The very first thing my 4x great-grandfather William Walker wrote in his 20 February 1838 will[1] after the introduction dealing with his mortal soul and his mortal remains was this:
I give and bequeath to John or Jack Miller, who married my daughter Sarah A. Judith and went off with a strumpet and left his wife in distress, which was the cause of her death, a headboard with this inscription, “Here lies the body of Jack Miller, who was the cause of the death of his wife.”
And this was the second:
I give and bequeath to my grandson William T. Miller who treated his grandfather and the ashes of his mother, with so much contempt as to go off to his father, and refuse to return, saying that he would rather work up to his chin in mud first. To him I give ten feet square to be picked out of the muddyest part of my farm.
After providing various legacies to some of his children and grandchildren, he added:
To Harlow Caldwell for his disrespect to his wife’s relations both by word and deeds I give twenty five cents. Intending at the same time to give his wife’s children, my daughter Rebecca B. Caldwell, one child’s equal part.
William Walker was six days shy of his 81st birthday when he wrote his will and died just over two years later on 20 July 1840 at the age of 83.
William Walker was born on 26 Feb 1757 at “High Hill” in Cumberland County, Virginia[2] and was the eldest son of Warren and Magdalene (Burton) Walker.[3] He likely descends from the William Walker (c.1640-c.1723), who appears as a headright of Charles Edmonds in New Kent County in 1658 where Edmonds was granted 2750 acres in New Kent County for the importation of 55 people into the Colony. John Davis was the original person who had received most of that acreage, but he assigned or sold the rights to Edmonds. Another headright on that list was Francis Warren. Both men came to Virginia as indentured servants.[4] William Walker later married a daughter of Francis Warren and had children including a son named William II (c. 1690-c.1752) who was the first of this line to settle in Cumberland County, Virginia and the grandfather of the subject of this blog post.
Revolutionary War Service
According to his own testimony given years later to secure his pension, William Walker enlisted on 19 February 1776, just a week before his 19th birthday, as a rifleman in Captain John Morton’s Company. A few days later his Company marched from Prince Edward County to Portsmouth where they were organized into the Fourth Regiment under Col. Commander Lawson. The regiment remained in Portsmouth until September 1776, when they received orders to march to New Jersey to reinforce troops serving under General George Washington. His first combat was at Brunswick, New Jersey covering a party attempting to take down a bridge. On Christmas morning, 1776, William Walker was in combat at Currell’s Ferry, New Jersey, where they were fired upon by British troops. Later that day, his regiment moved by ferry to Trenton where they fought the Hessians. Afterward, the Fourth Regiment returned to Currell’s Ferry where William Walker was assigned to transport some wounded Hessians and sick Americans to a hospital. He rejoined his regiment at Chatham about 10 Jan 1777 and was engaged in several battles until he received his discharge from Brigadier General Charles Scott at Valley Forge in February 1778 at which time he returned to Virginia.
