C. P. WALKER.

Pg 549

         One of Louisa county’s agriculturists who donned the blue and went to the front in those perilous days in the ‘60s is C. P. Walker, who was born in Wayne county, Indiana, on the 13th of April, 1843. He is a son of Francis S. and Catherine (Percy) Walker, natives of Virginia and Tennessee respectively, both of whom have passed away. They were the parents of eight children, in order of birth as follows: Vashti, the widow of John Edgar, of Henry county; Leander, deceased; Louvini, of New Mexico; Rebecca, deceased; William P., of Missouri; C. P., our subject; Clarinda Ann, the wife of William Edgar of Henry county; and Maggie, the wife of Jessie Vaughn, of Sioux City.

         C. P. Walker came to Iowa with his family in 1856, locating in Henry county; where he worked as a farm hand for one year, and then went to Des Moines county, where he remained for five years. At the expiration of that period he returned to Henry county, where he continued to reside until the 22d of November, 1862, when he enlisted in the Union army, going to the front with the Thirty-fourth Iowa Infantry. He was sent from Helena, Arkansas, to Chicago with rebel prisoners, and from the latter city he went to Vicksburg, where he joined General Sherman, participating in the siege of that southern stronghold. On the 15th of August, 1865, he was mustered out at Houston, Texas, and was paid off on the 22d of September, 1865, at Davenport, Iowa. Mr. Walker was at Fort Morgan when Farragut ran the blockade and captured the confederate ironclad, Tennessee.

         After receiving his discharge he returned to Henry county, Iowa, where he farmed an eighty acre tract which he rented for three years. At the end of that time he was married and subsequently went to Nebraska, where he resided for a year. Returning to Iowa in 1869, he rented one hundred and twenty acres . . .

Pg 550

. . . for fourteen years and then went to Texas for a year. In 1884 he came to Louisa county, where he purchased three hundred acres of land, but he has since disposed of all but fifty-seven acres, upon which he continues to reside. He has placed all of the improvements upon his property and is engaged in general farming and stock-raising.

         On the 4th of July, 1868, Mr. Walker was united in marriage to Miss Ruth E. Fox, and by this union there were born eight children, as follows: Samuel N., a resident of Louisa county; Everna, the wife of E. C. Frazelle, of Clark county; Albert, deceased; Thomas, at home; Leander, also of Louisa county; Flossie, who married John Russell, of this county; James G., at home; and John, deceased. The wife and mother passed away in December, 1890, and for his second wife Mr. Walker chose Mrs. Sarah A. (Houseman) Edgar, the widow of Thomas Edgar. She is a daughter of Jacob and Susanna (Spearman) Houseman, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Kentucky, both now deceased. They were the parents of nine children, as follows: John, a resident of Nebraska; James; Sarah A., now Mrs. Walker; Elvira, the wife of William Hill, of Henry county; Alice, who married John Crane, also of Henry county, Belle, deceased; Charles, also deceased; Alva, a resident of Wyoming; and William, who is living in Canada. Mrs. Walker had eight children by her first husband: Jennie, the wife of Thomas Buckingham, of Henry county; Harry, of Seattle, Washington; Frank, who is living at Lowell, Iowa; Mattie, the wife of Bar Mosscropp, of Henry county; Arbie; Arthur, of Henry county; Susan, who married Claud Wilson, also of Henry county; and Charles, of Des Moines county. Mrs. Edgar became Mrs. Walker on the 6th of July, 1902.

         Mr. and Mrs. Walker affiliate with the Christian church, and he is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. His first vote he cast for Abraham Lincoln on a steamer on the Mississippi river, and his political allegiance has ever since been given to the republican party. He has never participated in public affairs, not being an aspirant for office, but when his services are needed in the support of any just or worthy cause he is ever found to be as willing and loyal in his allegiance as he was in the ‘60s.