Washington County ArArchives Biographies.....Walker, Charles W. 
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Robert Sanchez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00027.html#0006574 July 19, 2009, 2:45 pm

Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1922)

CHARLES W. WALKER.
    In the legal profession, which embraces many of the most brilliant minds of
the nation, it is difficult to win a name and a place of prominence. Many
aspire, but few attain. In commercial life one may start out upon a more
elevated plane than others; he may enter into a business already established and
carry it still further forward. But this is not true in the case of the lawyer.
He must commence at the initial point, must plead and win his first case and
work his way upward by ability, gaining his reputation and success by merit.
People do not place their legal business in unskilled hands; it is the man of
power before judge and jury who commands public patronage. Of this class Charles
W. Walker is an illustrious type. He began as many others do in the practice of
law and his present prominence has come to him as the reward of earnest
endeavor, fidelity to trust and recognized ability. He is now living retired in
Fayetteville, the oldest native born citizen in the community, and is hale and
hearty in his eighty-sixth year. For sixty years he was numbered among the
prominent members of the legal profession, practicing for a short time in
Carrollton, but returned to his home town prior to the Civil war, where he was
active along professional lines until 1919, when he retired from active life.

    Mr. Walker was born in Fayetteville on the 24th of December, 1835, a son of
David and Jane Lewis (Washington) Walker. His paternal grandfather, Jacob Wythe
Walker, was for many years prominent in the legal circles of Kentucky. He was
born in Virginia, but removed to Kentucky at an early day and there entered the
legal profession. Later in life, however, he came to Arkansas and locating in
Fayetteville retired from professional life. He was well known in the financial
circles of the community, being director of the Real Estate Bank of
Fayetteville, and a deep feeling of bereavement swept the community when he
departed this life in 1838. Whiting Washington, the maternal grandfather, was
likewise a native of Virginia, who went to Kentucky at an early day. He was a
wealthy slave-owner and his demise occurred on his estate in Kentucky. David
Walker, the father of Charles W. Walker, was born in Todd county, Kentucky, in
1806, and died on the 30th of September, 1879. In early life he determined to
enter the legal profession and as a result began study in a law office and some
time later was admitted to the bar. In 1831 Mr. and Mrs. Walker came to
Fayetteville and the father immediately opened offices there. In 1836 he was a
member of the constitutional convention and in 1848 he was appointed supreme
judge, serving on the bench from that year until 1878. Mr. Walker was one of the
oldest members of the profession in Fayetteville and held distinct precedence as
an eminent lawyer. His wife, who was before her marriage Jane Lewis Washington,
was born in Logan county, Kentucky, in 1814, and died on the 7th of March, 1847.
The following children were born to their union: Wythe, a soldier in the Civil
war, who met his death at the battle of Jenkins Ferry; Charles W., whose name
initiates this review; Edward, who died in 1919; Nannie, who married Charles R.
Buckner, and both of them are deceased; David, a farmer of Coal Hill, this
state, and two other children who died in infancy. Mr. Walker was a stanch
supporter of the whig party until 1852, when he gave his allegiance to the
democratic party, in the interests of which he took an active part. His
religious faith was that of the Baptist church, while his wife was a consistent
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

    Charles W. Walker received his early education in the schools of
Fayetteville and in due time entered Princeton University, from which
institution he was graduated in 1858. Returning home from school he read law in
his father's office for some time and then went to Lebanon, Tennessee, where he
took a law course. He was admitted to the bar in 1859 and practiced here until
the outbreak of the Civil war, when he entered the army, and after the close of
the war immediately opened up offices here with Thomas M. Gunther, and continued
in active and successful practice until his retirement in 1919. The zeal with
which he devoted his energies to his profession, the careful regard evinced for
the interests of his clients and an assiduous and unrelaxing attention to all
the details of his cases, brought him a large business and made him very
successful in its conduct. His arguments elicited warm commendation not only
from his associates at the bar, but also from the bench. A very able writer, his
briefs always showed wide research, careful thought and the best and strongest
reasons which could be urged for his contention, presented in cogent and logical
form and illustrated by a style unusually lucid.

    Although the greater part of Mr. Walker's time was devoted to his legal
practice, he was active in political circles as a stanch supporter of the
democratic party. The ability and training which qualified him to practice law
also qualified him in many respects for duties which lay outside of the strict
path of his profession and for one term he was mayor of Fayetteville, the honor
being unsolicited, as he was chosen for the office while away on business. His
administration was marked by the progress and development of the community and
he is remembered as one of Fayetteville's best executives. For two terms he was
a member of the state legislature and was a member of the constitutional
convention of 1868.

    On the 26th of September, 1867, Mr. Walker was united in marriage to Miss
Serena Jernigan, a native of Illinois, who was reared in Texas, to which state
her parents removed at an early day. She was a daughter of Clement L. and Louisa
(Sams) Jernigan, the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of Illinois, in
which latter state their marriage occurred. Her father won prominence in the
saddlery business and conducted that business in Texas until June, 1866, when he
came to Arkansas and located in Fayetteville. Mr. Jernigan died in 1895, while
his wife's demise occurred in 1888. Four children were born to their union, two
of whom are living: Mrs. Walker; and Mrs. Josephine Davenport, a widow, residing
iu Fayetteville. Throughout her life Mrs. Jernigan was a consistent member of
the Methodist Episcopal church, in which faith the family was reared. He gave
his political allegiance to the know nothing party and was a member of the Good
Templars. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Walker three children have been born: The
eldest daughter, Nannie F., is the wife of Dr. G. A. Warren of Black Rock,
Arkansas. Dr. Warren is one of the most prominent physicians in the state and is
considered an authority on typhoid fever. He is a member of the leading medical
societies of the state and is president of the State Medical Society; the second
member of the Walker family is Louise, the wife of P. C. Wikersham, associated
with the Electric Light & Gas Company of Oakland, California; Jennie is the wife
of John W. Tilman, an attorney of Pawhuska, Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Walker are
consistent members of the Baptist church.

    For many years Mr. Walker was actively connected with a profession which has
important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any section or
community and one which has long been considered as conserving public welfare by
furthering the ends of justice and maintaining individual rights. His life has
been exemplary in every respect and he has ever supported those interests which
are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity, while his own high moral worth is
deserving of the highest commendation.


Additional Comments:
Citation:
Centennial History of Arkansas
Volume II
Chicago-Little Rock: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company
1922


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