It has been claimed that Wallace's brothers Malcolm and John are known from other sources, but there is a lack of verifiable evidence for John’s relationship with William. They were vassals of James Stewart, 5th High Steward of Scotland as their lands fell within his territory. Records show early members of the family as holding estates at Riccarton, Tarbolton, Auchincruive in Kyle and Stenton in East Lothian.

There is no contemporary evidence linking him with either location, although both areas had connections with the wider Wallace family. However, William's seal has given rise to a counterclaim of Ellerslie in Ayrshire. Blind Harry's assertion that William was the son of Sir Malcolm of Elderslie has given rise to a tradition that William's birthplace was at Elderslie in Renfrewshire, and this is still the view of some historians, including the historical William Wallace Society itself. This Alan Wallace may be the same as the one listed in the 1296 Ragman Rolls as a crown tenant in Ayrshire, but there is no additional confirmation.

Blind Harry's late-15th-century poem gives his father as Sir Malcolm of Elderslie however, William's own seal, found on a letter sent to the Hanse city of Lübeck in 1297, gives his father's name as Alan Wallace. William Wallace was a member of the lesser nobility, but little is definitely known of his family history or even his parentage. Personal seal of Sir William Wallace, found on a letter written on 11 October 1297, to the mayor of Lübeck, Germany.

Wallace the brave book 4