DOCSLIB.ORG

OPINION Thomas Walker the Explorer Revisited

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
OPINION Thomas Walker the Explorer Revisited www.ourvolley.org Page 4. Saturdav, Sepfember 2, 2017 • News Messenger, Christiansburg, VA Page 4 • Saturday, September 2, 2017 • Radford News Journal www.ourvolley . org OPINION Thomas Walker the Explorer Revisited In May 2016, I published a Walker was avoiding taxes, but . owning 86 slaves, 115 cattle, 3. That the former Jefferson column here citled "Dr. Thomas he had plenty of company, as Jim .; and two carriages. slave Isaac Granger mentioned Walker and che Dunkards." It the practice was commonplace Glanville : The only book about Walker Walker in his dicta red 1847 told that in 1750 the explorer among the land speculators. � seems co be David Burns recollections. ; Thomas Walker and his parry Earlier this year, Andrew and Adam Jones' "Gateway: The search hit that pictures of five men had spent four days Schenker of Blacksburg wrote Local Historian \ Dr. Thomas Walker and the a 1781 officer's commission for with the Dunkard community me, correctly pointing out that ., Opening of Kentucky" (Bell Thomas Walker dearly shows it n�ar ••••••••••••• to where present-d.ay 1-81 in praising Dale Carter, the � Wal �;'" f" C�;ti� ,; County, Kentucky, Historical to be issued Francis Walker. crosses the New River. They col umn left an unbalanced Thomas o Society, 2000). The Encyclopedia yields were temporarily delayed there impression of Walker. Hill." McCleod, remarked that These authors point out that only three search hits for while tracking down their "Doctor Thomas Walker despite Walker 's impressive (24 years before Daniel Boone} "'Cumberland Gap. n One is as horses that had ran off. (1715-1794): Explor e r ) achievements he is relatively Walker the agent for the to the Daniel B60ne entry, Walker's party had come up Physician, Statesmen, Surveyor, unknown. Noti ng that Loyal Land Company on his a second is to the Botetourt from the Great Lick (Roanoke), and Planter of Virginia and Walker's lifetime coincided 1750 trip with his party was Artillery being there during which Walker wrote had been Kentucky" is the title of Keith with Virginia's great westward the first English-speaker at the Civil War, and the third "one of rhe best places for Nyland's 1971 Ohio State expansion, McCleod observed the Cumberland Gap. On that is to Doug Wilder starting his Game in these parts and would University Ph.D. dissertation. that his frequent and extensive trip, Walker named the Gap 1985 campaign for Lieutenant have been of much greater The tide summarizes Walker's travels gave Walker a unique and the Cumberland River and Governor there. Because it .is advantage .. , if the Hunters achievements. sense of the poten tial future built the first cabin in the generally teckoneo that some had not killed the Buffaloes Walker grew up from English greatness of the con tinent. fucure Kentucky. 300,000 pioneers pa ssed for diversion, and the Elks and stock in King and Queen In addition to his Wikipedia has an entry tided through the Gap on their way to Deer for their skins." County and attended the achievements listed above, "Thomas Walker (Explorer)" building America, the omission The column also noted College of William and Mary. Walker was an entrepren<::;ur, that unfortunately misses aU of a Cumberland Gap entry is a the passing of the excellent Later, he ran a general store in a member of the House of three of the sources cited above. decidedly embarr ssing . a Kingsport local historian Dale Fredericksburg and took up the Burgesses, anc:gotiator ofIndian The online " Encyclopedi Southwestern Virginia is in Carter, one of whose best practice of medicine. treaties, and a highly successful Virginia," which bills itsdf as general badly slighted by che arricJc.� (now onJine) is titled In 1741 f he marrjed Mildred frontier land speculator. He "The first and ultimate online Encyclopedia. In addition to " Was Dr. Thomas Walker a Thornton Meriwether (the served as commissary of reference work about the the absence of Thomas Walker Crook?" widow of Nicholas Meriwether, troops during the French and Commonwealth of Virginia" and Cumberland Gap entries, Cn his article, Carter showed a, the owner of the escace thac Indian War. Peter Jefferson glaringly lacks aD entry for there are no entries for James by land measurements chat is now Charlottesville). This was a close friend of Walker, Walker. The encyclopedia's Patton, William Preston , in 1752 Walker paid land tax marriage , which even tually and Walker served as one of only three legitimate search Andrew Lc;wis, and Governor on 6,800 acres at Abingdon, produced twelve children, the guardians of the you ng hits for Walker tell that 1. He John Floyd or his wife Letitia Virginian , while actually getting brought Walker control of an Thomas Jefferson. Walker also was a partner (with George Preston. 