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Walker - McClure/McMurry Family |
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The following is transcribed from a hand-written document covering the history of the Walker side of Dad's family (his mother, Helen (Nellie) Walker's side). I have tried to modify as little as possible, but felt some changes were warranted:
In the year 1851, Samuel Walker and Christinia (Hayes) Walker with their seven sons and two daughters left their home in Lancashire, England, and took ship for the United States of America. The baby daughter died on the way over and was buried in the ocean. The names of the children were Soloman Hayes, Thomas Hayes, James H., Frederic H., Peter H., Samuel H., Robert H., and Alice Christinia. The family settled in Rhode Island, but after a few years there moved on to Wisconsin. The oldest son, Soloman with Sara, his wife, staying in Rhode Island where he had a bleaching factory. They had two children Samuel & Emma.
While in Wisconsin, Peter Hayes, at the age of 20, entered the army and served the four years of the Civil War, during which time he was first lieutenant and adjutant. At the close of the War, Nebraska was opened up for homesteading and the Walker family loaded their possessions in covered wagons and, with the exception of Thomas and his wife Dora, they moved to Nebraska. Thomas was a Methodist Minister, Presiding Elder, and was often called "The Grand Old Man". They had two sons, lawyers, David and Samuel, and one daughter, Alice. After reaching Nebraska Samuel, Sr., Jas, Fred and Peter homesteaded 160 acres each, the nearest town being Plattsmouth thirty miles away.
At about the same time Albert McMurry and Sarah (McClure) McMurry with their six children, Helen, Albert, William, Marian, Margaret, and Martha came from Illinois in their covered wagons to take homesteads. While in Illinois Helen taught school, in Nebraska, she took a homestead which she later sold to her father.
In those days, boys went to see the girls on horseback and if they went any place they rode double. One of their big events was singing school, another was literary society.
Peter was considered especially fortunate because he had a brand new lumber wagon to take his girl in.
In 1872, in October, Peter Hayes Walker and Sara Helen McMurry were married and started housekeeping in his homestead, which is two miles east of Waverly.
To this union eight children were born: - Mary Alice, Frank, Fred, Helen (Nellie), Bert, Edna, Alma, and Charles (who died at the age of six months).
In 1882 he filled a vacancy in the state legislature, to which office he was elected the next term.
He served in the United States revenue four years.
Both were members of the Waverly Methodist Church. Both were good citizens and worked for whatever they thought was for the good of the community, but if they thought anything would be harmful they worked just as hard against it!
That is the end of this part of the document. The document also contains two family trees, one Walker and the other McClure/McMurry. Ultimately we hope to have a genealogical section to this Web site, but for now I will list the information from those family trees:
Daniel McClure, born 1754 and died 1825, married Martha Baird. Their children were Charles McClure, Joseph McClure, James McClure, Mary McClure (Archer), Martha McClure (Armstrong), David McClure, Jane McClure, Elizabeth McClure (Elliot), Ella McClure (Stockwell), Thomas McClure (born 1788 died 1834 married Elizabeth Handly).
Their son, David Gray McClure (the chart does not list the wife - she may be the Native American that was never acknowledged by the family), had children Samuel McClure, Thomas McClure, William McClure, Elizabeth McClure (Eckley), Ben Franklin McClure, Martha Jane McClure, and Sarah McClure (McMurry).
David Gray McClure's daughter Sarah married Albert McMurry. They had eight children: Martha Jane (Wheeler), Marion, Albert, William, Margaret (Cooley), Thomas, Richard Baxter (killed in the Civil War), Sarah Helen (born in Vincennes, Ind. on April 9, 1848).
Sarah Helen McMurry married Peter Hayes Walker (born in Bolton, Lancashire, England, on March 13, 1841) in Greenwood, Nebraska, on October 13, 1872. Peter was State Senator of Nebraska, also Internal Revenue Col(lector). His father was first Post Master in Lancaster Co. Sarah Helen was a school teacher in Ind. Their children were Mary Alice, Frank, Fred, Helen (Nellie), Albert (Bert), Edna Myrtle, Alma, and Charles Mark.
Their daughter, Helen (Nellie), was born in Lexington, Ind. on December 23, 1879. On October 16, 1905, she married William Noah Sweet (born in Lexington, Ind. on September 30, 1874) in Denver, Colorado. Their children were Mona Grace (born Havelock, Nebraska, on August 27, 1906), Helen Jeanette (born in Waverly, Nebraska, on September 4, 1908), James Merrill (Dad born Waverly, Nebraska, on January 23, 1910), Verne Hayes (born Waverly, Nebraska, on December 21, 1912), and Glenn William (born Waverly, Nebraska, on October 26, 1914).
Mona Grace married Guy in Agricola on December 25, 1926. Helen Jeanette married Roy Bones in Princeton on August 2,1926. James Merrill (Dad) married Frances Bowman (Mom) in Kansas City on October 7, 1933. Verne Hayes married Adele in Washington, D.C., on September 20, 193?. Glenn William married Sophia Irene "Sophie" Kinderknecht in Ottawa on July 14, 1940.
The copy I have does not include the last digits of Verne's or Bill's wedding years. It also does not include the last name of spouses. Joan Sweet sent me the missing information for Bill and Sophie, but I still need it for Verne. If you have that information, please send it to me and I will update this page.
