Our Family Documents

John Walker Succession - 1840

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John Walker's succession is filed in the Opelousas Courthouse. This John Walker was the same John who acted as the administrator of the Jeremiah Walker succession in 1835. The information in the succession indicates that John had accrued a lot of debt and most of his property being auctioned would go towards paying off the debts. There was a Thomas J. Walker (He would have been 18 yrs. old) at the auction who purchased some of the property. It is my guess that John was Thomas' father and the son of Jeremiah Walker. I have no evidence of this relationship, but base my theory on several things. One is the age difference between Thomas and Jeremiah. Jeremiah was about 80 when he died in 1834-1835. Thomas would have been 12-13 years of age then. Although possible, I don't believe that Thomas was the son of Jeremiah. He is more likely the son of John or another son of Jeremiah. The second thing is the common naming practice used by most people of this time period. If Jeremiah was his father, Thomas should have named his first son after Jeremiah instead of John as he did. Also, John Walker was named the Administrator of Jeremiah's succession. Thomas was in attendance of John's succession and purchased several things that would have been considered "family heirlooms". Also he purchased some of the slaves who may have been in the family for a long time. Attorney Caleb L. Swayze was appointed as the Administrator of John's succession for two reasons. Thomas may have been considered too young and Swayze also represented some of the debt holders who were interested in the outcome of the succession auction. Thomas is the gggrandfather of Bryant W. Walker.