13,000. Carter concluded that Albemarle County estate of shared business interests with Washington and others) in Somebody should complain. ...... Thomas Walker and John more than II.OOO-acres. George Washington, James the 1763 Dismal Sw amo Land Buchanan , along with James In 1977, the practlcmg Madison, and other prominent Company; 2. That a Sept. 23, Jim Glanvill� is a r�tir�d Parron, Edmund Pendleton, Nashville physician Alexander Virginians of his time. 1783, letter to Walker from chemist living in Blacksburg. and John Shelton devised a McLeod wrote for volume 71 According to the Monticell o Thomas Jefferson asks him H� has bun publishing and way to defraud the colonial of the "Filson Club Historical website, the 1742 personal to edit "Notes on the State lecturing for more than a duade c " land office of the orrect Quarterly" the 32-page article property tax list of Albemarle of Virginia and add data on about the history of Southwest : payment due for land patents ." �A Man for All Region s Dr. County shows Walker as animal sizes and Indians; and Virginia. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Topography Along the Virginia-Kentucky Border
    Preface: Topography along the Virginia-Kentucky border. It took a long time for the Appalachian Mountain range to attain its present appearance, but no one was counting. Outcrops found at the base of Pine Mountain are Devonian rock, dating back 400 million years. But the rocks picked off the ground around Lexington, Kentucky, are even older; this limestone is from the Cambrian period, about 600 million years old. It is the same type and age rock found near the bottom of the Grand Canyon in Colorado. Of course, a mountain range is not created in a year or two. It took them about 400 years to obtain their character, and the Appalachian range has a lot of character. Geologists tell us this range extends from Alabama into Canada, and separates the plains of the eastern seaboard from the low-lying valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Some subdivide the Appalachians into the Piedmont Province, the Blue Ridge, the Valley and Ridge area, and the Appalachian plateau. We also learn that during the Paleozoic era, the site of this mountain range was nothing more than a shallow sea; but during this time, as sediments built up, and the bottom of the sea sank. The hinge line between the area sinking, and the area being uplifted seems to have shifted gradually westward. At the end of the Paleozoric era, the earth movement are said to have reversed, at which time the horizontal layers of the rock were uplifted and folded, and for the next 200 million years the land was eroded, which provided material to cover the surrounding areas, including the coastal plain.
    [Show full text]
  • A History of Appalachia
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge Appalachian Studies Arts and Humanities 2-28-2001 A History of Appalachia Richard B. Drake Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Drake, Richard B., "A History of Appalachia" (2001). Appalachian Studies. 23. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_appalachian_studies/23 R IC H ARD B . D RA K E A History of Appalachia A of History Appalachia RICHARD B. DRAKE THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by grants from the E.O. Robinson Mountain Fund and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 2001 by The University Press of Kentucky Paperback edition 2003 Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kenhlcky Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com 12 11 10 09 08 8 7 6 5 4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Drake, Richard B., 1925- A history of Appalachia / Richard B.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site Historic Pocket Brochure Text
    Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site Historic Pocket Brochure Text Neglected Historical Figure Although Daniel Boone gained more acclaim, a lesser-known explorer, Dr. Thomas Walker, preceded the famed frontiersman into the Kentucky territory by 17 years. Walker’s detailed account of his party’s journey into previously uncharted lands, which he set down daily in a journal, later served Boone and other pioneer explorers such as George Rogers Clark well. Twenty-six years before the United States declared its independence from England, Dr. Walker left three of his fellow explorers at a site near what is now Barbourville, Kentucky. As the leader of a surveying expedition for the Loyal Land Company of Virginia, Walker instructed his companions to build a house in order to establish a claim, while he and two others continued their foray into the wilderness. When Walker and his company returned several days later, an 8- by 12-feet cabin had been erected. The structure, built in April of 1750, was the first house built by a white man in Kentucky and the farthest west of Anglo-Saxon civilization of that day. That Walker is generally neglected historically and is not recognized like Boone today, is primarily a result of two factors. First, in his travels Walker found rugged terrain strewn with thickly tangled woods; thus his reports on the region were unfavorable. He missed the beautiful plains of rolling bluegrass, which were later reported in such glowing terms, by a day or two’s journey. Secondly, at the time of his venture, the Kentucky area was disputed territory, claimed by England and France, but not yet relinquished by the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes that made it their home.
