FRANCIS WALKER

Francis Walker, whose demise occurred at Bennett on the 13th of August, 1900, spent the last decade of his life in honorable retirement, enjoying the competence which he had won through the careful conduct of his agricultural interests in former years. He was born in the state of New York on the 4th of December, 1819. His father, Rosswell Walker, who followed farming in the Empire state throughout his active business career, passed away in Pennsylvania when ninety-six years of age. The mother died in New York when our subject was still a young boy.

At the usual age Francis Walker began his education in the district schools of his native state and after putting aside his text-books secured employment as a farm hand. Subsequently he purchased fifty acres of land in Chautauqua county, New York, devoting his attention to its cultivation until 1856, when he came direct to Cedar county, Iowa. Here he first rented land for a period of eight years and then bought a tract of eighty acres. Later he purchased a quarter section of land adjoining, so that his farm embraced two hundred and forty acres. The further cultivation and improvement of that property claimed his time and energies until 1890, when he put aside the active work of the fields and took up his abode in Bennett, there spending the remainder of his life in honorable retirement.

In 1851, in the state of New York, Mr. Walker was united in marriage to Miss Selina Yaw, whose birth occurred on the 4th of March, 1833, her parents being John and Betsy (Stark) Yaw. Their home was blessed with six children, four sons and two daughters, namely: Edwin, who is now deceased; Amanda; Rufus, Horace, Eva; and Ernest.

Mr. Walker supported the republican party until within a few years of his death, when a change in his political views caused him to become an advocate of the democracy. Though always a most public-spirited and loyal citizen, he never sought nor desired office. He had gained an extensive circle of warm friends during the long period of his residence here and his death was therefore the occasion of deep and widespread regret. His widow still survives and yet makes her home in Bennett. She is a Methodist in religious faith and exemplifies the teachings of that church in her daily life. Though now in the seventy-eighth year of her age, her faculties are largely unimpaired and she is still very bright and active. The period of her residence in Cedar county covers fifty-four years and she enjoys a wide and favorable acquaintance within its borders.