R. F. WALKER, a retired farmer and respected citizen of Maryville, was born in Blount County, February 25, 1818. He was reared on a farm and educated in the country schools. He left home in 1858, and married Margaret Euphemia McCONNELL, a native of the County. Their children are Laura (now Mrs. McBATH, of this county), Robert Sanford and Jennie, the last mentioned of whom is an accomplished artist of considerable talent. Several of her painted landscapes would do no discredit to a master hand. After marriage he farmed the home place, which he and his mother had purchased, and after they sold that, he bought a farm near Maryville, in 1872. Since March, 1886, he has lived in town. He is a trustee of the Maryville City Mills.
His grandfather, John WALKER, came to North Carolina from Ireland, and served in the Revolution. The father of our subject was born in Pennsylvania, and the family moved to Blount County, where the grandfather soon died. David, the father, married Jane JOHNSON, a native of South Carolina. They died in this county about 1864 and 1855, respectively. The father was a farmer. Our subject was the fifth child of five sons and five daughters, of whom, three of the former and one of the latter are living.
Source: Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of from Twenty-Five to Thirty Counties of East Tennessee. Chicago: Goodspeed, 1887.