    [Show full text]
  • A Narrative of the Conquest, Division, Settlement, and Transformation of Kentucky
    University of Louisville ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-2013 Pioneers, proclamations, and patents : a narrative of the conquest, division, settlement, and transformation of Kentucky. Brandon Michael Robison 1986- University of Louisville Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.library.louisville.edu/etd Recommended Citation Robison, Brandon Michael 1986-, "Pioneers, proclamations, and patents : a narrative of the conquest, division, settlement, and transformation of Kentucky." (2013). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1222. https://doi.org/10.18297/etd/1222 This Master's Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ThinkIR: The University of Louisville's Institutional Repository. This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has retained all other copyrights. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PIONEERS, PROCLAMATIONS, AND PATENTS: A NARRATIVE OF THE CONQUEST, DIVISION, SETTLEMENT, AND TRANSFORMATION OF KENTUCKY By Brandon Michael Robison B.A., Southern Adventist University, 2009 A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Louisville In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Department of History University of Louisville Louisville, Kentucky May 2013 PIONEERS, PROCLAMATIONS, AND PATENTS: A NARRATIVE OF THE CONQUEST, DIVISION, SETTLEMENT, AND TRANSFORMATION OF KENTUCKY By Brandon Michael Robison B.A., Southern Adventist University, 2009 A Thesis Approved on April 26, 2013 by the following Thesis Committee: _____________________________ Dr. Glenn Crothers Thesis Director ______________________________ Dr.Garry Sparks ______________________________ Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the FIRST PEOPLE from the OLD WORLD to COME INTO the GREATER HOLSTON VALLEY in VIRGINIA a Presentation at the Blockhouse
    THE FIRST PEOPLE FROM THE OLD WORLD TO COME INTO THE GREATER HOLSTON VALLEY IN VIRGINIA A Presentation at the Blockhouse Visitor’s Center At Natural Tunnel State Park Feb. 8, 2015 By: Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. Copyright, and all rights reserved Big Stone Gap, Va. The Holston River begins at Groseclose, Virginia, which is near the Mountain Empire Airport just to the east of Rural Retreat, and runs out of Virginia into Tennessee at Bristol. It ends at Knoxville where the Tennessee River begins. The Militia structure of Virginia considered it to include the Clinch and Powell Rivers, which technically are tributaries of the Tennessee. We will use this ancient definition in today’s discussion. Who were the first adventurous people from the Old World to come into the Greater Holston Valley? We will begin with a list of individuals, but it will soon become apparent that these individuals represented larger groups, of which they were just examples. These groups were defined by national origin, DNA, religion, and politics. We will find ourselves considering all these issues in this discussion. It is appropriate to examine the settlement of this area because functionally it is a tight funnel that contained the massive migration of settlers to the interior of the United States. To put it in another way, it was the historic social meat grinder that made America and Americans. The Appalachian Mountains presented a formidable barrier to migration to the Midwest. The main trail from the East through the mountains to the interior of the continent from the coast all the way from New York to the Carolinas went through the Greater Holston Valley.
    [Show full text]
  • The Wilderness Road
    The Wilderness Road ~ Traffic ~ ~Features ~ At first the Wilderness Road was only a crude trail; only pack The Cumberland Gap through the Allegheny Mountains teams could cross the mountains. Pioneers coming from was first used by hunting and war parties of rival Indian Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas before tribes north of the Ohio River and south of the mountains. 1796 found it necessary to unload their Conestoga Wagons at Sapling Grove and pack their belongings on horses in Part of the road was known first as Boone's Trace. The order to cross the mountains. Transylvania Company sent Daniel Boone with 30 men to hack a trail into the lush valleys beyond the mountains. In The early pioneers lashed huge baskets and bundles of cloth- less than three weeks, Boone's men blazed a trail of 208 ing, bed furnishings and household articles upon packhorses. miles from Long Island on the Holston River through the Children perched on top, or rode in front and behind their Cumberland Gap and on into Fincastle County, which is mothers and relatives. The older boys and men who did not now Kentucky. have mounts had to trudge along on foot. The road was created largely by the wear of constant travel. A caravan of pack horses and people on foot sometimes At first it was no more than a pack trail. Only after stretched out as far as three miles along the trail. Kentucky had become a state was it widened for wagons. Indian raids were common at various points on the Wilder- The first settlements were at Boonesborough and Harrods- ness Road.