In February 1781, William Walker decided to enlist again joining Captain Dick Allen’s Company as a First Sergeant for a three month period for the purpose of defending the “neighborhood” of Portsmouth. The Company marched to the vicinity of Suffolk, Virginia where they were placed under the command of Colonel Posy, a continental officer, until he was called to North Carolina and the Company was placed under the command of Colonel Dowman. After serving three months, William Walker returned to Cumberland County, but served intermittently until 11 Sep 1781, when he marched from Cumberland County to participate in the siege of Yorktown under the command of Captain Dick Allen. After the surrender at Yorktown, William Walker returned home and was appointed by the Court of Cumberland as Captain of the local militia.[5]
William Walker Takes a Wife
A Virginia census taken in 1782 includes William Walker living in Cumberland County. He was living by himself and held 17 enslaved people.[6] His father, Warren Walker, made his will in 1785, leaving son William “the tract of land on the North side of Broad Branch” with no acreage stated.[7] On 31 March 1785, William Walker, now age 28, married Mary Anne Smith, a daughter of John and Suzanna (Watson) Smith.[8]
William & Mary Anne (Smith) Walker would go on to have at least nine children over the next two decades and owned a plantation that used enslaved labor. In 1820 William Walker enslaved 29 people and by 1830 the number had climbed to 37.[9] In 1840, the year of his death, he held 30 enslaved men, women and children. Thirteen were involved in agriculture and 11 were under the age of 10.[10]
William Walker, age 83, died at his home called “White Hall” in Cumberland County, Virginia on 20 July 1840.[11]
Postscript
With respect to his grandson William T. Miller, William Walker had an apparent change of heart a few months after he wrote his will when on 27 Jun 1839, he added a codicil to his will:
Codicil to my last will and testament now in the hands of Dr. William L. Morton, which Will was written by Daniel A. Wilson some past in which I bequeathed to my grandson Wm. T. Miller a small spot of land therein named. I now revoke that bequest, and now will and direct that he shall at my death have the following property to wit Sarah and her two sons Coleman and Henry, and the increase of the woman if any forever and direct that this codicil shall be appended to and made part of my last will and testament, now in the hands of Dr. Wm. L. Morton. In testimony of which I have this day set my hand and affixed my seal this 27th day of June 1839.
My direct line is:
William Walker (1757-1840) m. Mary Anne Smith (1768-1820)
Karenhappuch Walker (1786-1875) m. William Baxter Ligon (1784-1849)
Ann Jane Elizabeth Ligon (1810-1874) married Reuben Blanton (1808-1853)
William Edward Blanton (1845-1885) m. Mary Thomas Webster (1855-1916)
Anna May Blanton (1884-1977) m. John Stewart Morris (1869-1958) – my great grandparents
Lastly, no word on the identity of Jack Miller’s strumpet!
[1] Cumberland County, Virginia Will Book No. 10 (1837-1844), p. 230
[2] William Walker grave White Hall Cemetery, Cumberland County, Virginia; U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Ancestry.com, 2012
[3] Will of Warren Walker, Cumberland Co., VA Will Book 2, p. 473-74; Division of Estate of Warren Walker, Sr., recorded Cumberland Co., VA, 28 Sep 1785 names wife, Magdalen and sons William Walker, Warren Walker, William McGehie, Baker Legrand and Elisha Meredith (the last three sons-in-law). (2) Will of John Burton, Amelia Co., VA Will Book 2, p.254 names wife Sarah; Will of Sarah Burton, Amelia County Will Book 3, p. 54, names daughter Magdalene Walker and granddaughter Mary Walker, daughter of Warren Walker
[4] Nugent, Nell Marion. Cavaliers & Pioneers: Abstracts of Land Patents and Grants 1623-1800, Volume I, p. 386
[5] (1) Military Record: Vol. VIII, p. 455, Revolutionary Soldiers of the State of Virginia-Library Report, Nat. No. 141, 433, Record of the Pension Office, Saffell’s List. On 14 Jul 1832, William Walker gave an account of his service record as a Revolutionary War soldier to obtain his pension.
[6] Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States taken in the year 1790: Records of the State Enumerations 1782-1785 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1986, p. 16
[7] Will of Warren Walker, Cumberland Co., VA Will Book 2, p. 473-74
[8] Prince Edward County Marriage Bond 21 March 1785, image 576, https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007741931; accessed 21 July 2022
[9] 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Cumberland, Virginia; Page: 109; NARA Roll: M33_130; Image: 210; Year: 1830; Census Place: Cumberland, Virginia; Series: M19; Roll: 192; Page: 209; Family History Library Film: 0029671; Ancestry.com
[10] Year: 1840; Census Place: Cumberland, Virginia; Roll: 554; Page: 290; Family History Library Film: 0029684; Ancestry.com
[11] U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, Ancestry.com
A Son of Virginia 
Strumpets are people too! Great admixture to one’s genetic pool!
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Strumpet! Great word. Unfortunately, women and all of us have been kicked back to that era with overturn of Roe
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