SOURCES:
*Birth: in Walker Bible in possession of Mrs. A.R. Tiffany, 2045 Potter St., Eugene,
OR. FHLC film #839732. Typed copy.
*Marriage: both marriages recorded in above Bible source.
*Land Records database, Rootsweb, Greene Co., MO: Walker, William. 22 Aug 1843. 40
acres. twp.30, range 23, sec 4. Type: GLO.
*Benjamin J. Morss, Evan Martin, Sam Dillard, John Killingsworth, and William Walker
all arrived in 1853 [in Creswell, OR area] ahead of the lost wagon train. (source: The
Blue Valley: a History of Creswell, OR. Written & ed. by George W. Ross, Joan Campbell
& Sandra Hanson Wilson; pub. Creswell Area Hist. Soc. 1993, p. 10).
*William Walker and wife Polly Shield [sic] are listed claim no. 471, Oregon Donation
Land Claims (Genealogical Forum of Portland: Genealogical Material in Oregon Donation Land
Claims, vol. 3, p. 32).
*Filed a claim for 320 acres, 8 miles south of Springfield. See biographical sketches
in Gaston's, p. 821 and Chapman's, p. 1121. These say he was a Whig, a Republican, and an
abolitionist.
*Photo (reversed) of William & Polly p. 19 of Lois Barton's Spencer Butte
Pioneers: 100 Years on the Sunny Side of the Butte 1850-1950 (Eugene: Spencer Butte Press,
1982).
"by 1858 the People's Press of Eugene City was carrying ads" for Walker's Drug Store.
The People's Press was a Republican newspaper owned by Byron J. Pengra. 8 Mar 1859 the
advertisement announced that Walker had fitted up a new store house on 9th St. one door
west of Goldsmith & Co's store. 19 Nov 1859: Wm. Walker moved his store from 9th to
Willamette St.
*Cecil Robe in 1979 was interviewed by Dan Sellard of the Eugene Register-Guard, when
he told the story (without as much detail as I recall) of how Eliza Ann Walker Robe was
nearly sold to Indians on the Oregon Trail by her father. See Hermon Linn Robe's Oregon
Pioneer Tales for a verse version of this encounter.
*Death: date recorded in above Bible source.
*See also 1870 & 1880 U.S. Federal Censuses.
1870 Census, res. Eugene;
1880 Census, res. Springfield.
1870 Census gives birthplace as Tennessee.
*Death also recorded in obituary, Eugene Weekly Guard, 31 Dec 1881, which gives place
of burial.
NOTES:
*July Sessions, Knox Co., TN court 1811. "John Love appointed guardian by Knox Co. to
William, Jane and Polly Walker, minor orphans. John Love entered into bond with Matthew
Walker and Joseph Love his sureties in $300 security." Guardian & Will Book, Knox Co.,
TN, FHLC film #1020320. Thus William Walker's father died before July 1811. Matthew Walker
was also appointed administrator of the estate of John Walker, July session 1810; I think
it likely that Matthew was John's brother and that John Walker was William's father. A
Margaret Walker bought furniture from John Walker's estate, possibly his widow. Research
into Matthew Walker's parentage led to Janet Jones Anderson of Otto, NC, who had it from
Mrs. Clarence B. Walker of Knoxville, TN that Matthew and John were sons of William
Walker, who died in Rockbridge Co., VA, and that John was killed by a tornado in Knox Co.,
TN (no date given, however).
*William Walker resided in Knox Co., TN from 1800 to about 1831. From 1832 to 1835 he
resided in McMinn Co., TN. From 1835 to 1839 he resided in Murray Co., GA. In about 1840
he moved back to TN. In about 1844 he moved to Greene Co., MO and started for Oregon in
1852 but turned back. In 1853 he started for Oregon again. He signed the register at the
Umatilla Agency 28 Aug 1853 and filed claim for 320 acres, 8 miles south of Springfield,
in the Camas Swale area near Creswell, D.L.C. #471. In 1857 he left the claim and went to
Eugene to open a drug store. In 1860 he sold the drug store and bought farm and river
land, ranching near Eugene (Springfield P.O.?). In 1871 he sold the Springfield property
and bought 200 acres at Pleasant Hill. In 1881 he sold the Pleasant Hill property and
moved back to Springfield, where he died, 28 Dec 1881. (this info. was compiled for my
late uncle Cecil F. Robe by Margret West of Eugene, OR.)
