Person:John Walker (292)

Inhabitants of Kent Island, Talbot County, MD, 1638 and 1642

Transcript:Will of William Campbell, St. Pauls Parish, Queen Anne County, MD, 1762

Overview

This article is for the John Walker who died in Talbot/Queen Anne County, Maryland, in 1687. His will identifies him as living at Chester, on Kent Island. Kent Island is today within the boundaries of Queen Anne County, MD, but at the time of his death was probably within Talbot County.

The will of John (269) identifies his wife as "Margaret", with children as "Daniel", "Margaret" and "Francis". The c1625 DOB that is currently being used for him is based on tertiary sources, and may not be accurate. John's will tells us that eldest child Daniel, even though married, is under the age of 21 in 1687. That implies that this Daniel [here designated as Daniel (31)] could have been born no earlier than 1666, implying a DOB of no later than c1646 for his father. While we can't pin down John's DOB exactly, he looks to be a contemporary of Daniel (14), rather than a member of the previous generation. That implies that he is unlikely to be Daniel (14's) father.

John is sometimes identified as the father of Person:Daniel Walker (14). This is consistent with the fact that he left a bequest to son Daniel. Daniel (14), however, was probably born about 1640, as his childrens DOB's begin in the 1660's.

A key record for this family is from a Talbot County church record (exact source unknown):

Elizabeth Walker dau of Daniel Walker who was son of John Walker of the Stand of Pilkington by Eliz: his wife, departed 1 Jul 1714.

The Daniel of this record is thought to refer to Daniel Walker (14), not to Daniel Walker (31). There are several reasons for this interpretation

• Daniel (14) did in fact have a daughter Elizabeth though we do not, at this point, know if Daniel (31) did as well;
• The fact that the father of Daniel of the church record is identified as "John Walker of the Stand of Pilkington by Eliz" suggests that this particular Daniel is the immigrant, and that his father remained in England. It is unlikely that if his father had been John (269) that the record would have referred to him as "of the Stand of Pilkington".
• The wife of John of the Stand of Pilkington was named "Elizabeth", and that of John (269) was named "Margaret".

These points strongly suggests that these are two different John Walkers, and two different Daniels. Possibly the most consistent way to interpret these data is to consider Daniel (14) and John (269) to be brothers, sons of John Walker of the Stand of Pilkington.

John (269) identifies in his will property known as "Walkers Square" on Kent Island. This property was to go to his unborn grandhild (if a boy) by son Daniel Walker, or to Daniel himself, if the grandchild was a girl. Land records for Queen Anne County show that this property was in Corsica District, and had had passed out of Walker hands by 1783, though Walkers (presumably kinsmen to John (269) were still present in Tuckahoe and Upper Districts.