Tallapoosa County Alabama Biographies - Walker, James Nathaniel ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.genrecords.net/altallap/ ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb by: Bob Walker reklaw2@comcast.net Jun 6, 2006 JAMES NATHANIEL WALKER James Nathaniel WALKER was born 21 Sep 1840 in Tallapoosa, Alabama, a son of Robert Harris WALKER, born 28 Oct 1816 in Monticello, Jasper Co. Georgia and mother Louisa Lucinda KEITH, born 12 Jan 1821 in Putnam Co, Georgia. Lucinda was the daughter of Jeremiah KEITH and Louisa Haney DOSTER. Robert and Louisa were married 12 Nov 1838 in Tallapoosa Co, Alabama and were the parents of eleven children. In early 1866, James Nathaniel WALKER met the Mormon missionaries in Springhill, Arkansas and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day- Saints on 18 Jul 1866 by Elder Robert A. Allred & confirmed by Elder James Gardiner. He migrated by covered wagon in the company of other Saints from Arkansas to Salt Lake City to start a new life. Here he met and married Rosanna Francis ESKELSON, daughter of Jens “James” and Sophie Catharina Margaretha Jacobson ESKELSON on 28 Jan 1868. Their first daughter, Sarah Amanda was born in Salt Lake City on 30 Jan 1869. Shortly after, they moved to Herriman, southwest of Salt Lake City where three more daughters were born – Martha Elizabeth, 7 Nov 1870, Rosanna Francis, 21 Dec 1871 and Elnora Catherine "Kate", 20 Jan 1876 On 23 Jan 1876, Brigham YOUNG called about 200 families to settle and colonize the remote area in Northeastern Arizona and he established four Captains for each 50 families - William C. Allen for Allen' Camp or St Joseph settlement, Lot Smith for the Sunset settlement, George Lake for the Obed settlement and Jesse Ballinger for the Brigham City settlement. All four settlements were within about 25 miles of each other. The James Nathaniel WALKER family was one of two called from the Herriman Ward. Their object was to establish the area for further colonization, to befriend the Indians in the area and to live the United Order and live the Law of Consecration, also to serve as a way station for plural families migrating to Mexico to avoid arrest and persecution. Those who went to Arizona and stayed, did so in a firm conviction that they were called by the Prophet of God and was as binding as though God himself had spoken. James went ahead with the original group and his family followed 7 months later, due to the birth of daughter Kate. It was a trip of 700 miles by covered wagon. The last 350 miles, southeast of Kanab, the wagon trails were poorly defined through rough terrain and through the normally peaceful Navajo Indian country, but because several Braves had been killed by the settlers prior to their coming, it was life threatening. Crossing the Colorado River Gorge was extremely difficult. Their original settlement was called Allen's Camp after the leader of the group, William C. ALLEN. and later changed to St Joseph, then in about 1916, it was changed to Joseph City. It initially consisted of 47 families including the James Nathaniel WALKER family. They worked hard to establish their new settlement, building a Fort and organizing the United Order, which was quite successful for several years. This is the oldest Mormon community in Arizona. When James returned in mid 1876 for his family and to report the progress of his mission to his wife Rosanna "Rosa", he broached the subject of the covenant of Celestial Plural Marriage. He had observed other polygamist families and was anxious to fulfill it and he felt he could support a second wife. Rosanna agreed and they decided on twenty three year old Emma DANSIE, who they had befriended three years earlier when she arrived by herself into their small Herriman Ward. Emma had been very helpful to Rosanna and her four small daughters after James had left for Arizona. Emma was willing to agree to a marriage to a tall handsome, dashing man who was thirteen years older than she was. She adored Rosanna and her daughters and it meant leaving her own family and the comforts of home, moving to an unknown desert wilderness where no white man had lived far from the heart of Zion. She and James were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on 4 Oct 1876, eight years after James' first marriage. Emma DANSIE was born 24 May 1853 in Boxford, Suffolk, England. At the age of 20, she immigrated by herself from England on the ship "Idaho" and arrived in New York 5 Nov 1873. She took a train to Utah and settled in Herriman. Utah, where she became acquainted with the James Nathaniel WALKER family. Her father, James DANSIE and stepmother immigrated in early July 1874 on the ship "Nevada", arriving in New York 23 Jun 1874 and then traveling by train to Salt Lake City and thence to Herriman. After James and Emma were married, the family, including Rosanna and her four children, prepared to travel back to Arizona. After 2 months of preparation, the wagons were loaded and equipped as well as possible for the comfort of the two wives and four young daughters including Emma's beloved pump organ and writing desk, Danish family heirlooms. The trek to Arizona was James and Emma's honeymoon and was both an exciting and fearsome adventure, especially crossing the mighty Colorado River, and they covered about twelve miles a day. The first 350 miles was mostly through a