Charles Lowell Walker

1832 - 1904  (71 years)

• Name	Charles Lowell Walker
  Born	17 Nov 1832	Leek, Staffordshire, England, UK
  Gender	Male
  1880 Census	1 Jun 1880	Saint George, Washington Co., UT
  	ED 93 , p. 4 Walker, C. L.   W  M  47   Head  Md   Stone Cutter         England        Nova Scotia  England ---, Anna         W  F  38    Wife  Md   Keeping House     Nova Scotia  England        Nova Scotia ---, Sarah        W  F  22    Wife  Md   Keeping House     UT                 England        England ---, Zadee        W  F  16    Dau   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia ---, Ida              W  F  15    Dau   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia ---, Agatha       W  F  13    Dau   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia ---, Annie          W  F  11   Dau   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia ---, Ellenore       W  F    9   Dau   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia ---, C. M.            W  M   6   Son   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia ---, Joseph        W  M   1   Son   S                                  UT                 England        Nova Scotia
  Died	11 Jan 1904	Saint George, Washington Co., UT
  	Ancestry.com. Utah, Death and Military Death Certificates, 1904-1961 Name:Charles Lowell Walker Birth Date:abt 1831 Age:73 Gender:Male Death Date:11 Jan 1904 Death or Registration Place:Washington, Utah, USA
  Buried	13 Jan 1904	Saint George City Cemetery, Saint George, Washington Co., UT
  Obituary	18 Jan 1904	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT
  	Deseret Evening News
  	Obituary - Deseret Evening News January 18, 1904 Page 9 Charles L. Walker, the Dixie Poet, and Others Summoned Special Correspondence St. George, Washington Co., Jan. 13 - This afternoon at 2 p.m. the funeral services of Charles Lowell Walker, our Dixie poet, who died Monday night, were held in the stake tabernacle. The speakers, Elder Jas. L. Bunting, President D. H. Cannon, President Edw. H. Snow, and Elder Jas. G. Bleak, each spoke briefly of his faithful and exemplary life. Deceased was born March 17, 1832, in Leek, Staffordshire, England, and later moved to Manchester, where his parents received the Gospel. He was baptized by his father, Wm. Walker, April 22, 1845, and emigrated in February, 1849, but did not reach Salt Lake City until September, 1855. He married Abigail Middlemas in 1861, and the following year was called to St. George, where he has since resided. He labored as a stone cutter on the St. George stake tabernacle and on the St. George and Manti temples. He was called as a temple worker in 1883, and has done much work for the dead. He was universally loved and respected and will be greatly missed from the gatherins of the Saints. Probably his best known poetical production is the Sunday school hymn, "Dearest Children, God is Near You." He leaves behind a numerous posterity.
  Notes	Son of William Gibson Walker and Mary Godwin Married Sarah Smith, 12 Jan 1877, St George, Washington, Utah Children - Lowell Walker; Moroni Smith Walker; Luella Walker; Effie Walker; Seth Godwin Walker; Mary Walker; Irene Walker Married Abigail Middlemas, 28 Sep 1861, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah History - Charles was one of the foremost of the Mormon pioneer diary keepers in the nineteenth-century Mormon church, as well as being the "Poet Laureate" of the Cotton Country Mission. His father's family was converted to Mormonism in Manchester, after which Charle's oldest sister Ann Agatha came to America, where she became a plural wife of Parley P. Pratt. The remainder of Charles's family immigrated to St. Louis in 1850, where his mother died of typhus fever. Charles had preceded them to St. Louis in 1849 with a friend. Charles remained in the Illinois and Missouri area working, trying to find a means to travel to Utah. In April 1855 he engaged to drive a horse team for P. Burgess, who was bringing a threshing machine and other merchandise to Utah. Charles arrived in the valley September 3, 1855; being a large and well-built man, he went to work at blacksmithing. From this time on, for the rest of his life, Charles kept an ongoing journal, in which he expressed his thoughts and feelings as well as keeping abreast of current happenings. He was not professionally trained in writing, being self-educated from reading in scripture and literature at home. However, his journal and other writings reflect Mormon issues as well as political and other areas of learning in a readable style like few other writings of pioneer culture. On September 28, 1861, Charles married Abigail Middlemiss, whose family had come from Pope's Harbor, Nova Scotia. In 1862, at the October conference, Charles and 200 other missionaries were called to go to the "cotton country" mission in southern Utah. He left with his wife on November 13 and arrived December 9, 1862. His first impression was that it was a "barren looking place...very windy, dusty, blowing nearly all the time." In what was to become St. George, Charles built up his holdings during the first six months he was there, "building me a home, fencing and grubbing my city lot, planting, irrigating and working in the blacksmith shop for B. F. Pendleton" and later with Melanchton Burgess.... As St. George grew, Charles became integrated into its society. He joined a literary club, which printed a small newspaper, "The Veprecula; he attended lectures on various historical, geographical, business, and scientific subjects; and discussed current concerns with others in the community in meetings. In the harsh circumstances of the desert country where nature was often unsympathetic, Charles continually calmed and counseled the pioneers with his prose, often in the form of songs, as well as using his talents for appropriate occasions such as funerals, marriages and birthdays. Charles was also a part of the events of the period. On November 5, 1871, the people voted to build a temple, the first on in Utah, in St. George, and Charles was a conscientious worker on the temple. he wrote also on May 23, 1872, that the "mason work on the meeting house was completed.... I have worked on this building for over five years, from putting in the foundation to the capstone on the tower. many weary toilsome days have I labored in the St. Geroge tabernacle, lifting the heavy rocks in the wind, dust, cold and scorching heat of this climate, yet I have felt happy and contented." Charles L. Walker died January 11, 1904. His life was an example of that type of men who sacrificed their person pusuits to a large measure to contribute their talesn and energy for their church beliefs. by Daniel McAllister
  Person ID	I90380	Stedman/Steadman/Steedman Families of the New World
  Last Modified	16 Apr 2015

  
  

  Family 1	Abigail "Anna" Middlemas,   b. 1 Feb 1842, Pope's Harbor, Halifax Co., Nova Scotia, Canada ,   d. 28 Apr 1931, Saint George, Washington Co., UT  (Age 89 years)
  Married	28 Sep 1861	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT
  Children	1. Agatha Abigail Walker,   b. 16 Oct 1866, Saint George, Washington Co., UT ,   d. 26 Jan 1947, Saint George, Washington Co., UT  (Age 80 years)   2. Emma Annie Walker,   b. 18 Jun 1868, Saint George, Washington Co., UT ,   d. 3 Dec 1935, Provo, Utah Co., UT  (Age 67 years)   3. Eleanor Walker,   b. 3 Dec 1870, Saint George, Washington Co., UT ,   d. Aug 1896, Saint George, Washington Co., UT  (Age 25 years)   4. Dr. Joseph Walker,   b. 23 Dec 1878, Saint George, Washington Co., UT ,   d. 19 Jun 1964, Glendale, Los Angeles Co., CA  (Age 85 years)
  Last Modified	16 Apr 2015
  Family ID	F34652	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family 2	Sarah Smith,   b. 1854, ____, ____, UT ,   d. 1932  (Age 78 years)
  Married	12 Jan 1877	Saint George, Washington Co., UT
  	Ancestry.com. Utah, Select County Marriages, 1887-1937 Name:Charles Lowell Walker Gender:Male Spouse:Sarah Smith Child:Effie Prisbrey
  Last Modified	16 Apr 2015
  Family ID	F34653	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Married - 28 Sep 1861 - Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT Obituary - Deseret Evening News - 18 Jan 1904 - Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT  = Link to Google Earth