Francis W. Wallace was born around 1838 in Pennsylvania. He married Lydia M. Schrawder around 1858, and they had at least nine children: William, born around 1860; Mary, born around 1863; Sarah, born around 1866; Francis, born around 1868; Anna, born around 1870; Webster, born around 1872; Emma, born around 1872; Charles, born around 1874; and May, born around 1874. They lived in McKee’s Half Falls, Pennsylvania, and Wallace worked as a saddler. In 1860, they owned $50 of personal property.
He enlisted in the Union army on September 15, 1862, and mustered in as a private in Company G of the 147th Pennsylvania Infantry later that day. The regiment took part in the Battle of Chancellorsville, the Battle of Gettysburg, the Atlanta campaign, the March to the Sea, and the Carolinas campaign. He was promoted to corporal on April 1, 1865, and he mustered out on June 6, 1865. Wallace returned to McKees Half Falls after the war, and by 1870, he was earning a living by “boating.” The family moved to Liverpool, Pennsylvania, sometime in the 1870s, and by 1880, he was working as a farm laborer. He died on March 18, 1888.