Biographical Sketch of George W. WALTON (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 404-5. "GEORGE W. WALTON, a veteran Union soldier of the late war, and an indus- trious and comfortably situated farmer of East Nottingham township, is a son of Thomas and Phebe (Hoskins), and was born in Upper Oxford township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, March 27, 1844. His paternal grandfather, Thomas Walton, was a native of Montgomery county, this State, and in early life removed to Upper Oxford township, where he was engaged in farming and stock raising until his death. He was an old-line whig, but being an un- assuming man never took an active part in political affairs, although he was always interested in his party's success. He was a member of the Hick- site branch of the Society of Friends. He was twice married and had five children, two sons and three daughters. One of his sons was Thomas Walton, the father of the subject of this sketch. Thomas Walton was born in 1814, in East Fallowfield township, and spent over thirty years in Upper Oxford township. He then removed to West Chester, where he resided until his death in 1879. He was a farmer by occupation, a whig and republican in politics, and a Friend or Quaker in religious belief and church membership. He was a friend of popular education and served for thirteen years as a school director in Upper Oxford township. He also held other local offices in that township, and made a good record as a public official. Mr. Walton was patriotic, and when the late war commenced warmly advocated the cause of the Union, in whose defence he enlisted as a soldier in 1863 for three months. He served as a private in a Pennsylvania infantry company and was honorably discharged from the Federal service. He married Phebe Hoskins, who was a daughter of Joseph Hoskins, of Upper Oxford township, and is now deceased. "Mr. and Mrs. Walton had eleven children: seven sons and four daughters: Anna E., who died at twenty-one years of age; Joseph, George W., Thomas J., Hannah M. Johnson, John, (deceased); Charles H., Malinda, who died in early life; Brinton; and a son and daughter who died in infancy. "George W. Walton was reared on the farm, and received his education in the common schools of Upper Oxford township and Coatesville academy, then under charge of Professor Griffin. "Leaving school he enlisted on September 21, 1861, in Co. C, 97th Pennsyl- vania infantry, and served until September 20, 1864, when he was honorably discharged from the Federal service near Petersburg, Virginia. He was at the siege of Ft. Sumter, and in the southern department of the Atlantic until 1864, when his regiment was ordered north, and he served in the armies of the James and the Potomac. He was in the dreadful charges at Cold Harbor and the mine explosion in front of Petersburg, and was one of the three hundred men who made the celebrated and desperate attempt to capture the Confederate battery on Green Plains between Petersburg and Richmond. Returning home from the army Mr. Walton engaged in farming, which he has successfully followed ever since. His farm of seventy acres of good tillable land lies one half mile west of Oxford. He is a republi- can in politics, and devotes the most of his time and attention to farming and other agricultural pursuits. He has two sons, William A. and Howard T. Walton."