WALKER, Cullen F., b 1841: 1905 Bio, Mesa County, Colorado http://files.usgwarchives.net/co/mesa/bios/walkercf.txt --------------------------------------- Donated September 13, 2001 Transcribed by Judy Crook from the book: Progressive Men of Western Colorado Published 1905, A.W. Bowen & Co., Chicago, Ill. --------------------------------------- Cullen F. Walker The scion of old New England families who have lived in that section of the country from colonial times, Cullen F. Walker, of Mesa county, this state, is far from the scenes and associations of his childhood, youth and early manhood and amid surroundings far different from those which environed his family rooftree. Yet with the adaptiveness and self-reliance of the New England character, he is as well equipped for the conditions of his present lot and as ready to meet its requirements as if he were to the manner born and had lived in Colorado all his life. He was born at Bethel, Oxford county, Maine, on February 15, 1841, where his parents, James and Hannah J. (Barker) Walker, were reared from childhood, the former having been born in Vermont and the latter in New Hampshire. The father was a merchant and mill owner at Bethel and there he carried on a successful and profitable business for many years. He was a member of the state legislature and also served as a trial justice for a long time. He died at Bethel in 1866 and his wife also ended her days there, passing away in 1875. Of their eight children six are living, Cullen being next to the youngest. He grew to manhood in his native town and received a public-school and academic education. After leaving school he worked in his father's mill until the death of the parent, and then operated the same until 1870, when he sold out and moved to Minnesota. Locating at Albert Lea, he engaged in the commission business seven years. At the end of that period he moved to Fort Berthold Indian reservation, where he was three years in the employ of the government. In 1880 he took up his residence in Grant county, South Dakota, where he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of government land and remained ten years. Being driven out by the drought, he sold his claim for almost nothing and moved to Brookings county, the same state, where he remained three years. He then passed three years in Lyon county, Iowa, and in January, 1901, came to this state and located in Grand valley, buying ten acres of land three miles east of Grand Junction on which he now lives. On August 23, 1863, before leaving his native state, he was married to Miss Mary E. Twitchell, a native of Bethel, Maine, like himself. They have had three children. Edith T. died at the age of twenty-two, James F. lives in Mesa county, this state, and Ray F. in South Dakota. In politics Mr. Walker is independent, and fraternally he belongs to the Masonic order. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church. =================================================== Contributed for use by the USGenWeb Archive Project (http://www.usgenweb.org) and by the COGenWeb Archive Project USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access.