Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/395

 \'IRGIMA BIOGRAPHY

297

at "The Ferry," Princess Anne county, Vir- ginia, September 13, 1783, died in Ross county, Ohio. March 19, 1865. lie was a member of the Virginia and Ohio legisla- tures. He married Susan H. Boush, of Princess Anne county, \'irginia, died in Chillicothe, Ohio, aged eighty-nine years, leaving a number of descendants.

(V) William (2) Walke, son of William and Mary (Calvert) Walke, was born in Princess Anne county, Virginia. April 3, 1786, died in Norfolk, Virginia. July 7, 1882. He married Elizabeth Nash, of Norfolk, Virginia, and had four children : Richard, William, Lewis and Calvert.

(VI) Richard Walke, son of William (2) and Elizabeth (Nash) Walke, was born in August. 1813. He married Mary Diana Tal- l)ot. born April 28. 1817. daughter of Isaac Talbot and Sarah Willoughby CoUey. his wife. Their children were: William Talbot, married Sally Gary ; Richard, of whom fur- ther ; Isaac Talbot, died unmarried ; Mary Calvert, married Commodore W'illiam Tal- bot Truxton ; Henry, died unmarried ; Sally AX'illoughby, married Thomas Pinckney; ISetty, married Captain W^alton Goodwin, United States navy ; Mary Louisa, married Littleton Waller Tazewell ; A\'illoughby. married Julia Sharp.

(VII) Richard (2) Walke, son of Rich- ard (i) and Mary Diana (Talbot) Walke, was born in Norfolk, Virginia. December 9, 1840, died at sea. June 20, 1901. while on a voyage to Europe in search of health. In the autumn of 1855 he entered William and Mary College, at Williamsburg, Virginia, where in 1857 he graduated, taking the Master of .Arts degree. In the fall of that year he entered the University of Virginia, and in i860 graduated with the Master of Arts degree. He then went to Europe and entered the University of Berlin, but shortly afterwards V^irginia seceded from the Union and he at once relincjuished his studies in order to join the armies of his people. Upon his arrival at Norfolk he enlisted as a pri- vate in Company B, which afterward became Company G, Sixth Virginia Regiment, better known perhaps as Mahone's regiment. He served as a private in that company until May. 1862. when he was appointed first sergeant, which position he held until April, 1863, when, having passed an examination for admission to the ordnance corps he was appointed by President Davis a first lieuten-

ant of (jrdnance and assigned to the staff of General William Mahone, where he served until the sj^ring of 1864. He was then ap- pointed captain and inspector general and in that capacity served on the stafif of Gen- eral R. L Walker, chief of artillery. Third Corps, Army of Northern Virginia, until the close of the war. He was a man of abso- lute intrepidity and an ofificer of distin- guished merit, and in the esteem of his com- rades and of his superior officers he was recognized as belonging to the same high type of the Virginia soldier as McCabe and Pegram. After the war he studied law in the office of Judge Dobbin, of Baltimore, and also in the office of Richard H. Baker, of Norfolk, with whom in 1870 he formed a copartnership under the firm name of Baker & Walke. which continued until July I. 1879. He became a member of the firm of Walke & Old, October i. 1879, and this continued until his death. He was a most distin- guished lawyer, and argued many cases be- fore the appellate courts, the supreme court of appeals of Virginia, the circuit court of appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States, always exhibiting careful preparation, honesty, and power of intellect and comprehensive grasp of the legal and moral principles of his case. On legal ques- tions his judgment was strong and reliable, but on moral questions it was unerring.

In his own community he achieved a most unique distinction. He engaged in the try- ing competitions of life, yet there was no criticism of his methods, there was no sug- gestion that he had ever departed from the right, and there was never even an attempt to put a blot upon his name. His example upon the community in which he lived was elevating in a very high degree, and it might have been greater if he had permitted him- self to put aside his reserve and to come into closer and more intimate contact with the daily lives of his fellow-men. but this re- serve was characteristic of him and nothing could penetrate it. He was qualified by character and by attainments to fill a great place in the public service, but no per- suasion could prevail upon him to become actively as.sociated with public aff'airs. It he had consented to do so. he would have impressed himself indelibly upon the his- tory of his time.

Mr. Walke married. November 1, 1870. Annie Nivison Bradford, born September