James Walker

1800s–1830s

Born 28 June 1806 in Washington Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the son of John Walker. Married Hannah Townsend in 1838.

1840s–1860s

Farmed seventy acres on Pine Run in Washington Township and raised about a dozen children, including William James (born about 1856–1862), later known as Jay Charles Grahm.

1870s–1880s

Bought the 175-acre Townsend homestead about 1870, later passing it to his son Samuel. Died on 16 January 1884.

A Pennsylvania Farmer

James Walker was born on June 28, 1806, in Washington Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, the son of John Walker; his brothers and sisters included Jane, John, and Martha. In 1838 he married Hannah Townsend, whose large family also farmed in Washington Township. For most of his life James farmed seventy acres on Pine Run, and the farm grew in value from $2,500 in 1850 to $3,000 in 1860 and $7,500 in 1870.

James and Hannah raised a big family: Nancy (1839), Elisabeth (1841), Mary Ann, Rachel Jane (1846), Jane, John Townsend, Martha, Robert, Samuel Hill (1856), William James, Daniel, and Margaret (Maggie). About 1870 James left his own farm and bought the 175-acre Townsend homestead, and that year Hannah's mother and her brother Joseph were living with them; he later gave the homestead to his son Samuel.

James died on January 16, 1884, and was buried at Poke Run Cemetery. The next year his son William, who had married and was farming nearby, left his wife and children and went west. He never came back to stay: as Jay Charles Grahm he married again in Colorado in 1890 and raised a second family that included Beulah Grahm, Meghan's great-great-grandmother.