Person:Thomas Walker (83)

Contents 1 Overview 2 George Rogers Clark 3 Augusta Records 4 Students of Dr. Thomas Walker 5 External links		Walker Tapestry Register Data Notebooks Analysis Bibliography Graphics Index YDNA. Walker Chalkley's
	……………………..The Tapestry Families Old Chester OldAugusta Germanna New River SWVP Cumberland Carolina Cradle The Smokies Old Kentucky

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Overview

Early Days Thomas Walker was born at "Rye Field", Walkerton, King and Queen County, Virginia He was raised as Englishman in the Tidewater region of Virginia. Walker's first profession was that of a physician after he attended the College of William and Mary and studied under his brother-in-law Dr. George Gilmer.[1] Even though he never actually received a medical degree, Walker is thought to have been the first to have trephined bone for suppurative osteomyelitis as early as 1757.[citation needed]

Walker became a man of status in the county when he married Mildred Thornton (widow of Nicholas Meriwether) in 1741, and acquires a large portion of land from her late husband’s estate. Here, Walker would set his roots and build his home known as Castle Hill, and have 12 children, who would become prominent Albemarle citizens in their own rights. He began his path to establishing his status by becoming a vestryman in April 1744, a position he would hold until 1785. He served Virginia proudly as a delegate to the House of Burgesses from Albemarle County, a trustee to the newly formed town of Charlottesville.

Exploration On July 12, 1749, the Loyal Land Company was founded with Walker as a leading member. After receiving a grant of 800,000 acres (3,200 km²) in what is now southeastern Kentucky, the company appointed Walker to lead an expedition to explore and survey the region in 1750. Walker was named head of the Loyal Land Company in 1752.

During the expedition, Walker gave names to many topographical features including the Cumberland Gap. His party built the first non-Indian house (a cabin) in Kentucky (today's Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site). Walker kept a daily journal of the trip.

At the age of 64, Walker again journeyed to the western areas of Kentucky and Tennessee to extend the border between Virginia and North Carolina westward. This controversial mapped border would forever bear the title of the "Walker Line" and today stands as the separating point between the two states.

Among those who benefited from their close ties to Walker was Joseph Martin (general), an Indian fighter and explorer and native of Albemarle County who was chosen by Walker to lead one of his expeditions into the Powell Valley region of Western Virginia and Kentucky.[2]

He also had great influence in dealing with Indian affairs. Walker represented Virginia at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix and Treaty of Lochaber (1770) and dealt with the peace negotiations after the Battle of Point Pleasant. In 1775, Walker served as a Virginia commissioner in negotiations with representatives of the Six Nations in Pittsburgh at Fort Pitt.

Walker is also credited as the first American to discover and use coal found in Kentucky [3]

Final Days After the death of his first wife, Walker would marry another lady with a famous name in 1781, Elizabeth Thorton (official marriage contract). Thomas Walker died on November 9, 1794 at Castle Hill, Albemarle County, Virginia. At the time of his death Walker was noted as the fourth wealthiest citizen of Albemarle County.

George Rogers Clark

• 12 Dec 1778 - Thomas Walker's name heads the list of the famous instructions issued to George Rogers Clark for the government of the newly constituted Virginia County of Illinois, also known as Illinois County, Virginia.

Source Americian Antiquiarian

Augusta Records

Dr. Thomas Walker was a subject in the following suits in Augusta County, VA records (from Chalkley's):

• Vol. 2 - Christopher Acklin vs. Francis Walker--O. S. 17; N. S. 6--Bill filed 1802--Settlement of Wolf Hill tract in Washington County belonging to Thomas Walker, deceased, father of Francis. Other settlers were Saml. Biggs, James Craig, Saml. Evans, David Getgood, John Vance. John Vance deposes, 19th August, 1803, at house of John McCormick in Abingdon, that between 1773 and 1775 he and Christopher Acklin settled on the Wolf Hill tract, deponent having purchased a settlement of John Huston; Daniel Smith was Dr. Walker's agent. James Crow settled on the Wolf Hill tract in 1778; James Piper was also a settler. Francis Walker went to school to Daniel Smith, the agent. Josiah Gamble deposes in Blount County, Tennessee, 10th March, 1803, that he and Daniel Smith were the agents of Walker, and Acklin was the first settler on the land in dispute. Daniel Smith deposes at his own house in Sumner County, Tennessee, 12th March, 1804. Robert Doaek (Doak) was Walker's agent before Smith, in years 1770-72. Alexander Brackenridge deposes in Bourbon County, 10th June, 1803: In 1769?1776 a certain Robert Doak said he was agent for Dr. Thos. Walker and induced Alexr. to take a part of the lands, and he, in November of same year, went there and built a cabin, and in September, 1770, he moved there. In 1772 Doak came and laid off the lands to the settlers. In 1773 settlers were advertised to meet at the house of Samuel Briggs.

