The Family Bible of Samuel Walker, junior

The son of Samuel and Martha-Jefferson Bell Walker of Edgefield, South Carolina

Judith F. Russell

Reprinted with kind permission of the QUILL, Old Edgefield District Genealogical Society

Persistence paid off recently when a group⁽¹⁾ researching Samuel and Martha-Jefferson Bell Walker^{(2) (3) (4)} made contact with a branch of the Walker family living in Texas. The Texas Walkers descend from Samuel and Martha Walker's son, Samuel, junior, who left Edgefield, South Carolina, and moved to Alabama about 1820. Among the family papers of the modern Texas Walkers is a Bible fragment -- some Old Testament pages, plus six of the Family Information Pages from a Bible most probably owned first by Samuel Walker, junior. The pages have been kept by family members for almost 200 years and are now in the possession of Emmitte Walker of Austin, Texas.⁽⁵⁾

Besides a few of the last pages of the Old Testament and the title page, the fragment consists of five "Family Information" pages. (Figure 1) Tradition has it that the Bible was torn apart to settle a family dispute, possibly dividing the Old and New Testaments. But the remaining pages contain notes on family births, deaths, and marriages. The notes are significant since they corroborate previous research conclusions and also add entirely new information.

The names of eight Samuel's and Martha-Jefferson's children had been previously determined through wills, deeds, and equity cases, and his daughters's birth order tentatively assumed from the listing in Samuel Walker's 1810 will. The specific birth dates found in the Family Information Pages confirm the birth order of the list in the Will. Samuel, junior, came seventh in line after six older sisters. In addition, there are the two children that had not been previously known: Benjamin and Mary. Some of the Holloway and Sims great grandchildren of Samuel and Martha-Jefferson Walker are listed, as well as "Richard Jos. Lewis," a man whose relationship to the family is completely unknown. He might have been an in-law whose name had never been discovered. Because his date of birth is near to that of Louisa, the granddaughter of Samuel Walker, junior, it is possible that Richard is her previously unidentified husband.

The death date of Sarah Walker (8 October 1813) settles the difficulties which arose from discrepancies between the lists of Walker children given in Edgefield, South Carolina, Equity Case 99 and Edgefield Equity Case 136. Equity 99 (filed 1821) lists the wife of Chaney Farrow as "Sarah Walker, now deceased," and it lists the wife of William B. Mays as Anna Walker. However, Equity 136 (filed 1820) names Sarah as the wife of William B. Mays. Sarah, not Anna, can now be definitely identified as the wife of Chaney Farrow, since Sarah died in 1813 and the wife of William B. Mays was still alive in the 1820s, according to the lists in both equity cases.

Finally, and especially interesting, is the fragmentary reference to "...born December 11^th 1751, the daughter of Benjam.. and Martha Bell." This entry substantiates earlier research that linked Samuel Walker's wife to the Benjamin Bell family of Albemarle Parish in Virginia, living in Edgefield by Revolutionary times. According to Albemarle Parish Records, "Martha-Jefferson, the d. of Benja Bell and w. Martha; born Dec 16, 1751."⁽⁶⁾ Allowing for transcription errors, this entry in the Family Record of Samuel Walker, junior, offers convincing evidence that his mother was Martha-Jefferson Bell, the daughter of Benjamin and Martha Tucker Bell of Virginia.

Although the mystery of the ancestry of Samuel Walker, senior, is still unsolved, the family tree of his and Martha-Jefferson Bell Walker's children is substantially enhanced by the new-found Bible. In the outline below, the Walker Bible Family Information Page data are printed in boldface and previously unknown material is also underlined.

Samuel WALKER Sr. was born in 1751. He died on 4 September 1813. Samuel married Martha-Jefferson BELL, daughter of Benjamin BELL and Martha TUCKER, about 1770. Martha-Jefferson was born on 11 December 1751 in Albemarle Parish, Sussex County, Virginia. She died on 3 September 1831.

