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Note: Walker family Bible entry reads
"John Walker and Eliza Ann Tetwiler was married this 16th day of February, 1844, by Henry Flu[rs)? Esq. of Bedford County, Penn."
All the data on the early Walker ancestor line from John Walker forward initially came from the original family record pages which are in the possession of Robert Keating McConeghy III in 2006. These appear to be pages removed from an old family Bible.
They list various births, deaths and marriages in various handwritings and it seems likely that some of these were entered close to the time of the events. The writing is very difficult to read in places.
The first birth entry in the Walker Family Bible reads
"John Walker was borne(sic) Febuary(sic) the 14enth A.D. 1795"
Family lore held that John Walker had been born in England but all census data found so far indicates that he was born in Pennsylvania. It is possible that he may have immigrated as a child and so later descendants would have believed he had been born in PA. Or possibly his father had been from England.
We cannot trace him back further than 1850 at this point for certain without further field research.
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Note: According to the Walker family Bible, his first listed child, Hannah Walker, was born in 1841, and John supposedly didn't marry Elizbeth Tetweiler until 1844 and then Jacob was born in 1844. John was 49 when he married Elizabeth. This leads me to suspect that John had been married before and Hannah possibly was the last child from the first marriage (he could have had other children in their 20s by the time Hannah was born. The family bible probably belonged to Elizabeth (who was only 21 when she married John) so it would not have contained any of the possible older Walker children.
There seems to be no indication any other older children in any census so far other than Hannah.
We have not located his grave. His wife Elizabeth is listed as a widow in the 1880 census when she was living in the Rockhill/Orbisonia area in Huntingdon County. Some Walker children are buried there.
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The mysterious 9-year old granddaughter Lilly M. Walker and the unnamed grandson listed in the 1880 census may possibly have been a child of one of the possible older children John had before he married Elizabeth ??? But we have no evidence yet of any other children.
Only a few of the known Walker grandchildren are recorded in the family bible that we have. There are 2 entries that we are as yet unable to identify.
"Silla(?) (or Lilla(?)) May Ruter was borne July 4th 1870" [the first name is unclear] the last name could also be Rutes, Rules or Ruler]
This might possibly be the Lillian or Lilly Walker that we find in the 1880 census aged 9, and later living as a widow named Lillian Lockard with the family of Henry Walker's daughter Elsie May Walker McConeghy, but we still do not know whose child she was or why her surname is given here as Ruter. I have not yet located any people named Ruter etc in the census index.
" William Henry Walker was born the 11th February, 1871
"William Henry Walker dide(sic) August 7th 1871 ith"
S/Lilla and William Henry were listed together and the handwriting is different from the surrounding entries
"Margaret Ellen Walker dide(sic) March 9th A.D. 1872"
She may be identical to the Margaret L. Walker who is recorded as being born in 1855 and who is listed in the 1860 and 1870 census. The census only records her as Margaret. There was no record of a separate Margaret Ellen being born to John and Eliza, but it is possible that Margaret Ellen might have been a grandchild.
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1840 US Census, Dublin Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania ancestry.com image 5/6 of 12
There is one entry for a John Walker, aged 40-50 with a female under 5, one female 10-14, and one female 40-50. He is not marked as being employed in any of the specific occupations that were counted.
This could possibly be our John who should have been 45, with his suspected first wife of approximately the same age, and daughter Hannah who would have been an infant if the birthdate we have for her is slightly off. The older daughter would have been 20-24 by 1850 and probably would have been married so would not show up in the 1850 census. Or she may have died. The youngest child may also be another child who died and Hannah might have been born after 1840 as the family bible shows. If there was an earlier wife than Eliza, then she could have died any time between 1840 and 1850 and any or all of the children shown in the 1850 census might be children of either the first wife or of Eliza.
If Eliza was his only wife, then this cannot be the correct person, since she would have only been 18 in 1840.
This is all still pure supposition as there is no way to determine if this census entry is the correct person.
None of the other John Walkers listed in Bedford County in 1840 is as close a match as this one, nor do we know if he was even living in Bedford County before 1850.
