| Biography |
A Biography from Ellis and Evans, History of Lancaster Couinty>
Isaac Walker was born in Sadsbury township, Lancaster Co., Pa., Jan. 27, 1808. He is the son of Isaac and Deborah (Dickinson) Walker, the grandson of Asahel and Anna (Moore) Walker, the great-grandson of Isaac and Sarah (Jerman) Walker, and the great-great-grandson of Lewis and Mary (Morris) Walker. The English ancestry is given in the biographical sketch of Joseph C. Walker.
Lewis came originally from the border of Scotland, but directly from Wales. He settled first at Philadelphia, and afterward at Valley Forge, where he purchased from Penn one thousand acres of land. He erected the first stone residence (still standing, though enlarged) at Valley Forge, and gave the ground for a Friends' meeting-house and cemetery. The house was used by Gen. Washington for his quarters, and the meeting-house for a hospital in the Revolution. The tract is still owned by his descendants, all of whom have been Friends.
In the female line Mr. Walker is descended from the Moores, the Newlins, and the Dickinsons. James Moore came from the county of Antrim, in Ireland, in 1723, and was the progenitor of the Moores in Sadsbury. His daughter Anna was the grandmother of Isaac.
Nicholas Newlin emigrated from Ireland about 1683, and settled in Delaware County. His great-great-granddaughter, Mary Newlin, married Gains Dickinson. They were the parents of Isaac's mother.
Gains Dickinson was the son of Joseph Dickinson, who came to America from Ireland, though he was said to be originally from England. He settled on Pequea Creek, in Salisbury township, and his sons, Gains and Joseph, inherited his estate. Deborah Dickinson, the daughter of Gains, was the mother of Isaac Walker. The celebrated Anna Dickinson, of Philadelphia, was the great-granddaughter of Gains. Isaac was reared on the homestead of his ancestors, in Sadsbury, on which his father had erected a school-house, in which he taught a school during portions of several years. In this house Isaac received the rudiments of an education which was afterwards improved at the Friends' Grammar School in old Sadsbury. In accordance with the earnest solicitation and advice of his mother he learned the trade of a tanner and currier, and in 1830 he purchased a tannery in Sadsbury, where during a number of years he carried on the manufacture of leather in connection with the mercantile business. He erected a number of new buildings, and founded the village of Smyrna, in Sadsbury. In the winter of 1839, under the administration of Governor Porter, he was appointed to the charge of the difficult Gap Division of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, in which position he continued during five years, after which he was for three years engaged in mercantile business at Smyrna. In October, 1847, he purchased the mansion farm of his ancestors, near Gap, and during more than thirty years he was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1872 he purchased a square of ground in Gap, including the "Penn Spring" and the "Shawnee Garden," the home of his mother's ancestor, and he has since endeavored to assist in building up the village of Gap. He now (1883) is engaged in the business of general merchandise on the place which he purchased eleven years since.
Mr. Walker was married Nov. 2, 1831, to Eliza Ann, daughter of Abner and Mary (Kinsey) Brooke, of Sadsbury. She was of the highly respectable families of Brooke, in Montgomery, and Kinsey, in Bucks County, that were among the very early settlers in those counties. The eleven children of Isaac and Eliza Ann Walker, only six of whom are living, were born as follows:
Anna Maria, 3d of 8th month, 1832;
Mary Louisa, 2d of 6th month, 1835;
Isaac Buchanan, 7th of 2d month, 1838;
Eliza Josephine, 26th of 6th month, 1839;
Mercy Brooke, 10th of 1st month, 1842;
James Madison, 1st of 5th month, 1843;
Esther Jane, 22d of 12th month, 1845;
Sarah Francis, 13th of 7th month, 1849;
Abner Brooke and Deborah Dickinson (twins), 25th of 7th month, 1852;
Isaac Lewis, 14th of 4th month, 1854.
Of these. Isaac Buchanan, Mercy Brooke, Abner Brooke, and Deborah Dickinson died in infancy. Eliza Josephine married Isaac Diller, of Sadsbury, and died 7th month, 1873, leaving three children,--Anna Louisa, Isaac Walker, and Daniel Coleman Diller. . . . Mr. Walker has always been an active, energetic man, both mentally and physically. It is related of him that he once walked from Philadelphia to his tannery in Sadsbury, fifty-two miles, in eleven hours and fifty-five minutes. He is still hale and active, though at the age of seventy-five, and attends in person to his business. [4] |
1808 - 1891 (83 years)
- Yes, date unknown
Census
Lewis Walker
