Biography: William Burwell Walker of Monroe County, Mississippi Source: Rowland, Dunbar, ed. The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi, 1904. Nashville, Tenn.: Press of the Brandon Printing Company, 1904. Page 510. Submitted for inclusion in the USGenweb Archives by Lori Thornton . ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any 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. ************************************************************************ THIRTY-EIGHTH DISTRICT. Monroe, Lee and Itawamba Counties. Population, 1900 - 66,716 WILLIAM BURWELL WALKER, of Aberdeen, was born January 24, 1859, near Okolona, Chickasaw County, Miss., and is the son of William Fleming Walker and wife, Eliza (Hill) Walker. The father of the subject of this sketch was graduated at the medical college of the City of New York, and after graduation was interne [sic.] at Bellevue Hospital; represented Chickasaw County in the Legislature of 1858. Burwell Pope Hill, a maternal ancestor, was a lineal descendant of Burwell Pope, an officer of the Revolutionary Army. Mr. Walker's paternal ancestors came from Dublin, ireland. He attended the primary schools of Mississippi and Georgia; entered the Freshman Class of the University of Mississippi in 1878; was graduated in June, 1882, with the B. P. degree; studied law during literary course; admitted to the bar in May, 1882; began the practice of law at Aberdeen, Miss., August 1, 1882; elected District Attorney of the First Judicial District in 1887; re-elected in 1891; at present member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Mississippi; elected to the State Senate from Monroe County (Thirty-eighth District) November 3, 1903. Mr. Walker is a Democrat; Presidential Elector in 1884; alternate delegate to National Convention in 1892; member of Methodist Episcopal Church, South; Mason, Past Deputy Grand Master; Odd Fellow, member of Law Committee Grand Lodge; Knight of Pythias, Past Chancellor; member Knights and Ladies of Honor. Mr. Walker was married June 7, 1888, at Aberdeen, Miss., to Mary Dudley Sykes, daughter of Thomas Barrett Sykes and wife, Mariah H. Sykes, of Aberdeen, Miss. Mrs. Walker's father was a soldier of the Confederacy. Mr. and Mrs. Walker have three children; Corinne Sykes, Mary Dudley and William Burwell, Jr. (Senator Walker was stricken early in the session by a fatal illness, and died while being taken to his home in Aberdeen, on March 17, 1903.) Submitter's note: If Mr. Walker was elected in November 1903, it is impossible for him to have died in March 1903. The year is obviously wrong in one of the dates in this biography. It is believed the subject died in March 1904. The biography for his successor, Robert E. Houston, says that Houston was "elected to State Senate from the Thirty-eighth District to succeed W. B. Walker, deceased, March 5, 1904." Again, this date does not match the above biography very well because of the discrepancy in the 5th and 17th.