About the
Editor of this Special Edition
As proclaimed on its opening page, this Daily Progress
Historical and Industrial Magazine was compiled and edited
by Albert Edward Walker. Prior to arriving in Charlottesville
in 1906, Walker had worked as a reporter and special
writer for several New York papers, including the World,
the Daily News and the Times. He eventually turned his
talents to producing promotional special editions in collaboration
with newspapers around the mid-Atlantic
region. He traveled from city to city, combining profiles
of community leaders and businesses with local history and
legend to create illustrated editions which are fascinating
records for local historians today.
Walker was born January 10, 1868 to British parents,
his father hailing from Scotland and his mother from
England. According to his obituary, at the time of his birth
his parents lived in Brooklyn, New York, where his father
operated a line of merchant ships trading with the West
Indies. He was one of seven children. Relatives remember
Walker as an Englishman, however, and he maintained ties
with his family across the Atlantic, making several trips to
England.
While in Charlottesville working on this project,
Walker met and married Bessie Carroll Valentine, daughter
of prominent local businessman Robert Poore Valentine.
Bessie accompanied her husband on his extended visits to
other communities where they lived in hotels as he pursued
his unusual career. Their only child, Virginia Valentine
Walker, was born in 1909. The Walkers must have considered
Charlottesville their permanent home, however, for
A. E. Walker invested in real estate locally and was a
member of the Presbyterian Church and the Redland Club.
And it was in Charlottesville, on October 8, 1918, at the
home of his father-in-law on High Street, that Walker died
a premature death due to Bright's disease. Mrs. Walker went
on to make her own place in our local history, serving for
many years as the official hostess at the University of
Virginia.
