Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Walker Family Papers, Accession #1513-a , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Scope and Content Information

This collection of 64 items, 1770-1857, consists of correspondence and business papers of the Walker family of Brownsburg, Rockbridge County, Virginia. Members of the Walker family represented are: Alexander, Hugh, John K., Joseph, Robert C., and Thomas H. Walker.

Letters of the Walker family span the years 1816-1852, and chiefly regard family matters. Religious matters are discussed such as the status of religion in the southeast--Virginia, the Missouri Territory, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Georgia; religion at Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, and Princeton [College], New Jersey; and, the Presbyterian Church. National politics are also discussed with several references to President [Andrew] Jackson, along with evaluation of public opinion of him. There is some mention of the quality of crops, land sales in the Southeast, and the status of prices. Other topics touched upon are the Mexican War (1846), the California movement (1857), and Zachary Taylor and the presidential election of 1848.

Letters from Hugh Walker discuss life and religion at Washington College (January 7 and September 28, 1822); travelling through and settling in Tennessee (November 17, 1823, November 16, 1824, and August 21, 1826); travelling in Kentucky (March 14, 1825); his marriage to Frances F. Gaines (December 23, 1830); and, clover crops, "silk fever," plans to sow White Mulberry seed, and the anti-Jackson and anti-Van Buren sentiments of the majority of Tennesseans (October 1, 1835).

Letters from John K. Walker from St. Louis discuss his travels in Kentucky, Indiana, and Missouri with what seems to be itinerant preachers (October 9, 1816); life in the Missouri Territory, including crooked elections for Congress and an incident in which Indians robbed settlers, and describes St. Louis as "one of the most wicked and dissapated towns in the western country" (March 17, 1817); a Virginian, Thompson Douglas, ruined by land speculation (August 13, 1819); the death of Joshua Barton which occurred in a duel with Thomas Rector (July 4, 1823); and, people from St. Louis joining in the Santa Fe Expedition in the Mexican War (December 22, 1846).

Business papers cover the years 1770-1796 and 1821-1846, and the receipts mainly regard the estate of Robert Culton of Rockbridge County, of which Thomas H. Walker was the administrator. The day books appear to include accounts of the Walker family. Also in the collection is an Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity signed by Stephen J. H. Smith of Orange County, Virginia.