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1850 US Census, South Woodbury Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, page 213-B, Dwelling #41, Family #42, ancestry.com image #4 of 26, enumerated October 15, 1850.
John Walker, head, age 41(or40)!, occ: laborer, born in PA
Elisa(sic),(wife), age 38, born in PA
Hannah, (daughter), age 10, born in PA
Jacob, (son), age 7, born in PA
Joseph, (son), age 5, born in PA
Sarah, (daughter), age 3, born in PA
John W.,(son) age 1, born in PA
(John's age is way off here he must have been about 55, and Eliza must have been 28 not 38, son John M. apparently died in childhood because he does not appear in the 1860 census. Ages of the children are all a bit off as well. This enumerator did not mark the column for "attended school" for anyone on this page, but did mark that column on other pages.
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1860 US Census, Clay Township (Post Office : Shirleysburg), Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, page 44 (stamped 164), dwelling #305, Family # 297, Roll 1115, Book 1, genealogy.com image #26 of 27 for Clay Twp), enumerated October 27, 1860.
John Walker, (head), age 65, real estate $150, personal property $300, occ: blank, born in PA
Eliza A., (wife), age 38, born in PA
Jacob, (son), age 15, born in PA, attended school
Sarah A., (daughter), age 15, born in PA, attended school
Joseph, (son), age 14, born in PA, attended school
Charles A.(?), (son), age 10, born in PA, attended school
Henry A., (son), age 8, born in PA
Margaret, (daughter), age 5, born in PA
Barton D., (son), age 2, born in PA
Note: almost all the people in this Township were dittoed as born in PA which is a bit suspicious. No occupation was given for anyone in the family. Immediate neighbors were farmers, others in the immediate area were laborer, mill wright, shoemaker.
Barton D. is clearly the same child as the "Bartin" age 10 listed in 1870 but he should have been 12 there. Barton might actually be Bartin here but there is no clear dot over the letter i. He should have only been 11 months old here, not 2, but it is possible that the ages were supplied by a neighbor or one of the children.
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1870 US Census, Crowmwell Township, Post Office : Orbisonia, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, Roll 1349 Book 1, page 564-A, genealogy.com image # 13 of 30 for Cromwell Twp, Dwelling # 86, family # 90, enumerated Aug 22, 1870.
John Walker,(head), age 70, occ: laborer, value of real estate $50, value of personal estate $200, born in PA,
Eliza A.,(wife), age 47, occ: keeping house, born in PA, could not read or write,
Sarah A., (daughter), age 24, at home, born in PA, could not write,
Charles, (son), age 19, occ: laborer, born in PA,
Henry, (son), age 18, occ: laborer, born in PA,
Margaret, (daughter), age 14, at home, born in PA, attended school
Bartin, (son), age 10, at school, born in PA, attended school
David,(son), age 8, at school, born in PA, attended school,
Mary, (daughter?), age 3, born in PA,
Bertha E., (daughter?), age 1/12, born in PA, born in May
(Note: If John's age is correct here, he would have been born about 1800 not 1795 as the Bible states
Bartin is probably James B. D. Walker.
the 2 youngest girls, Mary and Bertha E. apparently died before 1880. There is no entry for either their births nor their deaths in the family Bible or they may have been granddaughters (parents unknown). The 1870 census did not record relationships. Eliza at 47 would have been a bit old to have had a 1 month old or even a 3 year old child.
The handwriting of this enumerator is quite neat and clear)
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The Walker family Bible reads " John Walker dide(sic) Augest(sic) the 7, 1872"
He would have been 77 and 5 or 6 months old if the birth date in the Bible is correct, or 72 if the 1870 census age is correct.
We do not know where he is buried but we would expect that it is Orbisonia or Rockhill in Huntingdon County, but no one has located a monument in the graveyard there yet although other Walker graves were found. It may be possible that he was buried in Bedford County
where the family had come from in 1850 especially if there had been a family plot located somewhere there. No one has searched in Bedford county yet.
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