University of Virginia Library

WALKER.

Thomas Walker was born in King and Queen in 1715,
was a student of William and Mary, and about 1741 married

Mildred, the widow of Nicholas Meriwether. Through her
he came into the possession of Castle Hill. By profession
he was a physician, but possessed too bold and energetic a
nature to be contented with the ordinary routine of a country
doctor. In his younger years he occupied with signal
efficiency a number of public positions. It is believed that
notwithstanding the claims in behalf of Finley and Daniel
Boone, he led the first expedition that ever traversed the
mountains, and stood upon the famous hunting grounds of
Kentucky. In 1748, and again in 1750, he visited Southwest
Virginia and Kentucky, and to this day has left his memorial
in the former region, in the names of Walker's Mountain
and Walker's Creek on the confines of Giles and Pulaski
Counties, and in the latter, in the name of Cumberland
which he gave to the mountains, gap and river so called,
in commemoration of the Duke of Cumberland, who had
recently crushed the rebellion of 1745 on the field of Culloden.
He was Commissary of the Virginia troops under
Braddock, and was at that general's defeat in 1755. More
than once he was appointed to treat with the Indians in
New York and Pennsylvania, and in 1778 was one of the
Commission selected to fix the boundary between Virginia
and North Carolina. Without any change of residence, he
successively represented the counties of Hanover, Louisa
and Albemarle in the House of Burgesses, and in 1763 was
the trustee of Albemarle to sell and convey the lots and outlots
of Charlottesville, the new county seat. He died in
1794. His children were Mary, the wife of Nicholas Lewis,
John, Susan, the wife of Henry Fry, Thomas, Lucy, the wife
of Dr. George Gilmer, Elizabeth, the wife of Rev. Matthew
Maury, Mildred, the wife of Joseph Hornsby, who removed
to Shelby County, Kentucky, Sarah, the wife of Reuben
Lindsay, Martha, the wife of George Divers, Reuben, Francis,
and Peachy, the wife of Joshua Fry.

John lived at Belvoir, the old home of Robert Lewis, was
aide to Washington in the Revolution, member of the House of
Burgesses, United States Senator to fill the vacancy occasioned
by the death of William Grayson, for many years Commonwealth's

Attorney for the county, and died in 1809. He married
Elizabeth, daughter of Bernard Moore, and granddaughter
of Governor Spotswood, and his only child Mildred became
the wife of Francis Kinloch, of South Carolina.

Thomas was a Captain in the Ninth Virginia Regiment of
the Revolutionary army, and died in 1798. His home was on
the plantation of Indian Fields. His wife was Margaret
Hoops, and his children M. L., Elizabeth, the wife of Robert
Michie, Maria, the wife of Richard Duke, Jane, the wife of
William Rice, of Halifax, Mildred, the wife of Tarleton
Goolsby, John, Thomas and Martha.

Francis succeeded his father at Castle Hill, was a magistrate
of the county, Colonel of the Eighty-Eighth Regiment,
member of the House of Delegates, and Representative in
Congress, and died in 1806. He married Jane Byrd, daughter
of General Hugh Nelson, and granddaughter of President
William Nelson, and his children were Jane Frances, the
wife of Dr. Mann Page, and Judith, the wife of William C.
Rives.