BIO: William Miller WALKER, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joe Patterson OCRed by Judy Banja Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ _____________________________________________________________ >From Biographical Annals of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Chicago: The Genealogical Publishing Co., 1905, pages 133-135 _____________________________________________________________ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/zeamer/ WILLIAM MILLER WALKER. One of the most familiar names upon the early records of Cumberland county is that of Walker. There are, however, different branches of the family, and whether the search is directed backward or forward, care is required upon the part of the historian to keep the lines separate and distinct. As in the case of many of the first settlers of Pennsylvania, the several branches of this family came from Ireland. Some time prior to the war of the Revolution there immigrated to this country from the North of Ireland a Walker, whose Christian name has become lost in the lapse of time, but who furnishes a worthy progenitor to the subject of this sketch. According to tradition he settled in the eastern part of the Province, and participated in the struggle for American independence. At the battle of Brandywine he was captured by the British, who to prevent him from escaping bound him to the wheel of one of their gun carriages. This Revolutionary sire afterward had a son named Miller Walker, who married Mary Marsh, a native of Scotland, but of whose lineage nothing further is known. Miller and Mary (Marsh) Walker had children as follows: Joseph, Miller, Olive, Mary Ann, Ezekiel, John, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas. It is the object of this historical sketch 134 CUMBERLAND COUNTY. to deal principally with the line of Ezekiel Walker. He was born July 21, 1816, near the battlefield of Brandywine, in Chester county, where he grew to manhood, and for his life occupation learned the shoemaking trade. In 1839, when ready to take upon himself the serious duties of life, he located at Newville, Cumberland county, and there engaged in his vocation of shoemaking, soon gaining for himself the reputation of being a very capable workman. He married Harriet Rowe, of Green Spring, Newton township, a native of the vicinity of Reading, and a daughter of Peter and Elizabeth (Kendig) Rowe, of German ancestry. Subsequently he moved to the village of Oakville, and there continued his business of making and mending shoes. He was an industrious, frugal and upright man, lived a modest quiet life, and raised his family in comfort. He was reared in the Presbyterian Church, and in politics was a Democrat, firm in his political convictions, but never an active politician. In his later years he removed from Oakville to Shippensburg, where in 1892 he closed his long and well-spent life, and where his widow is still living, at the age of eighty. Ezekiel and Harriet (Rowe) Walker, had the following children: William Miller is mentioned below. Jennie H. became the wife of H. J. Fosnot, of Lewistown, Pa., where her husband is a prominent citizen, and editor and publisher of a Democratic newspaper. Simon H. is an employe in the Pennsylvania railroad shops at Altoona. Samuel C. is a clerk in the offices of the Pennsylvania Railway Company at Altoona. Sarah H. is the wife of the Rev. H. Doner, of Shippensburg. Susan S. is the wife of Fred Kniley, of Lykens, Pa. Carrie E. is a teacher in the public schools of Lewistown, Pennsylvania. William Miller Walker, the eldest child of the family and the subject of this sketch, was born Sept. 8, 1844, at Oakville, where he passed the years of his youth and young manhood. He was educated in the public schools, but at a comparatively early age was put to work in his father's shoemaking shop, and taught the art of making shoes, a training that has proved especially useful to him in the occupation in which he is now engaged. In 1879 he entered upon untried fields. Going to Philadelphia, he secured a position as traveling salesman with B. Ayers & Co., and was a trusted employe of that house for seven years. He next engaged as traveling salesman with Potter & Rightington, of Boston, Mass., in whose employ he continued for seven years, traveling over the States of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia and Maryland. In 1892 he came to Carlisle, and associated himself with the Lindner Shoe Company, as general salesman, in which capacity he has ever since been engaged. His duties are of a responsible character, and require him to canvass systematically a large section of the country, necessitating frequent trips and much traveling. Of his success as a salesman, and his fidelity and honesty as a representative of large business interests, his historian is forbidden to speak, but on that point the long terms of service which have passed to his credit are a testimonial sufficient to satisfy the most interested reader. Although much from home and frequently at a great distance, Mr. Walker from a sense of duty and a natural affection always tenderly cared for the aged parents, who tarried there. It was his especial pleasure to give to both, while they lived, the ministrations which contributed most to their comfort and joy, and since the father is gone those same filial devotions go to the CUMBERLAND COUNTY. 135 waiting mother in double measure. Fraternally, Mr. Walker is a Mason, belonging to Big Spring Lodge, No. 361, Newville; St. John's Chapter, No. 171, Carlisle; St. John's Commandery, No. 8, of Carlisle; and Zembo Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Harrisburg, Pa. In 1900 he married Annie E. Anderson, daughter of David and Martha (Donnelley) Anderson, of Shippensburg, and they live in a pleasant home of their own at No. 555 North Hanover street, Carlisle.