47 Benmamin Logan Wallis / Wallace: The Name's the Same

 Benjamin Logan Wallis / Wallace, my paternal great grandfather

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 47 – November 18, 2025

Prompt: The Name’s the Same

The Wallis Family: Seated are Benjamin Logan Wallis and his wife, Sophia McCool.

Standing: Left, Charles Lewis Woten and wife, Gertrude Mae Wallis.Behind and between them Charles Bertum Wallis (my grandfather). Center: Calvin Luther Morrison and wife, Emma Maude Wallis. Right: Scott Adema Wallis and wife, Julia Dollie Daniels Wallis.

Some families have a surname that stays the same for generations. Mine is not one of them.

In the case of my 3rd great-grandfather, Benjamin Logan Wallis, the spelling of the name flips so many times across censuses, military records, and legal documents that it feels like tracing two people instead of one. But it turns out Benjamin wasn’t confused at all—he simply lived in an era when clerks spelled names as they heard them, and our family answered to both.

And the story begins even earlier than Benjamin.

The First Wallis in America: A Name Already in Flux

Family tradition holds that our immigrant ancestor, John Wallis, arrived from Scotland in the early 1700s and settled in colonial Virginia. In Scotland, records consistently used Wallace, the classic Scots surname familiar from William Wallace of “Braveheart” fame.

But once John stepped onto Virginia soil, even his name began appearing as Wallace in some records and Wallis in others. It seems the surname was already fluid by the time it reached America—setting the stage for generations of spelling shifts.

And none illustrates this more vividly than Benjamin.

A Timeline of Two Spellings: WALLACE and WALLIS

Here is a chronological look at the official documents that recorded Benjamin’s surname—sometimes one way, sometimes another, depending on who held the pen.

1850 — WALLACE

Harrison Township, Delaware County, Indiana

Benjamin (17) appears with his parents and siblings as Wallace, the ancestral spelling.

1857 — WALLIS

Kansas Territorial Census, Allen County

Listed as Benj Wallis — the first documented flip

1860 — WALLACE

Deer Creek Township, Carroll County, Indiana

Back in Indiana, he is Benjamin Wallace again.

1861–1864 — Civil War Service: WALLIS AND WALLACE

46th Indiana Infantry, Company C

Benjamin’s Civil War file is a perfect example of the confusion:

• Main index card: Wallis, Benjamin L.

• Filed under: Wallace, Benjamin L.

Even the federal government couldn’t decide which spelling to use.

He served honorably under Generals Hovey and McClarren and was discharged December 1, 1864, at Delphi, Indiana.

4 July 1865 — Marriage: WALLACE

Three separate Indiana marriage documents list him as Benjamin L. Wallace.

The clerk used the familiar local version.

1880 — WALLIS

Iola, Allen County, Kansas

The family appears as Wallis, suggesting Benjamin was using this spelling socially.

1890s — WALLIS (Consistent)

Kansas newspapers and city directories throughout the decade consistently list him as Wallis.

This is the first time we see a single spelling used uniformly in civilian life.

1900 — WALLACE

Elm Township, Allen County, Kansas

The census enumerator reverts to Wallace—likely because it was the common spelling in the area.

1910 — WALLIS

LaHarpe, Allen County, Kansas

The final census of Benjamin’s life shows him once again as Wallis.

This is the spelling his descendants, including my branch, ultimately carried forward.

What His Widow Said About the Name

After Benjamin’s death, his wife Sophia (McCool) Wallis applied for a Civil War widow’s pension.

Her sworn statement resolves the mystery better than any historian could:

“My husband spelled his name sometimes Wallace, but he usually wrote it Benjamin L. Wallis. The only legal docket using Wallace is our marriage certificate.”

There it is.

Despite the back-and-forth of census takers, clerks, soldiers, and reporters, Benjamin preferred Wallis.

The inconsistencies were not his doing—they were the record keepers’. And he apparently saw no reason to correct anyone.

A Name That Followed Me, Too

The Wallis/Wallace confusion didn’t end with Benjamin—or even his children.

It followed me all my life.

Growing up, I always had to spell Wallis, carefully emphasizing the -i-s, only to watch people confidently write Wallace anyway. When I corrected them, they would scratch out the “-ace” messily and squeeze in “-is,” leaving my name looking like an afterthought. Sometimes I’d hand the form back and politely ask them to start over.

I tried helpful hints:

“Like Wallis Simpson.”

“Like Hal Wallis, the Hollywood producer.”

But most people didn’t recognize either name.

So when I got married—at age 58—my fiancé asked if I wanted to keep my name.

I laughed and said, “Heck no. I’m tired of always having to spell it.”

Of course, I soon learned that Russell needs spelling too…

but at least it’s easy to say, “Two S’s, two L’s.”