David Wallace was a governor of Indiana and congressman.
Background
David Wallace was born in Pennsylvania, the son of Andrew and Eleanor (Jones) Wallace, the latter believed to be a niece of John Paul Jones. He was a great-grandson of Andrew Wallace, who emigrated from Scotland with his widowed mother in 1724. While David was still a child the family moved to Ohio, first to Troy and then to Cincinnati. After having been engaged in mercantile pursuits, Andrew Wallace acquired the Liberty Hall Gazette and Cincinnati Mercury, which he published for some two years, and then moved to Brookville, Ind. , where he kept a tavern. During the War of 1812 he served as a quartermaster to Gen. William Henry Harrison. David, the eldest of seven brothers, thus grew up on what was then the Western frontier.
Education
When about fifteen, he was sent to New Orleans to enter business and stayed there for perhaps a year. He then obtained an appointment to the United States Military Academy, largely through the interest of General Harrison. He graduated in 1821.
Career
He remained at West Point for a time as a teacher of mathematics. On June 1, 1822, he resigned his commission, returned to Brookville, and entered the office of an attorney to study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1824 and soon had a lucrative business, being reputed one of the most brilliant young men in the state. Before long he was equally prominent in politics. A devoted admirer of Henry Clay, he ultimately became one of the Whig leaders of Indiana. Meanwhile, 1828-30, he represented Franklin County in the lower house of the legislature; in 1831 and again in 1834, he was elected lieutenant-governor. An ardent advocate of state banking, he did much to bring about the adoption of the charter of the State Bank of Indiana. In the early summer of 1832 he moved to Covington, Ind. , and when elected governor in 1837, to Indianapolis, where he made his home for the rest of his life. He ran for governor on a platform of public improvements, which he enthusiastically sponsored; unfortunately, however, the state lost millions through procuring loans from Eastern speculators. This loss, together with the effects of the financial depression of the time, left the state burdened with debt and unfinished improvements. The resentment of the public was so great that Wallace's friends decided it was unwise to renominate him for governor in 1840. He was elected to Congress in that year, however, and served on the ways and means committee during the sessions of 1841 and 1842. Though the Whig party was somewhat weak at the time, Wallace would probably have been reëlected to Congress in 1842 had his Democratic rival not succeeded in discrediting him for his really enlightened support of a measure that was unpopular because of its supposed extravagance, namely, the appropriation of $30, 000 to Samuel F. B. Morse to enable him to perfect the telegraph. Wallace resumed the practice of law in Indianapolis. He was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1850, and in 1856 was elected judge of the court of common pleas, on which he served with distinction until his death.
Achievements
At the time of his death, the Indianapolis bar paid him marked tribute for his high character as a courteous and urbane gentleman, a talented and eloquent advocate, especially in criminal cases, and a judge with wide legal knowledge, who was ever kindly but possessed an inflexible sense of justice.
Connections
He was married twice: first, to Esther French Test, by whom he had four sons, one of whom was Gen. Lewis Wallace; second, to Zerelda G. Sanders, by whom he had two daughters and a son.
