Jacob Walker was born of Protestant parents near Londonderry Ireland in 1755. He was the youngest of ten children and as a young man learned the weaver trade. After a little bit of trouble with his brothers about the sale of linen he wove, he ran away from home and sailed as a stowaway for America in 1773. During the voyage, they were overhauled by a British vessel, and at that time they pressed all single men into the British army. There was a young lady on the ship and Jacob asked her to swear that she was his wife and thereby he was saved from being pressed into service.
On their arrival at Baltimore, the Captain would not let him land until his passage was paid, since he had shipped as a stowaway. He sent for an uncle who lived in Baltimore and the uncle agreed to pay his fare provided Jacob would work for him six months, which he agreed to do. By driving a dray for his uncle, he paid his passage and saved a small amount of money.
After a time he decided to hunt a home in the west. He started out on foot alone with what money he had in his pocket, gun on his shoulder and a few things tied up in a handkerchief. Coming by way of Fort Pitt, he arrived in the Ohio Valley in April of 1774 at Harmon Greathouse's farm. He aided Mr. Greathouse in clearing three acres of land. They cleared and planted the corn and raised the crop without horse or plow. During the summer he bought 400 acres at 15 cents per acre from Mr. Greathouse and built a log cabin on the land.
In the fall he returned to Baltimore and married MARGARET GUTHRIE. In the spring of 1775, he bought a horse and with his bride started back to the Ohio Valley. She rode the horse and he walked. On arriving at their cabin, he told Margaret that this was to be her home. She sat down and had herself a good cry. They stayed for seven summers at FORT DECKER, which was located where Broad Street now is in Follansbee. During the winter months they stayed on the farm.
He was at the battle of BATTLE RUN, near MINGO, when CAPTAIN BUSKIRK was killed and he helped bury Decker who was killed by the Indians.
In 1778 he built a log house and he and his wife raised a family of six children - five daughters and one son. His wife died September 5, 1819 and he died May 6, 1845.
His son, John Walker, was born in 1783 and married SARAH ABRAMS in 1808. They went to housekeeping on the home farm. In the spring of 1825 John and Sarah moved to OHIO. They were the parents of 11 children - five sons and six daughters. Sarah died April 2, 1845 and John died September 18, 1871.
John's son, J.J. Walker, married HANNAH R. McCONNELL on March 5, 1850. They lived for three years with his father in Ohio, but in December of 1853, they moved back to what was then Virginia to the farm where he had been born.
They were the parents of five children -John W. and William P. Walker, who lived on the home farm, Jane Walker who married AB CARTER, James A. Walker who lived in Washington County, Pa, and Joseph M. Walker, who resided in Wellsburg and operated a hardware store for many years. The WALKER farm was located back of Follansbee, part of it is now known as PARKVIEW.
Joseph M. Walker married ALICE BARCLAY and they were the parents of three children - Barclay, who died as a young man; Emily, who married CHARLES McGLUMPHY, and Miss Hannah Walker who was a life-long resident of Wellsburg until 1971 when she moved to Louisburg, North Carolina to make her home with a great nephew, the REV. JOSEPH FARMER, a Presbyterian minister. Hannah is presently spending the winter months in Florida.
Emily's daughter, Louise McGlumphy, married PAUL FARMER and until recently resided in Brilliant, Ohio. Rev. Joseph Farmer is their only child.
