Who Were Mary Walker's Parents?

Last week (March 25th) I wrote about my 4th great-grandmother, Mary Jane Walker. I noted that she was born in South Carolina in 1801. She died before 1880 so the census does not give a clue about where her parents were born. Since there are over 100 men named Walker in the 1800 South Carolina census that does not seem the avenue to take to try to find her parents.

A Martha Walker married Joseph England (brother to Mary's husband William) in the same county where Mary and William were married, Gibson County Tennessee, not quite a year later in 1828. It seems reasonable to me that Martha could be her sister. Martha is said to have been born in 1806 in Christian County Kentucky. So that opens up looking at Walker families in Christian County Kentucky. I believe it is very probable that the England family were living in Stewart County, Tennessee, for the 1820 census. This borders the part of Christian County that became Trigg County in 1820. A few years ago I was able to visit Trigg County and check out the genealogical materials in the public library in the county seat, Cadiz Kentucky.

William and Mary (Walker) England were living in Illinois from about 1830 to 1847. First they were in Montgomery County and then Greene County. There were several Walkers living in Greene County. There were some Walkers in their marriage records. One which interested me was Eliza Serena E Walker (born about 1817 in Kentucky) who married Thomas A. Bell in 1834. According to an England family history there was a family story that one of the England sisters married a Bell. It seems more probable that it was a sister of the Walkers (who married Englands) who married the Bell. Then in the 1850 census there is a Rachel Walker, age 70, born in South Carolina, who was living with the Thomas Bell family in Greene County. Could Rachel be Mary's mother?

If Rachel was the mother of Mary, Martha and Eliza, she should have been in Christian/Trigg County around 1810 and 1820. Of course the census in those years only listed head of household. But there were Walkers there. In 1810 in Christian County there was an Elijah, 2 James, 2 Johns, 2 Richards and a Samuel. In 1820 in Trigg County there was a James, a John and a Samuel, very likely some of the same men from the previous census. John had six daughters with ages to include Mary, Martha and Eliza. Among the publications I found at the Cadiz library were books of transcribed deed records. Among these I found a deed from John Walker and his wife Rachel in 1822. By 1830 there is a John Walker in Greene County Illinois who matches the age of the John Walker in Trigg County and there is a daughter the correct age to be Eliza.

Mary and William England named their oldest son John and their youngest daughter Rachel. I have concluded that her parents were probably John and Rachel Walker.