John Walker (Virginia politician)

John Theodorus Walker
United States Senator
from Virginia
In office
March 31, 1790 – November 9, 1790
Appointed byBeverley Randolph
Preceded byWilliam Grayson
Succeeded byJames Monroe
Delegate to the Second Continental Congress from Virginia
In office
1780
Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Albemarle County
In office
May, 1782 – December 28, 1782
Serving with Thomas Jefferson
Preceded byThomas Walker
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Member of the Virginia House of Burgesses from Albemarle County
In office
February 10, 1772 – November 29, 1776
Serving with Thomas Jefferson
Preceded byThomas Walker
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Personal details
Born(1744-02-13)February 13, 1744
Cobham, Albemarle County, Colony of Virginia
DiedDecember 2, 1809(1809-12-02) (aged 65)
Madison Mills, Orange County, Virginia US
PartyPro-Administration
Alma materCollege of William & Mary
ProfessionLawyer

John Theodorus Walker (February 13, 1744 – December 2, 1809) was a lawyer, planter, military officer and U.S. senator from Virginia.

Early life

Walker was born in "Castle Hill" plantation in Albemarle County, Virginia, the son of Dr. Thomas Walker. He received private education before attending the College of William and Mary, from which he graduated in 1764. He was a neighbor and classmate at William and Mary of Thomas Jefferson, and they remained close friends until the elections of 1804-1805. In 1768, he was elected to the American Society.[1]

Military and political service

While still student at William & Mary or shortly after graduation, Walker accompanied his father to Fort Pitt to make a treaty with Native American tribes.[2] In 1772, Albemarle County voters elected him to replace his father as a one of their representatives to the House of Burgesses, future governor and President Thomas Jefferson being the other part-time delegate; both were re-elected and served until that Governor Lord Dunmore suspended the body as the American Revolutionary War began.[3] Walker also represented alongside Jefferson in the first four of the Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, with Charles Lewis also becoming a delegate in the Fourth Convention and replacing this man in the Fifth Convention as George Gilmer replaced Jefferson.[4]

Unlike Jefferson, Walker served in the Continental Army, including in 1777 as an aide-de-camp to General George Washington, holding the rank of colonel.

In 1780, Virginia legislators elected Walker as a delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1782, Albemarle County voters elected him to his last term in the House of Delegates, where he again served alongside Jefferson.[5]

At some point, Walker studied law, was admitted to the Virginia bar and served for many years as Commonwealth Attorney (prosecutor) for Albemarle County.[6] When William Grayson died in 1790, Virginia's governor appointed Walker as his replacement in the United States Senate, where he served from March 31 to November 9 of that year, when fellow Revolutionary War veteran and future president James Monroe was elected by the Virginia General Assembly.

Walker was an elected member of the American Philosophical Society.[7]

Walker owned several plantations, including "Belvoir" in Albemarle County, which he (like his father) operated using enslaved labor, which was not uncommon in this era. In the 1787 Virginia tax census, his father owned 37 slaves under 16 years old, 38 adult slaves, 25 horses and 81 cattle, as well as a four wheeled chariot, and this man owned 26 slaves under 16 years old, 21 adult slaves, 17 horses, 3 cattle and a four wheeled chariot [8]

Personal life

Walker married Elizabeth Moore, the daughter of Bernard Moore. They had a daughter Mildred, who married Francis Kinloch (1765-1826) who had graduated from Eton College and studied in Paris and Geneva before serving in the Revolutionary War and earning promotion to captain and serving many terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives as well as in the Continental Congress, the South Carolina ratification convention, and as warden of the city of Charleston[9]

Thomas Jefferson's attempted seduction of this man's wife, which almost led to a duel, and was fodder for the Federalist Press.[10]

Death and legacy

Walker died in 1809.

References

  • United States Congress. "John Walker (id: W000059)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  1. ↑ Bell, Whitfield J., and Charles Greifenstein, Jr. Patriot-Improvers: Biographical Sketches of Members of the American Philosophical Society. 3 vols. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1997, 2:251–255.
  2. ↑ The Treaty of Fort Pitt in 1778 was the fourth treaty made in that location, but Dorman vol.1, p. 293 does not specify which of the preceding treaties this was
  3. ↑ Cynthia Miller Leonard, The Virginia General Assembly 1619-1978 (Richmond: Virginia State Library 1978) pp. 102, 105
  4. ↑ Leonard pp. 109, 112, 114, 117
  5. ↑ Leonard p. 145
  6. ↑ John Frederick Dorman, Adventures of Purse and Person (Order of First Families of Virginia, 2004) vol. 1 p. 292
  7. ↑ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved March 5, 2025.
  8. ↑ Netti Shreiner-Yantis and Florene Speakman Love, The 1787 Censs of Virginia (springfield, Genealogical Books in Print, 1987) p. 145
  9. ↑ Dorman, vol.1 pp.292-293
  10. ↑ Malone, Dumas (January 30, 1948). Jefferson the Virginian. Vol. I. Charlottesville, Virginia: Little, Brown and Company. p. 447-451. OCLC 1823927.
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