*"History of Greene County, Missouri" (1883) R. I. Holcombe, editing historian.
Chapter 28: Cass Township--Mount Zion Church--Presbyterian This church was organized
October 19th, 1839, at Mrs. Jane Renshaw's (familiarly called "Grandma Renshaw"), by Rev.
E. P. Noel, of Hermon church, near Bolivar, Polk county. The original members were
Elizabeth Stowell, Stephen Dillard, Julia Ann Dillard, Jane Renshaw, Margaret A. Appleby,
Joseph K. Renshaw, Robert S. Reid, Amanda F. Reid, David Appleby, and Catharine
Appleby,—ten in all. The first ruling elders were David Appleby, Robert S. Reid, and
Stephen Dilliard. The church was called Mt. Zion Presbyterian church. The congregation met
and worshiped in private houses at first. In the spring, or early in the summer of 1840, a
brush arbor was put up a short distance south of Grandma Renshaw's house, and under this,
meetings were held. In the summer of 1861 a shed was erected at Cave Spring, and was
called Cave Spring camp ground. It was used by all denominations for camp meetings. This
shed being too small, it was extended by a brush arbor. The first camp meetings were held
the last days of July and the first days of August, in the year 1841. These camp meetings
were held annually, and attended by people from a great distance, who came in wagons,
carts, on horseback and on foot. The first person received into the church was Margaret
McElhanon; she came in by letter November 17 1839. The first on examination was James
Appleby, on August 1st, 1841. Rev. E. P. Noel was the pastor from the organization of the
church until November 14th,1881. He held regular monthly services. Then came Rev. G. A. M.
Renshaw, a graduate of Maysville college, East Tennessee. He died March 27th, 1857. On the
14th of June, 1857, Rev. A. E. Taylor took charge, and served until February 26th, 1860,
when Rev. L. R. Morrison was called and served the church until April, 1861. From January
28th, 1866, to some time in the fall of 1869, the Rev. J. M. Brown, of Illinois, who was
sent by the Board of Home Missions, served as pastor; Rev. Enos M. Halbert took charge on
May 14th 1870, and after him came Rev. George Davis, who served as "stated supply" in the
year 1881. The present pastor is C. C. Hembree. The ruling elders in their order from the
time of its organization up to the year 1876, were David Appleby, Stephen Dillard, David
Dalzell, Charles Hughes, Wm. E. Thompson, Nathan Thompson, Newton A. McGill, Robert S.
Reid, Alexander Stowell, Wm. Walker, David S. Dalzell, John R. Lee, Moses C. Anderson, and
Samuel Hall. The first church building, was erected in 1845. It was built of hewed logs
taken from the forest nearby. During the war this building was used for a dwelling house,
and by the soldiers as a commissary and for quarters. The first meeting of the Osage
Presbytery, after the war, was held in this building. The present building was erected in
1869, at a cost of about $3,500, including the school rooms. It was dedicated August 22d,
1869, by Rev. Dr. Hill, of Kansas City. Mt. Zion is one of the very oldest Presbyterian
churches in Missouri, and lays claim to being the first regularly organized west of St.
Louis. It is the parent of three other churches—Springfield, Mt. Bethel, and Grand
Prairie. Space forbids anything like a complete history of this church, which would be not
only interesting, but highly instructive. [714]
*Lois Barton, Spencer Butte Pioneers: 100 Years on the Sunny Side of the Butte 1850-
1950 (Eugene, OR: Spencer Butte Press, 1982) p. 19. Barton quotes advertisements in the
Eugene City People's Press for William Walker's drugstore: an ad dated February 25, 1858,
reads: "Just received a large supply of Dr. Jaynes' family medicine direct from
Philadelphia. Also 300 almanacs gratis." Then on March 8, 1859: "The undersigned having
fitted up a new store house on 9th St. one door west of Goldsmith & Co.'s store is now
receiving and opening a general stock of medicines and groceries" [An extensive list of
items follows]. "Signed: Wm. Walker." And again, November 19, 1859: "Wm. Walker moved his
store from 9th to Willamette St."
*Will Walker in Lane County Historian Index: 15:46; 4: 32n (Mrs.).