 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
Hon. William James Wallace, judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Second Judicial District since April, 1882, is a son of E. Fuller and Lydia (Wheelwright) Wallace, early settlers of Syracuse, N. Y., and was born there April 14, 1838. He was prepared for college with the view of entering Dartmouth, from which his father was graduated, but having decided upon the law, pursued a course of general studies in lieu and having special reference to that profession under Hon. Thomas Barlow, of Canastota. Subsequently he entered the law department of Hamilton College, of which Prof. Theodore W. Dwight was then the preceptor and was graduated and took his degree from that institution in 1858. On the day he became twenty-one years of age, Judge Wallace commenced the practice of his profession in Syracuse in copartnership with Hon. William Porter. Later he was associated with Levi W. Hall, Hon. William C. Ruger and Edwin S. Jenney. In 1873 he was elected mayor of Syracuse on the Republican ticket. In March, 1874, President Grant appointed him a judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York to succeed Hon. Nathaniel K. Hall. In April, 1883, Judge Wallace was appointed by President Chester A. Arthur judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Second Judicial District, comprising the States of New York, Vermont and Connecticut, which exalted office he still holds. Judge Wallace has exercised the duties of his judicial positions with great dignity, honor and credit. In 1876 Hamilton College conferred upon him the degree of LL. D., and in 1883 Syracuse University presented him with a similar honor. Judge Wallace married, first, Miss Josephine Robbins, of Brooklyn, N. Y., who died in 1874, and in 1878 he married Alice Heyward Wheelwright, of New York city. Judge Wallace and his family have resided in Albany since 1893.
