James Walker
| James Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
June 3, 1767[1] Carlisle, Cumberland, Pennsylvania[2] |
| Died | January 8, 1848 (aged 80)[3] |
| Resting place | Walker Family Cemetery, Pleasant Valley, Johnson, Iowa[4] |
| Spouse | Mary Sarah Burnett (m. 1807–1848)[5] |
| Children |
Robert B. Walker (1810 - 1861) Nancy Ann Walker (1812-1863) Samuel Walker (1814-1852) James Walker, Jr. (1816-1904) Elizabeth Eliza Walker (1818-1898) Joseph Walker (1819-1893) Laura Cara Walker (1822-1911) Frances Ann Walker (1826-1868) Henry Walker (1829-1911)[6] |
| Parents |
Robert Walker III Elizabeth Brice[7] |
Walker Pioneer Family Bio[8][edit]
James and Mary Sarah "Betsey" Walker arrived [in Johnson County, Iowa] with three more of the family's nine children in 1840. They were 18-year-old Laura, 14-year-old Frances (Fannie) and 11-year-old Henry. Their two oldest daughters had stayed in Ohio or Indiana with their husbands.
Soon after they arrived, James and Mary decided that their children needed a school, Walker said, so they built the first school house in Johnson County, near River Junction north of Highway 22.
It was very near an existing Indian town, Walker said, but the natives were friendly with the Walkers and vice versa (the treaty forcing Iowa's native residents to move to Fort Des Moines in Tama County wasn't signed until 1843).
(Note: See History of Iowa from its Earliest Times to the Twentieth Century (p88) for the story on the removal of the Sac and Fox tribes from Western Iowa.)
Linn Clan Entry on the Walkers[9][edit]
[James] Walker, an Ohio farmer, was married to Sarah Burnett, who was three-fourths American Indian. [James]'s three sons: Samuel, James, and Joseph, emigrated to Johnson County, Iowa from Ohio in 1837. Their father followed his sons in 1841. Samuel Walker and his wife, Elizabeth Stover, were members of very respected families which were community leaders in the early pioneer days of Iowa. Their son John S. Walker, married Sarah Woodruff. John and Sarah and their two daughters, Libbie and Hattie, moved to western Iowa and thence to the silver mines of Jefferson City, Montana. Elizabeth Stover Walker, having lost her husband, Samuel, in 1852, accompanied them. Elizabeth died on 29 July 1888 in Jefferson City. The walker family returned to Iowa by wagon, as they had gone. They settled near Shelby, Iowa, where Libbie married Frank B. Linn. The children of Libbie and Frank were 3/64ths American Indian.
(Note: the above claims of Native Americanness are suspect. See Mary Sarah Burnett's page for a discussion.)
Walker School House[10][edit]
The first school house was a log one, built by the neighbors clubbing together and doing all the work themselves. It stood on the banks of Buck creek, on James Walker's claim, which was the southwest quarter of section 36. It was very near the line of Freemont township, and was the same one referred to in the history of that township, which see in another place, where the house is more fully described. Jerry Stover taught the first school. It was called the Walker schoolhouse.
Resting Place[edit]
James is buried in the Walker Family Cemetery in Pleasant Valley, Johnson, Iowa[11]:
Historical Records[edit]
- James is listed on an 1804 Tax List in Hudson, Ohio
- James lived in Hudson, Ohio in the 1820 Federal Census. In the home were 8 people:
- Free White Males - Under 10: 3
- Free White Males - 10 thru 15: 1
- Free White Males - 45 and over: 1
- Free White Females - Under 10: 2
- Free White Females - 26 thru 44: 1
- Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture: 1
- Free White Persons - Under 16: 6
- Free White Persons - Over 25: 2
- Total Free White Persons: 8
- James lived in Johnson County, Iowa / Wisconsin Territory in a 1838 Territorial Census.
- James lived in Johnson County, Iowa with one other person, in the 1840 Iowa Census. Note: I think this is a different James, though, as the two people are both males 20-49 years old.
Notes[edit]
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/a/l/William-Walker-OK/GENE9-0011.html
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/a/l/William-Walker-OK/GENE9-0011.html
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/a/l/William-Walker-OK/GENE9-0011.html
- ↑ http://iowagravestones.org/gs_view.php?id=131383
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/a/l/William-Walker-OK/GENE9-0011.html
- ↑ http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/w/a/l/William-Walker-OK/GENE9-0011.html
- ↑ http://www.lapella.net/wordstorywalkersfromjim_opfell.doc
- ↑ http://iagenweb.org/johnson/families/WalkerFamily.htm
- ↑ The Clan Linn in the Twentieth Century, p553
- ↑ http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofjohnson00iowa#page/754/mode/2up/search/walker
- ↑ http://iowagravestones.org/gs_view.php?id=131383