Artifacts and references for LL Walker ancestors

1 - "Memorial Record of Alabama", Vol. I, p. 548-550

2 - "History of Harris County Georgia, 1827 -1961", Louisa Calhoun Barfield, Columbus, GA - This book contains a great amount of information on the Walker's. It is long out-of-print, but many of the public libraries in Georgia have copies available in their reference sections.

3 - "Pine Log and Greek Revival, Houses and People of Three Counties in Georgia and Alabama", William H. Davidson, Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, 1965. This is out of print, but copies are available through the Georgia public libraries. A PDF of the pages related to the Walker plantation houses is here.

4 - "Reminiscent - A Pictorial History of Eatonton/Putnam County, Georgia", Windee Allienor Little, 1999. Available through Georgia Public Libraries.

5 - "Brooks of Honey and Butter Vol 1", William H. Davidson, Chattahoochee Valley Historical Society, 1971. This book is out-of-print, but many of the public libraries in Georgia have copies available in their reference sections.

6 - "Burials and Deaths Reported in the Columbus (Georgia) Enquirer 1832-1872", Buster W. Wright. This is a listing of the name, date of death, newspaper edition date, and a very brief synopsis. It's a great guide to pulling up newspapers on-line via the University of Georgia's  GALILEO system.

7 - "Putnam County Georgia Records", Frances Wynd. Contains 1813 tax list, Heads of Families for 1820 and 1830 Census, Index to Wills 1808-1856, 1832 Lottery Draws, and 1810 Census of Large Slave Owners.

8 - "Georgia: Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons Arranged in Cyclopedic Form", Allen Daniel Candler, 1906. Volume III contains an entry for Edward H. Walker, a great-grandson of Rich Billy, whom is mentioned (as William Walker) in the text. Edward descended from Rich Billy through William G. Walker.

9 - "Antebellum Homes in Georgia" by David King Gleason contains info on the homes of John Walker and John Byne Walker.

10 - "The Families of Burke County, 1755-1855, a Census" by Robert Scott Davis, Jr

11 - "Burke County Georgia Land Records, Boundaries as of 1777", Daniel Nathan Crumpton,

12 - "A History of Burke County, Georgia 1777-1950", Albert M. Hillhouse

13 - "A History of Columbus Georgia, 1828-1928" by Nancy Telfair,

14 - "The Cochran Community" by Bernadette Loftin

15 - A Lost Arcadia" by Walter A. Clark, 1909

16 - "Georgia Bible Records", Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985,

Research notes:

Since the Walkers were large plantation owners, I struggled with the slavery issues when I first started down the path of researching my family roots. There were a few scholarly works that gave me better insight into the history of slavery in North America, including not just African slavery, but also the white and Native American slave trade, as well as the use of indentured servants and "transportation" of convicts by England, Ireland, and Scotland, in order to provide a labor pool in English colonies. The latter is of interest because many of the British emigrants prior to 1776 were forced labor, and George Walker may have first come to the American colonies as an indentured servant (blacksmith), or he may have indentured himself to gain the passage. These resources include:

"Slaves in the Family" by Edward Ball, 1998. Ball researched his family heritage of the rice plantation in South Carolina, the slave trade, and sought out descendants of slaves of his family's plantations.

"White Cargo; The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slave in America" by Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, 2008. This book delves into the different attitudes and treatment of British (white indentured servants and criminals), African, and Native American slaves.

"Emigrants in Chains" by Peter Wilson Coldham, 2007. Focuses more on the use of convict labor through transportation and indentured servitude.

"Directory of Scots Banished to the American Plantations, 1650 - 1775" by David Dobson, 1984. This is a directory of people who were transported to America from Scotland, both criminals and prisoners of the Scottish uprisings.

"Hesitant Martyr in the Texas Revolution - James Walker Fannin", Gary Brown, 2000. James Fannin Walker (his original name) was the illegitimate son of Isham Fannin and a woman named Walker. The Fannin and the Walker were living near Augusta GA, where the George Walker families were living. Direct lineage of James Fannin Walker to George Walker is murky at best, but his half-sister eventually marries on of Rich Billy's sons. In describing James Fannin Walker's early life, the narrative dances through the coutnies in Georgia where the descendants of George Walker were living. Direct lineage connections are speculative, but Rich Billy's offspring in and around Columbus GA most likely knew Fannin.

Hints for the the researcher:

On-line newspapers searches - Much of the anecdotal information was discovered in period newspapers that can be found though university services. For example, the University of Georgia's Galileo system has early 1800's newspapers for the major cities, including Columbus, Macon, Augusta, and Savannah. For instance, when I was searching for an obituary for "Virgil Walker" , I would get many, many hits related to "letters at the post office" (there was no home delivery at that time). However, I never got a hit that related to Virgil's obituary. I finally found a reference to it in a book listing the Columbus Enquirer death notices. When I pulled the relevant issue from the database and read through it, I found the obituary on the third page. Even after knowing where it is, the database search engine could not find it based on a search for Virgil's name. Therefore, if you know the approximate date for when something should have appeared in the newspaper, you may need to read the newspaper.