* A portrait has been posted on-line at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~westklic/wcportrait.html
NATHANIEL W. WALLACE, deceased. No man had a better claim to be classed as a pioneer and builder of Wasco county, if honest efforts and continuity are to be reckoned, than Nathaniel W. Wallace. His memory is cherished by the old timers of central Oregon and he was one of the stanch men of the country, whose life is wound tip in and interwoven with the history of this part of the state. He was born in Miami county, Ohio, on May 23, 1832, the son of Ephriam and Elizabeth Wallace, natives of Ohio. The father's parents were also born in Ohio and came from Scotch ancestry. When Nathaniel was a child the family came to Illinois, and a few years later they all journeyed to Iowa, where the father died. The mother then married John Smales. Our subject remained at home until twenty, then came across the plains with ox teams to the Willamette valley. After a short stop in Portland, he located in Yamhill county whence he removed to Washington county, later. On February 21, 1856, he married Miss Sarah Naught, a native of Schuyler county, Illinois, being born on March 5, 1836. Her parents, John and Elizabeth (Gholston) Naught, natives of Kentucky and Virginia, respectively, married in Illinois, and crossed the plains to Yamhill county in 1853. The ancestors of both parents were born in Virginia for some generations back, and were stanch Americans. Our subject and his wife dwelt a short time in Washington county then returned to Yamhill county. In 1864, they came to The Dalles and for four years Mr. Wallace conducted a blacksmith shop there. Then they lived two and one half years on Current creek in Crook county, still continuing blacksmithing, and also handling stock. After that they returned to The Dalles for three years and in 1872, came hither. They were in The Dalles in the early sixties when the smallpox raged, and Mr. Wallace was occupied much of the time in carrying patients to the hospital and his wife in nursing them. They took up land near where Antelope now stands, and raised cattle, farmed, did blacksmithing, and conducted a road house. He was active until 1897, handling cattle and horses and doing blacksmithing, then retired from business. Mr. Wallace kept the first postoffice here and had it named Antelope long before the town was started. N.R. Baird moved his store to the town site he had platted and Mr. Wallace brought his blacksmith shop to the same place, and so the town started. Mr. Wallace saw the need of a hotel and so erected the Union house, which they conducted for nearly twenty years.
Finally, on September 11, 1904. Mr. Wallace responded to the summons of death and departed after an illness of four months. He had one sister, Temperance, the widow of T.C. Rice, of Hood River; Mrs. Wallace has two brothers: Francis. M., retired in Oregon City; and Benjamin, in Whitman county, Washington; and three sisters Cynthia, the wife of Elmer Knight at St. John, Oregon; Martha: and Jane, the wife of James. Turner, a mining man of Kendrick, Idaho. Mr.. and Mrs. Wallace had six children: Frederick N., a bookkeeper in Hay Creek, for the Hay Creek Company: Charles H., near Antelope; Olivia, wife of Jay P. Lucas, a merchant of Goldendale, Washington; Minnie L., the wife of George A. Herbert, a mining man and hotel keeper in Cornucopia. Oregon: Jessie, the wife of James H. Oakes, a merchant and sheep raiser, in Wheeler county; and Annie L., the wife of Charles Winnek, a druggist in Prineville. Mr. Wallace was a member of the A.F. & A.M. many years in The Dalles, and at Antelope. He and his wife were both active members of the O.E.S., while in political matters, he was a Democrat. They both belonged to the Methodist church and he was an active worker in fraternal and general matters. Mr. Wallace was five months in service in the Yakima war with the Indians, under Captain Hayden and Colonel Armstrong. Just before his death he secured his pension. For many years Mr. Wallace was an intimate friend of Samuel Brooks, and was a great worker for the Masonic order. He had hosts of friends and his demise was mourned far and near. Mrs. Wallace is a lady of graces and has done a noble work in the many years she has lived here, assisting to build up and improve the country, besides raising an interesting family.
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.