HISTORY OF T. B. WALLS FAMILY

WALLS, LANGHORN, MORROW, LEWIS

Posted By: Alice & Wayne Daniels (email)
Date: 1/4/2003 at 14:43:23

HISTORY OF APPANOOSE COUNTY, IOWA, 1976....

HISTORY OF T. B. WALLS FAMILY

Mr. Thomas Benton Walls was born in Mississippi in 1848 and his wife Emma Langhorn Walls was born in Missouri in 1860. They were early settlers in Moulton, Iowa.

Mr. Walls, affectionately called "Uncle Tommy," came to Moulton to escape slavery. He came partly by water and partly by land. The first free state he came to was Iowa, so he settled there. His wife came to Moulton to visit her sister, Mrs. Jesse Graves, and met and married Mr. Walls. To this union were born eleven children, all educated in the Moulton Public Schools, and all taking part in the different activities, especially football. They all attended the Moulton Methodist Church where they received their early religious training. After completing school, they went to larger cities, namely Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Mason City, Iowa, where they held good jobs.

Mr. Walls was a faithful Mason belonging to the Lodge in Ottumwa, Iowa. Mrs. Walls often acted as mid-wife for several of her neighbors. Mr. Walls was the drayman and had charge of hauling the freight and express of the Burlington and Wabash Railroads. He did that until he retired in 1916. There are two daughters still living at 4416 Clinton Ave. South, in Minneapolis, Minn. They are Mrs. Tessie Walls Morrow and Miss Eva Dae Walls.

One of the sons was Eldist S. Walls. He was born in Moulton Feb. 11, 1894. He graduated from Moulton Public Schools in 1913. He married Elizabeth Lewis of Albia, Iowa in 1917. He served in the army during World War I. After the war, Eldist and Elizabeth moved to Mason City. There Eldist was a cement contractor and worked for the city many years. They had two daughters, Esther J. Walls, Assistant Director of Libraries at New York University located at Stony Brook, New York; and Madalyn Walls, Circulation Librarian at the Mason City Public Library.

Eldist Walls died June 1, 1954.