• John Vance vs. Walker--O. S. 16; N. S. 6--Similar to above. John Campbell deposes at house of John McCormick in Abingdon, 25th June, 1803, that in fall of 1768 he came for the first time to western part of Virginia, and on his way overtook a number of persons, who informed him they were coming to settle on a tract owned by Dr. Thos. Walker, known as Wolf Hill tract. Andrew Vance, in 1802, was son of John. Alexander Brackenridge testifies as before (but the transaction took place in 1769, instead of 1776, as above). Josiah Gamble deposes as John Campbell above; in 1769, he was going to Holstein and overtook the party to Wolf Hill vtract. Deposition of Wm. Y. Conn (?): That about 1785 he came to Abingdon. Joseph Acklin, son of Christopher, deposes. Joseph Black deposes.

Students of Dr. Thomas Walker

Dr. Thomas Walker took in several students for private instruction. Among them were

• Thomas English, after he was freed from Indian captivity
• Senator Daniel Smith

External links

• Castle Hill Cider Dr. Walker's historic estate is currently a cidery and venue for weddings

1. ↑ Dr Thomas Walker, in Find A Grave
   [Includes headstone photo], last accessed Mar 2017.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Thomas Walker (explorer), in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia.

   the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

   Thomas Walker (January 25, 1715 – November 9, 1794) was a physician, planter and explorer in colonial Virginia who served multiple terms in the Virginia General Assembly, and whose descendants also had political careers. Walker explored Western Colony of Virginia (present day Kentucky) in 1750, 19 years before the arrival of Daniel Boone.

3. ↑ Hamilton, Emory L. Indian Atrocities Along the Clinch, Powell and Holston Rivers of Southwest Virginia, 1773-1794. (Unpublished).

   ... In 1749 Moravian Missionaries conducted the first recorded religious services in Southwest Virginia in the home of Jacob Harman, and Dr. Thomas Walker mentions stopping at the home of Harman on his memorable exploration trip in 1750.

4.   Walker Family, in Page, Richard Channing Moore. Genealogy of the Page family in Virginia: also a condensed account of the Nelson, Walker, Pendleton and Randolph families; with references to the Byrd, Carter, Cary, Duke, Gilmer, Harrison, Rives, Thornton, Wellford, Washington and other distinguished families in Virginia. (New York: Jenkins & Thomas, 1883)
   179-214.
5.   First House in Kentucky, Dr. Thomas Walker Cabin, in The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org).
6.   Bagby, Alfred. King and Queen County, Virginia. (New York: Neale Pub. Co., 1908)
   378.

   This from Col. Fleet of Culver:
   Thos. Walker, ancestor of the distinguished Dr. Thos. Walker, and Riveses of Albemarle (see Thomas Walker (explorer)), and Gov. Thos. Walker Gilmer (see Thomas Walker Gilmer), was from K. & Q." ...

7. ↑ A119663, in Daughters of the American Revolution. Genealogical Research System.

   WALKER, THOMAS SR
   Ancestor #: A119663
   Service: VIRGINIA
   Rank(s): CIVIL SERVICE, PATRIOTIC SERVICE
   Birth: 1-25-1715 KING & QUEEN CO VIRGINIA [sic]
   Death: 11-7-1794 CASTLE HILL ALBEMARLE CO VIRGINIA [sic]
   Service Source:
   JOURNAL OF THE VA CONVENTION 12-1775, PP 67-68;
   LEONARD, GEN ASSEMBLY OF VA, PP 110, 113, 115, 118, 145;
   JOURNAL OF CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, VOL 2 P 251; VOL 6, P 922
   
   Service Description:
   1) MEMBER OF COMMITTEE OF SAFETY 1775; DELEGATE TO REV CONV 1775-1776; DELEGATE TO ASSEMBLY 1782; COMMISSIONER FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS 9-1775

8.   Woods, Rev. Edgar. Albemarle County in Virginia: giving some account of what it was by nature, of what it was made by man, and of some of the men who made it. (Charlottesville VA: The Mickie Company, Printers, 1901).

   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 ...
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