    [Show full text]
  • Thomas Jefferson, Naturalist
    Banisteria, Number 41, pages 5-16 © 2013 Virginia Natural History Society Thomas Jefferson and Virginia’s Natural History Lucia Stanton 1308 Gibson Mountain Lane Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 [email protected] ABSTRACT In forty years as a public servant, Thomas Jefferson often lamented being a “prisoner of state.” He described natural history as his passion and, when tied to his desk by political duties, he longed to be out in the “rich fields” of nature, studying grain weevils or noting the blooming dates of flowers. Jefferson had a lifelong fascination with the flora and fauna of Virginia and a reputation for a wide knowledge of botany and zoology. This paper focuses primarily on Jefferson’s interest in and interactions with birds, insects, and plants, particularly those of his own state. On April 16, 1803, the President of the United States was in his study in the White House, writing down these words: “3. house flies of ordinary size to- day.” Thomas Jefferson made this observation in a weather diary in which he had been recording the temperature of his nation since its birth in July 1776. Besides taking readings of his thermometer, he noted other “indexes of climate” — biological events, like the flowering of plants, falling of leaves, and the comings and goings of birds and insects, which marked the cycle of the seasons. Throughout his presidency, he jotted down more signs of spring than just house flies. Such entries included “redbreasts” (7 March 1804), “weepg. willow leafing” (9 March 1808), “frogs sing” (12 March 1807), “shad at table” (19 March 1808), “martins appear” (1 April 1806), “whippoorwill” (2 April 1805), “dogwood blossomd.” (7 April 1807), and “Magnolia glauc.
    [Show full text]
  • General Joseph Martin
    GENERAL JOSEPH MARTIN By: Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr. copyright January 2001 Big Stone Gap, Va. Largely forgotten today, Joseph Martin played a role in the late Eighteenth Century events of Southwest Virginia and in East Tennessee unequaled by any other person. He was an explorer, trader, land speculator, soldier, politician, Indian agent, national scape goat, and the first settler of Lee County, Virginia. He was the second of three men of that name, his father having settled in present Albemarle County in 1729 as a neighbor of Dr. Thomas Walker, Ambrose Powell, Peter Jefferson, James Madison, and the Lewis and Clark clans. He had come from Bristol, England a few years earlier, aboard the ship 'Brice', and had married Susanna Childs. The couple's first child was Joseph Junior, born in 1742. The boy did not take to schooling very well, and his father apprenticed him out to a carpenter. He was too wild for this, and at age sixteen he ran away and joined the British Army during the French and Indian War. After the war, he returned home and married Sarah Lucas (Lewcas) in 1762. Martin worked as a fur trader, as a farmer, and as a land overseer for his wealthier neighbors, and became more closely connected to Dr. Thomas Walker. At this stage in his life he was later described by his son, William, as having been "large of stature, six feet high, weighed 200 and one of the finest figures of a man you ever saw, with prepossessing, commanding appearance, courteous, intelligent, knew no fear ..." Walker was chief land agent for the Loyal Company which owned 800,000 acres of undeveloped frontier land in western Virginia.
    [Show full text]
  • Local News Replica Cabin in Barbourville Honors First Log Cabin
    12-A Local News The Wayne County Outlook • Wednesday, December 4, 2019 Replica cabin in Barbourville honors first log cabin built in Kentucky By JARROD MILLS Kentucky, some of them “Still rain. I went down the Hughes, were instructed by CNHI Kentucky are like ‘I’ve never heard creek a hunting and found Walker to stay behind and of that.’ It’s like ‘well, if that it went into a river build a house. BARBOURVILLE — you would have been about a mile below our “Then Ambrose While many give credit to around in the 1700s, you camp. This, which is Flat Powell, Colby Chew and I Daniel Boone for blazing would have known exactly Creek and some others departed leaving the others the trail to Kentucky, where it was, and what it joined I called Cumberland to provide and salt some Boone wasn’t the first was.’” River.” bear, build a house and European to discover the Nineteen years later, In a letter from Col. plant some peach stones commonwealth. Dr. Daniel Boone would begin William Martin, Joseph and corn.” Thomas Walker wasn’t the his more-known venture Martin’s son, to historian By building a cabin first European to discover into Kentucky. Lyman Draper, William and planting crop, Walker Kentucky either, but he According to Martin describes the and his group claimed the was the first to record his Kentucky State Parks’ events leading up to the land for the Loyal Land findings and he and his website, the Barbourville naming of Cumberland Company through the use crew were the first to build Post of the American River and Cumberland of corn rights.
