John Walker Family in Augusta County
Perhaps the most factual and detailed account of an early family settling in Augusta County is that of the John Walker, Sr. family. Based on the Walker Family Bible (in the collection at the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, MI) John Walker and his sons, John, Jr. and brother, Alexander, traveled from Chester County, Pennsylvania (where they settled after coming to America from Scotland and landing at Port Baltimore) to Augusta County, Virginia, in 1725.
They claimed land along what became known as Walkers Creek in Augusta County, Virginia (present day Rockbridge County). Their land was next to that of John Hayes (a friend from Scotland), who had settled with his family earlier at the confluence of what became known as Hayes Creek and Walkers Creek. That same year the Walker Family built a log structure at the base of Jump Mountain. He and his family returned to Chester County, Pennsylvania to prepare for their move to Virginia in 1726.
In 1726, brothers John, Jr. and Alexander returned to Augusta County with their families. They were accompanied by five other families that also settled in Augusta County. John Sr. and his wife did not come back to Virginia because he died in early 1776, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and his wife remained there with other family.
The Walker Family became a prominent Augusta County family. They were farmers, and blacksmith. Family members served in the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Alexander Walker was a gunsmith.
It is interesting to note that William Walker, in his pension application for service in the Revolutionary War, states that he was exempt from military service because he was commissioned to make “Instruments of War” (firearms). The Walker family had large land holdings in Augusta County and petitioned Benjamin Borden for their land holdings after Borden received the Borden Land Grant from Governor Gooch.
In 1734 the Virginia House of Burgesses adopted a resolution that divided Spotsylvania County and created Orange County with a western boundary described as reaching to the west to the “utmost limits of Virginia”, which, at that time, was beyond the Mississippi River. In 1738 Augusta County was formed from Orange County.
The Augusta County government was organized in 1745. Augusta County was a vast territory with an unknown western boundary.
By forming Augusta County, Virginia claimed land of present-day West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio as well as the territory north and west of those areas to the ocean.
During the first half of the 18th century, Augusta County included vast amounts of land, but very little of it had yet been occupied by English settlers. The expansiveness of the county boundaries was to encourage settlement further westward, and to give France notice that their claim to the Ohio land and beyond was not valid.
The Walker Family members distinguished themselves by caring for a large family. They supported the building of a new Presbyterian Church (New Providence). They explored western Augusta County, participated in government affairs and military wars. They made longrifles and were farmers and blacksmiths, They were, also, teachers at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA
Today, their original log structure is still standing on the Walker Land Grant. The Walker Family Cemetery, with Jump Mountain towering above, has Walker Family graves of the early settlers that were among the first to settle in Augusta County.
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