Isaac Walker (1721-1807)

OVERVIEW

Location Map, St. Georges County, MD

From Will and Sandi Pearson's Web site. This could probably be described best as "unverified family tradition". The key event discussed in this treatment is the flight of Isaac and his brothers from England ultimately to America c1746. See the Wikipedia article on the "The Forty Five which deals with this period. Isaac's flight c1746 is coincident with the defeat of Charles the Bonnie Prince at Culloden.

The following was written by Samuel H. Walker (1844-1935) on the occasion of his parents 50th wedding anniversary in 1883:

During the earlier years of the eighteenth century, from 1715 to 1746, Scotland was much agitated by the different attempts of the "Pretenders," James and Charles, to obtain a foothold upon the soil, and recognition as the crowned heads of England and Scotland, in pace of the Elector of Hanover, who, a German, had been crowned as George 1st, King of England.

This foreign substitution, for the native born house of Stuart, was revolting to the sensitive sensibilities of many Scottish Chiefs, and they raised the standard of rebellion, hoping, while England was entangled with European wars, consequent upon the accession of a German to the throne, to secure recognition from the powers of Europe and support from the nation for the house of Stuart. After many disastrous encounters with the power of England, supported by the Hollanders, in which they suffered great loss of life, the remainder sought safety from the wrath of the King and fled to foreign soil. Of those who were taken many were executed, others were banished, while those who eluded pursuit were for three years published, both at home and the colonies, as rebels and felons, with large rewards offered for their heads.

Isaac WALKER and his brothers Charles and Nathan were thus forced to flee, with five hundred pounds offered for their heads, and found in France temporary secrecy and security. Isaac Walker's wife, a Stuart, was informed of his intention to sail for America and made all her preparations to follow him, but was baffled for four years, least she should betray his hiding place in the forests of Maryland. He was afraid to communicate with her, and intended to return secretly to Scotland and bring back his wife, whom he had not seen for so long. By some kind providence, the day he intended to sail from Alexandria, the vessel he expected to return in brought his wife, and they met at the wharf. It was stated by Grandfather Nathan that, as his mother came up the hill from the wharf, a parrot called out to her, "Scotch;" when she exclaimed, ‘Laird! How did the poor creature know?’

The brothers constructed a large white oak log house at the head waters of Bear Garden Branch, in Prince George's County, about nine miles northeast of what was afterwards called Washington, D.C. This house remained standing until about 25 years hence, when some of the logs were used to repair the barn and granary, which are now standing, and a piece of which is the cane this day presented to Jonathan T., Walker by his grandchildren. They named the place "Toaping Castle", after their stronghold in the old country; and after they thought it safe to acknowledge their identity, and danger was over.”

Vita

	Entry	Source/Basis/Commentary
DOB:
POB:
DOD:
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Burial:
Spouse:
DOM:
POM:
Father:
Mother:

Ancestry

x is the son/daughter of Unknown (?-?) and Unknown (?-?).

ChildList

Children of Elizabeth Stuart (1744-c1805) by Isaac Walker (1721-1807)							Edit This List
Name	DOB	POB	DOD	POD	Spouse	DOM	POM	Notes
Isaac WALKER,	c1752	Prince George's Co., MD.			Unk HAMILTON
Charles WALKER,	born Bef. May 10, 1753	in St. John's Parish, Prince George's Co., MD.			He married Sarah Wilson RYAN September 04, 1778.
Catherine (Kate) WALKER,	born 1755.				She married Thomas SHERIFE.
Nathan WALKER	1756	Prince George's Co., MD;	1842	Toaping Castle, Prince George's County, Maryland.	He married (1) Nancy BEGGERLY. He married (2) Elizabeth THOMAS.
Francis WALKER,	July 08, 1758 in	Toaping Castle, Prince George's Co., MD;	March 11, 1846	Silver Creek, Simpson Co., MS.	(1) Charity Elizabeth BUSH 1790 in Edgefield District, South Carolina; born 1771 in Edgefield District, SC; died 1829 in Silver Creek, Westville, Simpson Co., MS. (2) Elizabeth WEATHERSBY Abt. 1831 in Simpson County, MS; born March 23, 1798.
Ezekiel WALKER, born He married	c1759	Prince George Co., MD.			Mary Ann FLUKER; born March 08, 1771; died Aft. 1820 in Wayne County, Mississippi.
Joel WALKER,	born Abt. 1761 in	Prince George Co., MD.

Descendants

Her daughter charity Elizabeth Bush,her daughter,Mary Elizabeth Peters,daughter, Sibbie Elizabeth McCarty daughter georgeann Francis Fletcher her daughter Inez Harper daughter Kathryn Elizabeth street daughter Karen Elizabeth Hatten, daughter Kristin Elizabeth Williams her daughter's Kayleigh Elizabeth main and Josie Breann lenard.i am Karen Elizabeth Hatten

• Mary Elizabeth Walker (1798-1837) (dau of Francis Walker and Charity Elizabeth Bush) m Amos McCarty (1792-1840)
• Allen McCarty (1815-1895) m Mary Jane Peters (1814-1890)
• Elizabeth McCarty (1840-1920) "Sibbie" m George Washington Fletcher (1842-1916)
• Georgiana Frances Fletcher (1872-1933) m William Jasper Harper (1864-1941)
• Inez Loron Harper (1913-1994) m Eugene Justin Street (1911-1981)
• Kathryn Elizabeth Street

Records

From State Historical Marker transcribed by "Tales Swapper"

Toaping Castle (Circa 1750)

On this site, Isaac, Charles, and Nathan Walker erected a large white

oak log house, named for their ancestral stronghold in Scotland which the three brothers had fled after the failure of attempts to unseat George I, King of England, as ruler of Scotland. Isaac permanently settled here and obtained land grants for 188 acres. He and his three sons served in the Revolutionary War. The graves of Isaac and his son Nathan are north of here.

Toaping Castle was the birthplace of Samuel Hamilton Walker (Feb 24,

1817-Oct 9, 1847), Lt. Colonel of the Texas Rangers and Captain of the U.S. Cavalry. He left home at age 18 to fight Indians. And later he became a leader and hero of the Rangers. His suggested changes to Samuel Colt's revolver resulted in Colt's success as an arms manufacturer. 1000 Colt-Walker Pistols -- the first, heaviest, and longest revolvers ever issued to American forces-- were purchased for the Texas Rangers during the Mexican War. Walker was killed in that war at the Battle of Hua Mantla, Mexico.

The family cemetery is all that remains of the Toaping Castle estate.

Research needs

The family history, as given by "Samuel H. Walker (1844-1935) on the occasion of his parents 50th wedding anniversary in 1883" was written 75 years after the death of Samuel's grandparents, about whom this passage was written. Since we do not have the exact source for this item, it can not be checked to see if the passage accurately reflects the original. There are, however, suspcious elements in the genealogy. First, most of the lineages given on Ancestry give the DOB of Elizabeth Stuart as 1733/c1734, with a marriage date of 1744---when she was ten years of age. A few lineages (3 out of 30), push her DOB back to a more probable 1723, making her a round 21 years at marriage. The eldest child is consistently shown as being born in 1750 in Maryland. Possibly the 6 missing years are due to Isaac's flight to France, and later to America, or perhaps the Flight to France, etc. has been "supposed" to make sense of the missing years. In otherwords, we might expect that the marriage occurred in America c 1750, rather than in Scotland. Absent direct evidence other than Samuel H. Wakers commemorative speech, we can't evaluate this point in detail.