They had the following children:

i. Lucretia WALKER was born on 11 March 1771. She died on 20 May 1803. Lucretia married Thomas HOLLOWAY, son of George HOLLOWAY and Martha Ann HALL, about 1798. Thomas was born on 31 May 1777.

ii. Rachel WALKER was born on 9 November 1772 in Edgefield, South Carolina. She died about 9 June 1851 in Monroe County, Mississippi. Rachel married Hinchey MITCHELL on 24 February 1801 in Edgefield, South Carolina. Hinchey was born on 4 November 1775. He died on 25 August 1820 and was buried in Mitchell Cemetery in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

iii. Martha WALKER was born before 1774. Martha married Starling MITCHELL. Starling was born before 1774.

iv. Sarah WALKER was born on 14 August 1777. She died on 8 October 1813. Sarah married Chaney FARROW, son of Landon FARROW and Rachel WALKER, about 1808. Chaney was born on 10 January 1785 in Spartanburg, South Carolina. He died about 1860 in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

v. Mary WALKER was born January, between 1779 and 1781. She died on 16 October 1781.

vi. Elizabeth WALKER was born on 24 December 1781 in South Carolina. She died in September 1859 in Alabama. Elizabeth married Joseph Balus EDDINS, son of Benjamin EDDINS, on 14 April 1803. Joseph was born on 14 September 1777 in South Carolina. He died on 14 September 1839 in Alabama.

vii. Samuel WALKER Jr. was born on 28 March 1784. He died on 23 January 1841. Samuel married Frances "Fanny" EDDINS, daughter of Benjamin EDDINS, about 1804. Frances was born about 1785. She died about 1840.

viii. Rebeckah WALKER was born on 18 November 1786. She died on 21 October 1828 in Tuscaloosa, AL. Rebeckah married James BEAMS.

ix. Benjamin WALKER was born on 16 March 1789. He died on 2 September 1801.

x. Ann WALKER was born on 12 July 1791. She died on 12 February 1841 and was buried in Old Mays Burial Ground, Edgefield, South Carolina. Ann married William Baker MAYS, son of Stephen W. MAYS and Frances Wellbeloved PEGRAM, on 18 August 1812. William was born on 15 August 1793 in Virginia. He died on 15 February 1846 in Edgefield, Edgefield, South Carolina.

Figure 1. Walker Family Bible. A transcription by Emmitte Walker and Marjorie A. Landreville of the Family Information Pages from the Walker Family Bible. Additions and corrections were added by the Walker Research Group. The Bible was most probably first owned by Samuel Walker, junior, the son of Samuel and Martha-Jefferson Bell Walker of Edgefield, South Carolina. Passed down in the Walker family for almost 200 years, the Bible fragment plus the Family Information Pages are now in the possession of Emmitte Walker of Austin, Texas.

1. Samuel Walker Research Group contributors to this project: Frances Bateman, Neva Carmichael, Martha Easter, Shirley Erickson, Rosemary Holdridge, Wade Kuisel, Marjorie A. Landreville, Mary Anne Price, John Griffin R. Rountree, Judith F. Russell.

2. Judith F. Russell, compiler, Children and Grandchildren of Samuel and Martha-Jefferson Bell Walker, Edgefield, South Carolina (Bogart, GA: Julian Rose Publishing, 2003) Judith F. Russell, 1051 Forrest Hills Drive, Bogart, Georgia 30622 or at jrussell2@charter.net

3. Judith F. Russell, "Samuel Walker of South Carolina: Three Revolutionary Soldiers," South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, Volume XXXI, Number 1, Winter 2003, pp 17 -19.

4. Judith F. Russell, "Samuel Walker, Revolutionary Soldier of Edgefield, South Carolina," QUILL, Old Edgefield District Genealogical Society, Volume 18, July-August 2002.

5. Emmitte Walker's great-grandfather was Benjamin Walker, the son of Samuel Walker, junior. Benjamin died in Texas after living in Alabama and Arkansas. The Bible passed to Benjamin's widow and then to his son, John Samuel Walker. John Samuel Walker's daughter , Mary Dee Walker, inherited the Family Information Pages, but the rest of the Bible was lost. Mary Dee gave the pages to her brother "Buck," the father of Emmitte Walker of Austin, Texas.

6. Gertrude R. B. Richards, Register of Albemarle Parish Surry and Sussex Counties 1739 - 1778. (Richmond, VA: National Society of Colonial Dames of American in the Commonwealth of Virginia, 1958) 151.