Joseph Sawyer Wallis Jr.

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Joseph Sawyer Wallis Jr.

Date of Birth: 18 Mar 1859

Born In: California

Age: 23

Occupation: Lawyer

Marital Status: Single

Died: 25 Mar 1882

Cause of Death: Typhoid Fever

Death Location: Sacramento

Burial Plot: 115

FindaGrave ID: 175637863

Joseph Sawyer Wallis Jr.

Obituary

Joseph Sawyer Wallis Jr. was born in Mayfield, California (now Palo Alto) to Sarah Armstrong Wallis and Joseph Sawyer Wallis Sr. Sarah was a leading advocate for women’s rights in California, and Joseph Sr. was a prominent attorney and politician in Santa Clara County. He was the local justice of the peace for several years and served as a state senator after his election in 1862. For the remainder of his life, he was always “Judge Wallis”.

Sarah was a true pioneer woman, walking overland from Missouri into California with the Stephens-Townsend-Murphy wagon train in 1844. Later Sarah had a house built for her family in Mayfield, California and became a leader in the suffrage movement for women’s voting rights.

Joseph Wallis Jr. grew up in the rural village of Mayfield, south of San Francisco. In 1870 Joseph is 11, living with his parents and adopted brother, Talbot 17, sister Eva 14, sister Josephine 13 and brother William 9. In 1880, Joseph at age 21 is a boarder with the Margaret Lynch family on J Street in Sacramento. Joseph gives his occupation as lawyer, having had much council and support from his attorney father, Judge Joseph Wallis Sr.

Joseph Jr. was also greatly helped by his mother’s brother Judge John Wesley Armstrong. Uncle Armstrong was a Superior Court Judge in Sacramento and a director of the California State Library in Sacramento.

In 1882, at age 23, Joseph died of typhoid fever in Sacramento. His parents brought him home to Mayfield, and he was buried in Redwood City.

Bio: Allen Rountree

Additional Information