#52 Ancestors 2020 Week 18 Where There's a Will: Advice from Grandfather John Wallis

John Wallis, my 4X-great grandfather, was born at Whitestone Farm, near Sassafras, Kent County MD, 22 July 1775, the oldest son of Lt. Francis Wallis and his wife, Sophia Brooks.  His mother died when he was about ten years old and so he was raised by his step-mother, Elizabeth Smith Wallis and was educated at a boarding school.

On 5 May 1803, he married Sarah Everett Comegys, the daughter of Lt. Jesse Comegys and Mary Everett.  He was raised a Quaker, but when he married, he joined Shrewsbury Parish where he worshipped with his wife. He was a planter and owned several large tracts of land including Sewards Hope, Gleaves Adventure, Partnership, and Agreement, the last two inherited from his father.

Unfortunately, he lost quite a bit of his property when he kindly stood security for friends who failed to meet their obligations. 

Sewards Hope was described as follows in a newspaper advertisement of its sale:

The farm where I reside, within 6 miles of Chestertown and 2 miles of the Chester River, very pleasantly situated.  Arable land, divided into three fields.  The farm contains 220 acres, fifty of which in timber and firewood.  Buildings of brick, roomy and convenient, a brick barn and stable, with every other requisite outbuilding.  A large thriving apple and peach orchard in full bearing and well selected. A garden well supplied with shrubbery and fruits, the walnut, grape, raspberry, strawberry etc. 

John Wallis fought in the War of 1812, serving in Captain George Spry's company and later in Captain Frederick Boyer's Company.

Before departing for the war, John wrote a letter to his children to be read to them in the event of  his death.  The letter names his five eldest children, and he had four more before his eventual death in 1828:
Francis Ludolph Wallis 1804 (my 3X-great grandfather)
Jesse Comegys Wallis 1805
John Adolphus Wallis 1807
Cornelius Comegys Wallis 1809
Benjamin Everett Wallis 1810
Sophia Brooks Wallis 1813
Mary Araminta Wallis 1815
Hugh Henry Wallis 1817
Arthur John Wallis 1820
John Ambrose Wallis 1824

The letter was found with his will at his death.

Here is Grandfather's Wallis's advice:


My very dear children—Francis, Jesse, Cornelius, Benjamin, Sophia. 

It has pleased the Almighty to remove from ye Protection and ye Support, ye Father.  Ye are still blessed with an affectionate and deserving Mother, which is a comfort.  Ye several duties toward ye Mother are strongly pointed out by Nature as the Divine Precepts of the Gospel. Attend my dear Children to every respectful duty to ye Mother, ye country and ye God.  Let ye vocations be assiduously applied in improving ye education by writing, reading, and close study. Carefully avoid becoming too much enamoured with the frivolities of the youth of the present time.  Let yet attention be always engaged about something laudable and praiseworthy and ye my sons, avoid the alluring paths of vice and dissipation as ye would the greatest danger. Make confidants and friends of few.  Always be religiously just, and in all ye dealings, faithful and just.  Cherish always that brotherly love that should exist between brothers and sisters.  Avoid all strife and contention. The little property ye father has been able to leave ye (the wreck of a better fortune lost and wasted for want of early admonition) will give each of ye a tolerable start, which by industry and prudence will increase sufficiently to enable ye to support a family genteelly and become a useful member of society.  It would not last should a course of another kind be either of ye unfortunate lots.  The little ye have, with proper management may make ye a credit to ye Father, ye Mother, and ye Country.  Ye Father has seen a great deal of the world and he found that those that attend but little to it and pursue their own concerns have the most tranquil time of it. 


Ye father earnestly recommends to each of ye, to marry early, to be discreet in ye choice, let that one be near ye own years as to age, of reputation pure and of habits industrious.  Such companions cannot fail to make ye happy.  Avoid as ye would certain destruction, the illicit commune with bad women, it being the groundwork of every other vice, and in the end will lead to destruction of constitution, reputation, and ye property. 


In the commune with the world always be open and deal justly with everyone, take from no one that which is not ye own, but in all cases and at all times keep alive every honourable and just feeling.  Should ye country ever need ye support as a soldier or otherwise, the call is just and ought to be attended, keeping always in view that ye are a citizen thereof and bound as well from duty as honor to give ye support, when required, even unto death.  


These my children are ye Father’s reflections, which he has committed to paper, that each of ye may at all times after he has gone from ye, read them over, weigh them and govern ye selves accordingly.



So may the blessings of the Almighty be always with ye.

Ye Father,



John Wallis

John Wallis died in Kent County 17 July 1828.  The local paper described him as "an intelligent and respectable man and a most valuable and useful citizen."

His wife Sarah Everett Comegys Wallis died 7 November 1830 in Kent County.  Both are buried a the  Comegys-Wallis Burial Ground.

All of the Wallis sons left Kent County and went to Louisiana where they purchased sugar plantations.  Francis and Arthur eventually returned to Maryland and died in Kent County.

The original copy of John Wallis's letter was passed on to his oldest son, Francis, and it has in turn been passed down to the oldest son in succeeding generations.  Unfortunately, I do not know the whereabouts of the original at the present time.  However, because the letter has been copied numerous times, we can still have the benefit of Grandfather Wallis's advice.  Even after more than a hundred years, it is advice still worth contemplating.