James Harvey and Milton
Green Walker (right); photo from Vesta (Taylor)
Underwood
Milton Green Walker, called Green, was the youngest
of Edward and
Sarah (Crumley) Walker's children, being born 23
May 1856 probably at his
parents' home on Mulberry
Creek. Some questions arise as to Green's actual
birth date; his tombstone and some late records place
his birth in 1858, but the earliest records suggest
1856 to be the better date.
In any event, he was quite young when his father died,
so he likely had no memory of him at all. His childhood
memories most likely would have centered around the
Civil War's effects on his area.
Sitting, from left: Lizzie
(Phillips) Walker, Vesta (Taylor) Underwood; standing:
Martha (Walker) Taylor; on ground: Elizabeth Margrave;
photo courtesy Vesta (Taylor) Underwood.
On 29 December 1881, he married Mary Elizabeth Johnston
in Claiborne County, the daughter of Isaac McNew and
Vesta (Southern) Johnston. Mary was born 19 April 1864
probably in Claiborne County. Her father was a Confederate
soldier who later moved to Texas and regretted his service.
According to Adelia (Guthry) Knight, Green's mother
took in washing to put her two sons through college.
Green graduated from Lincoln Memorial University.
Original Newport Grammar
School, now a Masonic lodge; photo taken 7/30/2006
by Phillip A. Walker.
Soon after his marriage, he moved along with his mother
and brother James
Harvey to Jacksboro in Campbell County. With Jim,
he founded the Walker Brothers School according to Green's
granddaughter, Vesta (Taylor) Underwood. No record has
yet been found of the school, but such schools came
and went frequently.
In the early 1890s, they all moved to Newport in Cocke
County, Tennessee, and Green was both a teacher and
superintendent for several years, and he also sold dry
goods. From 1899 to 1901, Green served as a Republican
in the Tennessee General Assembly from Cocke County.
Green and a Newport class;
photo courtesy Edward R. Walker, III, (unrelated),
Cocke County Historian
Both he and his brother were active in the Methodist
Church in Newport and were instrumental in founding
Union Cemetery. Not only are their families buried in
Union Cemetery, they apparently moved their mother's
grave after the cemetery opened.
Milton Green Walker's
house in Athens; photo taken in 1992 by Roma A.
Walker.
Tombstone in Union Cemetery;
photo taken 8/30/2005 by Phillip A. Walker.
Even when living in Cocke County, he seems to have
taught in several school systems. He eventually built
a house and settled in Clinton. He taught in Lonsdale
in Knox County for five years and apparently schools
throughout East Tennessee for his entire life.
He died 17 September 1924 in what was then called Knoxville
General Hospital of heart failure resulting from arteriosclerosis
and arterial hypertension with cardiac hypertrophy as
a contributory factor. His body was taken back to Newport
to be buried next to his mother two days after he died.
His wife lived more than 30 more years, finally succumbing
21 August 1955 probably in Clinton, and she is buried
next to Green.
