state in 1792, Wallace was named to the Court of Appeals. In 1795, the court ruled against pioneer Simon Kenton in a land dispute. Justices Benjamin Sebastian and George Muter formed the majority; Wallace authored the dissenting opinion. The decision was so unpopular that the Kentucky General Assembly tried to remove Sebastian and Muter from office, but failed to achieve a two-thirds majority in the Senate. The following May, the court agreed to re-hear the case, and Muter joined Wallace in finding in favor of Kenton.

In 1794, many Presbyterians were dissatisfied by the election of Harry Toulmin, a Unitarian as president of Transylvania Seminary. Consequently, work began on establishing the Kentucky Academy. Wallace was named one of the original trustees of that institution.

Wallace was a presidential elector in 1797. In 1799, he was asked to draft the Kentucky Resolutions, but declined.

Wallace's second wife died December 4, 1804. Later, he married Mary Brown. He resigned his seat on the Court of Appeals in 1813. He died in 1814 at his home in Woodford County.