string of Mormon settlements, where they were welcomed and received many invitations for meals and feed for the animals. Then they traveled for weeks through harsh wilderness almost without seeing another human. After several weeks, they arrived at Allen's Fort on 2 Feb 1877, and were greeted with a warm welcome and celebration. Their new extended family of the United Order of St Joseph, some 66 strong, gave them a joyous welcome. James was especially loved by the group and was noted for his powerful preaching. Rossie and Emma moved into their own little home in the stockade and her pump organ was moved into their newly built meeting house, where it was used for services as well as entertainment. Rossie and Emma shared in the household chores, as well as helping in the fields and garden, sharing in work of the Order, carding and spinning wool, weaving, sewing quilts and rugs and making soap and candles. During this period, James served as Ward Clerk from 1876 till 1878 and later served on the Little Colorado Stake High Council. From the beginning, the settlement of Allen's Colony had lived in a communal state of sharing, but needed to have a more clear cut policy and organization, so the Laws of Consecration were drawn up at a meeting on 28 Apr 1877, chaired by James Nathaniel WALKER. The articles and rules of conduct were presented and signed. Of the 50 original colonists, only 35 signed the document, including James N. WALKER, Rosanna WALKER and Emma WALKER. The year 1877 was a great year for farming in the Allen Colony. Several homes were built, a meeting/school house, blacksmith shop, corrals, stockyards and many other improvements. Much land was cleared, crops planted and a lumber mill, gristmill and a dam was constructed to provide water for a thirsty land. By the help of the Lord, the mission was a success. They were always aware of hostile Indian attacks and were grateful for the safety of the Fort. St Joseph later became part of the first Stake of Zion to be organized in Arizona on 27 Jan 1878. James Nathaniel was one of the original twelve High Councilors to serve in the Little Colorado Stake. For several years, he would help govern the religious activities affecting the Saints in the region. He would prepare and give powerful sermons thoughout the four original colonies and other settlements in the region. He was named one of the trustees for the Arizona Territorial Government for the School District on 6 Apr 1878. Emma gave birth to her first child, a son James William WALKER on 4 Jun 1878 and three weeks later on 25 Jun 1878, Rosanna gave birth to her fifth daughter Florence Ann WALKER, in St Joseph, Arizona. 1880 Census for Arizona, St. Joseph, Apache, taken on 1 June, shows James (37) and Rosanna (27) with five daughters, Sarah (10), Martha (8), Rosanna (6), Katherine (4) and Florence (2). (Of note, their is no mention in the census, of any of the polygamous wives and/or children of the residents of St. Joseph, including Emma Dansie WALKER and her first child, James William WALKER.) On 14 Jul 1880, the two year old daughter Florence Ann died and was buried that evening. With the New Year of 1881, was the birth of James's and Rossie's sixth child and first son, Joseph Nathaniel WALKER, born 1 Jan 1881 at St Joseph, Arizona. January 1883, there became dissatisfaction within the Order after so many years of brotherly love. After much debate, there was a direction to move away from the Family Order to a Stewardship Plan where each family would be given a ten acre plat of land and a lot in the townsite and necessary equipment to farm his land. All agreed with the new organization and their individual accountability for their stewardship. James, Rosanna and Emma moved onto their farm to begin cultivating and planting. Because Arizona Territory was part of the United States and polygamy was now illegal, the Federal Marshals had a warrant for James' arrest, as he was involved in a polygamist relationship. This weighed heavy on Rossie and Emma's conscience. On 1 Jun 1884, Rosanna delivered her second son and seventh child, George Oscar in Heber, Arizona where the family had moved to avoid arrest. On 13 Dec 1884, Emma delivered her third son, Heber Chase WALKER, named after the place where they were hiding from the federal marshal. On 7 Feb 1885, they were warned through a friend that the marshal knew their hiding place, and again they loaded up their provisions and made a hasty retreat farther up the canyon to a remote place called Wilford where they stayed in hiding for two years. Nothing is known of them during this time except Rosanna delivered her eighth child on 18 Apr 1886, Jeremiah Johnathan WALKER. Dozens of polygamist brethren were now in federal prison. The marshals probably thought James had escaped to Mexico with hundreds of other polygamists. On 31 Jul 1887, thinking his family safe, they moved back to their old quarters in the Fort in St Joseph. On 9 Mar 1888, soon after he had come out of hiding to testify at a Church Excommunication trial, James was arrested not for polygamy, but for incest. (See note 2) The very High Council on which he had served excommunicated him from the Church on 18 Mar 1888. He was sentenced on 21 Sep 1888 to serve ten years and on 5 Oct 1888, was incarcerated in the Federal Prison at Yuma, Arizona, (Prisoner Nr. 534), just blocks from Mexico. What an emotional