Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Walker, Eddie W 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 11:36 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

On the roll of enterprising farmers and stock-raisers of Grundy county appears 
the name of Eddie W. Walker, who is engaged in the cultivation of a valuable 
tract of land and the breeding of fine horses and cattle, his home being in 
Mazon township. He is a man of excellent education and well known as a 
progressive and public-spirited citizen. He was born in Mazon township, 
October 31, 1860, and was reared to farm life. He began his education in the 
common schools of his district and afterward continued his studies in the 
commercial department of the normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana, in which he 
was graduated with the class of 1872. Subsequently he attended the normal 
college at Dixon, Illinois, and later engaged in teaching school in Mazon 
township. He was very successful in his labors as an educator and acted as the 
principal of the graded school in Mazon during the fall and winter of 1888. 
Altogether he taught school for eight winters, while during the summer season 
he engaged in agricultural pursuits. His labors in the school-room were very 
effective and beneficial, for he had the ability to impart clearly and 
concisely to others the knowledge he had acquired.

Mr. Walker was married September 25, 1885, in Gardner, Illinois, at the 
residence of the bride's parents, to Miss Myrtle H. Keepers, a daughter of J. 
J. and Mary (Kimball) Keepers. She was born February 15, 1865, in Jefferson 
township, Guernsey county, Ohio, and was brought by her parents to Grundy 
county when only fourteen months old, the family locating in Good Farm 
township. She was therefore reared in Grundy county and in the common schools 
began her education, her early privileges being supplemented by study in the 
Morris Normal School through one winter and in the Gardner high school. She 
thus acquired a good education and when only seventeen years of age began 
teaching. For five terms prior to her marriage she followed teaching, with 
excellent success. She is a lady of superior culture and innate refinement, 
and to her husband has been a faithful companion and helpmate on life's 
journey. Mr. and Mrs. Walker began their domestic life upon the old homestead 
and Mr. Walker continued to rent land from his mother for about five years. On 
the division of the estate he received forty acres as his share, and to this 
he has added from time to time until he now owns one hundred and sixty acres 
of fine farming land, which he has improved with tile drainage and by 
excellent cultivation until he now has one of the most desirable farming 
properties in the community. He has erected upon the place good substantial 
buildings, and the well tilled fields give evidence of his careful 
supervision. He is a well known and prominent breeder of Percheron horses and 
short-horn Durham cattle. He is a well known dealer, having some very fine 
stock. A practical business man, his industry and enterprise have been salient 
features in his success, and to-day he stands among the well-to-do farmers of 
Grundy county.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Walker have been born the following children: Floyde E., who 
was born July 24, 1886; Myr J., born March 26, 1890; Ollie L., born May 16, 
1892; and Dayre K., who was born July 13, 1897, and died February 8, 1898, at 
the age of seven months.

The parents are both earnest Christian people. Mr. Walker belongs to the 
Methodist church, with which he united when fourteen years of age, and his 
wife became a member of the Baptist church when twelve years of age. He has 
always taken an active interest in the cause of education and the public-
school system finds in him a warm friend. He has done effective service in the 
interests of the schools while serving as director and trustee, and his co-
operation has been given to many other movements and measures calculated to 
prove of public benefit. Fraternally he is connected with the Modern Woodmen 
of Mazon. Honorable in business, straightforward in all life's relations, he 
commands the respect and esteem of his fellow men and is justly classified 
among the representative agriculturists of his community.


Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p746-748

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