    [Show full text]
  • Appalachian Novels
    Appalachian Novels Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from southern New York State to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. Since its recognition as a distinctive region in the late 19th century, Appalachia has been a source of enduring myths and distortions regarding the isolation, temperament, and behavior of its inhabitants. Early 20th century writers focused on sensationalistic aspects of the region’s culture, such as moonshining and clan feuding, and often portrayed the region’s inhabitants as uneducated and prone to impulsive acts of violence. The name derived from early Spanish exploration of Florida. While exploring inland along the northern coast of Florida in 1528, the members of the Narvaez expedition, found a Native American village near present day Tallahassee whose name they transcribed as Apalchen or Apalachen. The name was soon altered by the Spanish to Apalachee and used as a name for the tribe and region spreading well inland to the north. Native American hunter-gatherers first arrived in Appalachia over 12,000 years ago and European migration began in the 18th century pushing westward into the Appalachian Mountains. A relatively large proportion of the early backcountry immigrants were Irish Protestants – later known as “Scotch-Irish” (which included 90% of its early settlers). Thomas Walker’s discovery of the Cumberland Gap in 1750 and the end of the French and Indian War in 1763 lured settlers deeper into the mountains, namely to upper East Tennessee, Northwestern North Carolina, Upstate South Carolina, and Central Kentucky. Between 1790 and 1840, a series of treaties with the Cherokee and other Native American tribes opened up lands in North Georgia, Northeast Alabama, the Tennessee Valley, the Cumberland Plateau regions, and the highlands along what is now the Tennessee-North Carolina border.
    [Show full text]
  • Historic Maps of Kentucky
    University of Kentucky UKnowledge United States History History 1979 Historic Maps of Kentucky Thomas D. Clark University of Kentucky Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Clark, Thomas D., "Historic Maps of Kentucky" (1979). United States History. 89. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_united_states_history/89 Thomas D. Clark HISTORIC MAPS OF KENTUCKY THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY To Elizabeth Turner Clark IBSN: 978-0-8131-5601-9 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-4003 Copyright © 1979 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Club, Georgetown College, Ken tucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. Editorial and Sales Offices: Lexington, Kentucky 40506 CONTENTS SOURCES OF ILLUSTRATIONS iv PREFACE v METES & BOUNDS OF KENTUCKY 1 1. A Virgin Borderland 1 2. The Royal Boundary & the Westward Movement 8 3. The Walker Line & the Jackson Purchase 17 4. Dr. Walker's Legacy 21 5. A Boundary in Equity 31 6. The Ohio Low Water Mark 37 7. Patterns on the Land 45 8 . Years of Conflict 56 THE MAPPING OF KENTUCKY 61 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Adobe PDF Version
    The Peach Tree Issue 164 Thomas Jefferson THE Roots of Religious Freedom This is the final name for my latest biographical novel, now in the hands of PEACH the publisher. The book will be over 300 pages (larger than the last), and it will retail for a maximum of $29.95. Please let me know if you want to order a copy. Here’s a sampling of what the book is all TREE about. Celebrating 29 years of bringing the “A new church started in Peach/Peachey heritage into homes Charlottesville, Virginia, and Thomas throughout the world. Jefferson decided to go for a visit. The John H. Peach, Editor people assembled there called themselves the Lewis Mountain Baptist Church. 221 Geronimo Rd., Knoxville, TN 37934 Andrew Tribble was their pastor. When Tom entered their make shift of a Ph: 865-675-5956 building, he was in shock. What a stark difference from the Church of England Email: [email protected] buildings of which he was accustomed. This church didn’t even look like the Taking out the architecture of a church, with not even a sign in front indicating it was a place of Telescope worship. As he entered, he saw no prayer books in the rustic pews, nothing showing I have been writing about Thomas an order of worship and no religious Jefferson, believe it or not, to find out symbols or stain glass windows. more connections to our Peach and What Tom saw seemed to be Peachey families. I was able to find completely spontaneous. There was no precious nuggets of our roots in England rhyme or reason what would happen next.
    [Show full text]