shock to his two wives and adoring children. In the aftermath of this great tragedy, Emma gave birth to her fourth child, a daughter, Eva Pearl WALKER on 7 Jun 1888. Rosanna and Emma were devastated and felt betrayed for they adored, respected and revered their beloved James. All those years of commitment to the work of the Lord, those long years of deprivation and isolation in running from the law. It was a tragedy from which they never did recover. Rosanna and Emma were unwilling to wait ten years for James' release from prison and they didn't want to remain in St Joseph without him, so they chose to return to Salt Lake City, to Zion. With their meager proceeds from the sale of their land and home in St Joseph, they loaded all their provisions onto their covered wagons and with their children, took the long tedious journey back to Utah, departing about 18 Oct 1888. Emma and her four children arrived back in Herriman on 5 Nov 1888, where her Father and Dansie relatives lived. Rosanna and her children went to Kamas, Utah where she had lived before her marriage. She was so angry with James, his infidelity, excommunication and the disgrace of his imprisonment that she immediately filed for a Temple divorce and by 28 Dec 1888, she was issued a new Temple recommend from the Woodland Ward, Kamas, Utah Post Script On the 21st of May 1889 with no news of his family and in deep despair on the length of his prison term and the horrible conditions of the prison, James Nathaniel WALKER achieved one of the most daring escapes imaginable from the Federal Penitentiary in Yuma, Arizona. ( See note 3) In the company of another inmate named A. PORTER, they boated down the Colorado River and crossed over into Mexico and he was a free man again. He arrived safely in Colonia Dublan in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico in mid 1889, where the area was just beginning to develop and he witnessed remarkable changes in the next few years. James was very industrious and with the energy of a much younger man, improved the area and began a new life, trying to repent of his mistake and showing his love for the Lord and his Gospel Hundreds of polygamist brethren and their families had fled the United States and had settled in the area and for several years, life in northern Mexico was relatively peaceful and James was enjoying his "Golden Years". In great humility, James Nathaniel WALKER finished his probation after three long years and he was rebaptized on 17 Dec 1891 by C. L. Allred, again a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was ordained a Priest on 10 Mar 1894 by Elder William A. Farr. It took twenty long years for James to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood when he was ordained an Elder on 8 Mar 1908 by Elder William A. Farr. Times in Mexico were changing and a great revolt of the Mestizo peasant classes for land reform was taking place. The notorious savage General Huerta GURZA and the infamous Pancho VILLA and his band of desperadoes were leading it. They roared through the northern providence's of Mexico on a trail of destruction, looting, burning and pillaging the land and the villages and towns. Pancho VILLA and his gang traveled to the more remote regions of northern Mexico to wreak havoc on the unprepared Mormon colonists. By July 1912, the colonists were busy trying to gather as many personal effects to get out of the country before the revolution reached the area. They were demanded to surrender their guns and ammunition to the rebel army. Many homes were looted and a number of killings took place. For fear of more molestation, they were to evacuate to El Paso, Texas. Four thousand refugees from the Mormon colonies, mostly women and children, arrived in El Paso between the end of July and August 9th 1912. Though most of the Mormon colonists fled to safety in the States, James Nathaniel would not leave, fearing he would be arrested. He and a few other brave men and some friendly Mexican's remained behind to harvest the crops. James was found murdered, beaten to death in his own little home, on 25 Oct 1912 in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico. He was possibly killed by Pancho Villa's desperadoes who were rampaging the area. Thus ended the dramatic saga of James Nathaniel WALKER. His escapades in the southern states during the Civil War; the colonization of the north western Mormon territories of Arizona and primitive northern Mexico are a tribute to his daring adventurous spirit and love of freedom. Note 1 Biography is a condensed and edited version of the 100+ page biography written by John Hunt West, great grandson of James Nathaniel Walker and Emma Dansie (38 References Listed) - Edited by R. D. Walker Note 2 Specifics of James's transgression is contained in John Bushman's Journal, pages 124, 125 and 128. Subject pages are available in MyDocuments/Genealogy. Note 3 Also available, is an article from the Arizona Sentinel detailing his escape from the Territorial Prison at Yuma, AZ Sources Bio – James Nathaniel Walker by John Hunt West US Federal Census – 1880 LDS Ancestral File & IGI – Family Search. org URL - http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=reklaw2 This is a work in progress and contains some information that may not be verified. Written by – Robert D. Walker 1021 E Cambridge Rd. Kaysville, UT 84037 reklaw2@comcast.net