John Walker (Senator)

John Walker

John Walker (born February 13, 1744 in Cobham , Albemarle County , Colony of Virginia , †  December 2, 1809 in Madison Mills , Virginia ) was an American politician who represented the state of Virginia in the US Senate .

John Walker was the older brother of Congressman Francis Walker (1764-1806). He was born on Castle Hill, his family's estate. He initially received private tuition and graduated from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg in 1764 . One of his classmates was the future US President Thomas Jefferson , with whom he remained close friends for many years.

He became politically active for the first time in 1774 when he succeeded his father Thomas Walker in the House of Burgesses , Virginia's colonial parliament. After the outbreak of the War of Independence , he joined the Continental Army and served there from 1777 with the rank of colonel as an adjutant to General George Washington . In 1780, Walker was elected to the Continental Congress; then he studied law and worked as a lawyer.

After William Grayson's death , John Walker , who was sympathetic to the federalists , was appointed as his successor in the US Senate, which was still in Philadelphia at the time . He took his mandate from March 31, 1790 to November 9 of the same year when he was replaced by James Monroe , who was elected Senator by the Virginia General Assembly . Then he worked again as a planter on his plantation "Belvoir" in Albemarle County.

Web links

• John Walker in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• John Walker in the database of Find a Grave (English)