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1797 in Frederick County Ann Benton. DAUGH-
TERS: possibly included Catherine, who married
in 1792 Jacob Sprigg. STEPDAUGHTER. Mary
Walker Rankin (1775-by 1813), who married in
1804 Leonard Sellman (?-1814). ADDITIONAL
COMMENT: Testimony in a Chancery Court case
dealing with Wallace's estate stated that he did
have children, and the 1790 census shows one
male under 16 years and two females besides his
wife living in his household. However, any chil-
dren he may have had were apparently dead with-
out heirs by the time Wallace made his will in
1810. PRIVATE CAREER. EDUCATION: literate. RE-
LIGIOUS AFFILIATION: Anglican; purchased pew
in St. Anne's Church, Annapolis, 1754. SOCIAL
STATUS AND ACTIVITIES: Gent., by 1757, Esq., by
1776. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Charles Willson
Peale called Wallace a "good and benevolent man"
and friend. During a visit to Wallace in 1804,
Peale advised him to consult a Philadelphia spe-
cialist to receive therapy for his crippled right leg,
which Wallace had injured in a carriage accident
two years earlier. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILE: stay-
maker, tavern keeper, land developer, merchant.
Wallace began his career as a staymaker in An-
napolis by 1749. He obtained an ordinary license
in 1752, and kept a tavern in Annapolis until 1756
in addition to his staymaking business. By 1763
Wallace had opened a store in Annapolis selling
goods imported from Osgood Hanbury & Co.,
London. The following year he gave up stay-
making and two years later went to England for
several months, presumably to strengthen his
contacts with British merchants. In 1770 Wallace
bought ca. 5.5 acres of undeveloped land in the
center of Annapolis, laid out streets and lots, and
began granting long-term leases, primarily to
craftsmen and the owners of small businesses. His
venture was successful; at least 26 lots were taken
up within the first two years of development. Early
in 1771, Wallace formed a mercantile partnership
with John Davidson and Joshua Johnson capi-
talized with £1,000.0.0 sterling from each partner.
Known as Wallace, Davidson & Johnson, the firm
imported goods valued at £37,751.0.0 sterling,
1772-1775, and became the first American mer-
cantile house to be successful in the tobacco con-
signment trade without the backing of British cap-
ital. Wallace, Davidson & Johnson operated from
a large brick building on the dock in Annapolis.
After the original partnership was dissolved in
January 1777, Wallace and Davidson continued
a sharply reduced retail business during the war.
In June 1781, Wallace and Johnson signed a new
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partnership agreement with John Muir, with an
initial capital of £1,000.0.0 sterling in France and
about that amount in Maryland. Wallace, John-
son & Muir concentrated on the wholesale com-
mission trade with Europe, and maintained only
one retail outlet in Annapolis. As well as ac-
cepting tobacco consignments, Wallace, Johnson
& Muir purchased tobacco outright from the
growers and shipped it to France in their own
vessels. After the war, Wallace, Johnson & Muir
was one of many Maryland firms that overex-
tended itself buying goods from English mer-
chants and advancing credit to cargo customers.
Wallace, Johnson & Muir owed £240,000.0.0 to
London businessmen by 1785, and Wallace spent
the next fifteen years exploring ways to pay that
debt. Among his schemes were a brief partner-
ship with Robert Morris to purchase tobacco in
Maryland, for which Wallace, Johnson & Muir
built a stone warehouse on the Annapolis dock,
and another brief partnership with Richard Caton
of Baltimore and Peter Whiteside of Philadel-
phia. By 1787, the London debt had been reduced
to about £170,000.0.0 sterling, and the firm's
London affairs were being supervised by thirteen
of its major creditors as trustees. The partnership
with Joshua Johnson was dissolved on January 1,
1790, but Wallace and Muir continued the busi-
ness and concentrated on prosecuting for debts
in Maryland. By 1801, when Wallace retired from
active participation in the firm, the London debt
had been reduced to only about £27,500.0.0 cur-
rency. In addition to his interests in Wallace,
Davidson & Johnson and Wallace, Johnson &
Muir, Charles Wallace had other investments of
his own, particularly during the Revolution. He
undertook to contract for the construction of
Maryland's State House, but because of bad
weather, labor problems, and the war, he lost
money on the venture. More typical of Wallace's
enterprise was his involvement in salt making.
Wallace contracted in 1776 to supply salt to the
state and was advanced £5,000.0.0 to build a salt-
works. Investing the £5,000.0.0 for one year in
loans to the continental government, he imported
salt in Wallace, Davidson & Johnson ships. Fi-
nally, in January 1778, he set up a saltworks on
Sinepuxent Inlet, Somerset County, which served
not only as a local source of salt but also as a port
for Wallace, Davidson & Johnson ships, which
were by then blockaded from the Chesapeake by
British vessels. Wallace also owned shares in at
least three privateers, 1777-1780. In 1785, Wal-
lace and John Muir joined with an Annapolis
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