BIOS: Benjamin G. WALKER, Brothersvalley Twp., Somerset County, PA

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BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW, Vol. XXXII, Containing Life Sketches of Leading 
Citizens of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania. Boston, 
Biographical Review Publishing Company: 1899, pp. 180-181.

  Benjamin G. Walker, one of the representative farmers of Brother's 
Valley, was born at the Walker homestead in this township, May 19, 
1819, son of George and Catharine (Coleman) Walker.  His grandfather, 
Jacob Wacker (as he spelled the name), was a native of Germany.  He 
married after coming to this country, and reared Philip, Peter, Jacob, 
Frederick, George and several daughters.
  George Walker, the father above named, was born in Somerset County.  
In his early active years he engaged in farming, later purchasing the 
homestead in Brother's Valley, where he resided for the rest of his 
life.  A well-informed man, he took an important part in political 
affairs, served as County Commissioner, and received the Whig 
nomination for the Assembly, but declined to accept.  He enjoyed the 
confidence of his fellow-townsmen, and settled many estates.  His wife, 
Catharine, was a daughter of John Coleman, of Brother's Valley.  They 
were the parents of ten children, two of whom are living, namely: 
Benjamin G., the subject of this sketch; and Caroline, wife of Jonathan 
Miller.  The father died at the age of sixty-nine years, and the mother 
lived to be ninety-one.
  Benjamin G. Walker was educated in the Pine Hill district.  He 
resided at the parental home until twenty-four years old, when he 
located upon one of his father's farms in Brother's Valley, containing 
one hundred and ninety acres.  There he carried on general farming upon 
quite an extensive scale for nearly forty years.  He then sold a 
portion of his property, retaining about sixty acres, and erecting a 
set of substantial buildings.  He is now living in retirement.
  Mr. Walker has been three times married.  In 1843 he married for the 
first wife Catharine, daughter of John A. and Delilah (Korns) Miller, 
of Brother's Valley.  She died in 1845, leaving a son who died at the 
age of five years.  In 1847 he married for is second wife Ann, daughter 
of Joseph Imhope, of this township.  She died in 1851, leaving one 
daughter, who died at the age of five years.  For his third wife he 
married Julia Ann Coleman, a native of Ireland, daughter of Jacob and 
Elizabeth (Cummins) Coleman.  She has been the mother of eight 
children, namely: James, who resides in Nebraska; Henry, who is no 
longer living; Mary Belle, who married Henry K. Musser, and resides in 
Missouri; George, who is residing at the homestead; John, who died in 
Nebraska; Benjamin F., M.D., who was graduated from Jefferson Medical 
College, Philadelphia, and died in 1896; Charles, who is residing in 
Seneca, Kan.; and Robert Morris, who is in the grocery business in 
Berlin.  Benjamin F. Walker practiced his profession in Westmoreland 
County, and was an able physician.  He married Ella J. Maters, of 
Berlin, and left three children.  He belonged to the Masonic order, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and was a member of the Lutheran 
church.
  Mr. Walker has served with ability as Supervisor and upon the 
Election Board.  In politics he was originally a Whig, later a 
Republican, and is now a Democrat.  He joined the Lutheran church at 
Pine Hill when he as fifteen years old, and retained his membership 
until 1879, when he united with the church in Berlin.