Frank Wallack

The Name Change — Wallick Becomes Wallack

During the American Civil War it was not uncommon for soldiers to have different spellings of their surnames written in their service records. The surname Wallick can be found on military documents with alternate endings of "-ck" and "-ack" — most of the time the changes were due to clerical errors. Two of the three Wallick soldiers buried in our national cemeteries have alternate spellings on their headstones: Isaiah Wallick, buried at Chattanooga, and Elias Wallick, buried at Winchester, Virginia, both have their names spelled "Wallack" on their headstones.

People were not as careful with spelling in the nineteenth century, and many times if a mistake was made, rather than correct it, people just let it go. Ulysses S. Grant is a prime example. Hiram Ulysses Grant — his real name — was nominated to West Point by a congressman who, in a rush, didn't just misspell Grant's name but completely changed it to Ulysses Simpson Grant (Simpson coming from his mother's maiden name). When the young cadet went to register at West Point, rather than argue with the adjutant's office, he just let it go — also aware that the initials to his legal name spelled H.U.G., which could make life difficult for a plebe. The mistake proved to be a boon: after his victory at Fort Donelson he became known in the newspapers as "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

There is one Wallick soldier who spelled his name "Wallack" and it was not a clerk's error or careless penmanship — it was a deliberate change made by that soldier. All of Benjamin Franklin Wallack's service records are consistent in spelling his last name "Wallack," from his signature on the enlistment papers through his compiled service record. Benjamin Franklin Wallack was called "Frank" by his family and friends, and so he will be called in this biography to avoid confusing him with his father, "Kansas" Benjamin, and all the other Benjamins from the Wallick clan.

One family account states that Frank deliberately changed his name to "Wallack" early in his young adult life. The story is told that Frank's wife, Ellen Green, had pressed the matter of changing the spelling of his surname and that Frank finally agreed. This well-educated eastern woman felt that the spelling of Wallick had somehow become corrupted through the years. Her rationale was that back east, every Wallick she knew ended their name in "-ack." Two brothers, John and Charles, had business ties with Frank and they also agreed to change their names. This irritated and angered their father, Benjamin, who threatened to disinherit them all.

However, the marriage to Ellen Green did not actually take place until seven years after his enlistment, making the truthfulness of this story suspect. In any case the name change happened, and there is now a branch of the Hans Michael Walck/Wallick family that spells its name "Wallack" — traceable directly back to Benjamin Franklin Wallack (1844–1887).

From Ohio to Indiana to Bleeding Kansas

Frank Wallack's very early childhood days were spent in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Then in 1850 his father, Benjamin — known as "Kansas" Benjamin — learned of the rich farmlands of DeKalb County, Indiana, and decided to move his family there, settling in the little town of Butler. After ten years Benjamin again decided to move his family still farther west, to the Kansas Territory, an exploding war zone since the mid-1850s.

The Kansas/Missouri border war was an ugly affair — a bloody insurrection that preceded the national Civil War by nearly a decade. Small groups of anti-slavery partisans called Jayhawkers, and pro-slavery zealots called Bushwhackers, waged war against each other. These were roaming mobs of partisans rather than an organized militia. Stephen Douglas crafted the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 that gave new territories the right of self-determination in choosing to become a slave or free state. Election fraud and voter intimidation were rampant along the Kansas-Missouri border, and citizens resorted to force of arms to settle their political disputes. For a time Kansas would have two state governments with two different constitutions. For many years guerrilla warfare reigned in the region.

Why would Frank's father willingly move his family into a region where violent civil insurrection was taking place? He had no encouragement from his wife, Mary. When she first saw the miles upon miles of bleak, treeless prairie land she became desperate to return to her home back in Indiana. Benjamin, on the other hand, saw the treeless landscape as a positive: Kansas had very fertile grasslands and the lack of trees meant that a farmer didn't have to spend years clearing the land and removing old stumps from his fields. This new land also opened up more opportunities for his sons, and it appears that first-born Frank took advantage of them.

Benjamin also had a pioneer's spirit, just like his forefathers, and held some very strong personal beliefs. He was an ardent Unionist and Republican (though not an abolitionist), puritanical in his religious beliefs, and a strong disciplinarian. He was not one to let a little adversity, such as unrestrained guerrilla warfare, interfere with the pursuit of his goals. He couldn't serve in uniform himself due to a hernia, but did actively support the Union's cause by becoming an enlistment officer and sheriff of Atchison County. As sheriff he saw to the needs of Unionist families while their husbands and fathers were off fighting the war.

Frank Wallack's descendants have told the story that he was a substitute soldier for his father, but apparently that is not so. There is nothing in Frank's compiled service record from the National Archives to support such a claim. Frank has regular enlistment papers for the 17th Kansas Volunteer Infantry and he was mustered into Federal service for 100 days in the summer of 1864. (See Hewit Wallick for an example of what a genuine substitute soldier document looks like.)

Senator Wallack — Father of Atchison County High School

Frank Wallack returned to Atchison County after his 100 days of service. He continued to farm and eventually opened a hardware business. He was a strong supporter of public education and worked hard to get the high school for Atchison County located in Effingham. He finally succeeded in his mission, and because of his hard work he became known as the "Father of Atchison County High School."

Frank was active in local politics and in 1896 he was elected to the Kansas State Senate. Unfortunately, his term was cut very short. Six months after his election he had an accident where he was thrown from his surrey and severely injured. He died of a heart attack on May 11, 1897, and it is believed that the accident was a contributing factor to his heart failure.

Tributes to Senator Benjamin Franklin Wallack were read into the official record of the Kansas State Senate on December 23, 1898.

Much of "Kansas" Benjamin's family history was taken from the transcript, "My Wallick Family" by Vesta Beatrice (Wallick) Kaufman and Adalaide (Covell) Wallick. The original transcript resides in the Latter Day Saints Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.