John Walker was born in 1747 in County Antrim, Ireland. At age 29, in 1776, he enlisted as a Private in Capt. John Morrow’s Company of Pennsylvania Riflemen of the 2nd Battalion. He took part in the battles of Long Island, New York; Trenton, New Jersey; and Brandywine and Germantown in Pennsylvania.
John’s service coincided with a bleak time in our country’s fight for independence. The Continental Army only narrowly got away after its defeat at Long Island. Trenton was a morale booster as Washington crossed the Delaware River and surprised the Hessians on Christmas, 1776. After that, the action in Pennsylvania resulted in the British taking Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania colonial capital and where the Continental Congress routinely met.
John was one of the many who went to Valley Forge for the infamous winter of 1777-78. His term of enlistment was up at the end of the year, and he was discharged at Valley Forge on January 1, 1778.
Family tradition states that John had five brothers who also served in the American Revolution: David and Elijah, who were taken prisoners and died aboard a British prison ship; James, who settled in Alabama; and Capt. Robert and Capt. Houston who settled in North Carolina.
According to John’s wife, Mary Walker, in her application for pension after John’s death, she and John Walker were married in March 1779. They later moved to Blount County. John’s name first appeared in the Blount County tax list of 1800.
In June 1818, John made a sworn statement in Blount County as he filed for a pension for the first time. He stated that he was 68 or 69 years old. John said wife, Mary, was unable to work to produce for the family. John also said that he had grandchildren dependent on him who were living in his home. His application for a pension was granted. The census of 1830 shows a multi-generational household but only John’s name was recorded. John returned to court in 1833 and filed a second time, for an old age pension, provided under an act of Congress in 1832. His witnesses included his son, Elijah Walker.
John Walker passed on Aug. 6, 1837. He was buried in a marked grave at Big Springs.
In 1843, in Blount County, Mary Walker, age 86, gave a sworn statement that she was the widow of John Walker, a Revolutionary War soldier. She provided two pages torn from the family Bible; one had the names and birth dates of their five children: Anne. David. Elijah, Esther, and Mary. Another female listed as Nancy appears in some records. Sons David and Elijah Walker inherited the family farm and were neighbors. They farmed it together until their deaths. In addition to farming, by the mid-1800s son Elijah Walker was heading a household of a number of Allen family members, likely his sister Ann’s family. There is no documentation of Anne’s spouse or his death.
Elijah and a partner owned the Maryville Broom Factory on Church Street and produced 8,000 brooms annually. Additionally, Elijah Jr owned a flour mill on the west side of Main Street.
Son David Walker married Jane Johnston, daughter of neighboring Patriot Joseph Johnston. Daughter Esther Walker married Josiah Johnston and they lived near Cleveland, Tennessee in Bradley County where they are buried. Daughter Nancy married David Hamil.
Another daughter Mary, married William Orr who is buried in Sweetwater, Tennessee. Mary Walker Orr is buried in Iowa where several people from the area moved in protest of slavery in the southern states.
John Walker’s wife, Mary passed on Nov. 12, 1845, she is also buried at Big Springs along with sons David Walker and Elija Walker, and their wives.
An early and historic cemetery, Big Springs Cemetery property was donated by the Walker family about 1805. Presently, in addition to the marked graves, the cemetery contains about 100 unmarked graves and about 200 marked only with fieldstones.
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