Christopher Columbus Walker

Christopher Columbus Walker, son of John Thomas Walker and Emily Caroline White, was born in Anderson County, South Carolina on February 9, 1840. There were at least five other children in this family—Chester Milton Walker, Benjamin Franklin Walker, Cynthia Caroline Walker, Isaac Newton Walker, and Emily Caroline Walker. Christopher was the husband of my 2nd great grand aunt Miranda Elizabeth Holland, sister of my 2nd great grandfather Leroy Thomas Holland. We have no common relatives.

On September 4, 1850, Christopher and his family lived in the Eastern Subdivision of Anderson County, South Carolina. His father was a farmer. 

I have been unable to find Christopher in the 1860 census but pick up the paper trail the following year. The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 when life changed for many people. Men lined up to enlist but Christopher held off. On December 29, 1861, he married Miranda Elizabeth Holland, daughter of John Holland and Elizabeth Hutchinson Majors, in Pickens County, South Carolina. By February 1862, it appears that Miranda was pregnant. On July 1, 1862, he was enlisted as a Private by Lt. Calhoun at the Pickens District to serve in Capt. Rene T. Beauregard’s Company of the South Carolina Light Artillery under Capt. Thomas B. Ferguson. Company Muster Rolls show that he was present for the months November and December 1862 which means he missed the birth of his first child, a daughter they named Louette Elizabeth Walker, born on November 1, 1862. The few records I found documenting his service show he also appeared on the Company Muster Roll January to June 1863 and November to December 1863. He was paid on October 31, 1862, December 31, 1862 ($50), February 28, 1863, April 30, 1863, and June 30, 1863 and issued clothing on March 21, May 7, June 24, July 27, and August 8, all in the year 1864. According to the National Park Service, Beauregard’s Company, South Carolina Light Artillery aka “Ferguson’s Battery was organized in April, 1862, at Charleston, South Carolina. After serving in South Carolina, the unit moved to Mississippi and fought under General Gist at Jackson. Later it joined the Army of Tennessee and was assigned to Palmer’s, R. Martin’s, and R. Cobb’s Battalion of Artillery. Not engaged at Chickamauga, the battery served with the army from Chattanooga to Nashville. However, most of the men and all of its guns were captured at Nashville. Captains R. T. Beauregard and T. B. Ferguson were in command.” The Company was armed with “two 6-pound smoothbores and two 12-pound Napoleons” according to the web page South Carolina Artillery Units in the War of the Rebellion. Fold3 records show the Regiment mustered out of service on December 16, 1864. The Application for Headstone for Christopher submitted by his daughter Betty in 1936 records his discharge date as April 8, 1865, the end of the war. Which is the correct date? 

After Christopher returned to South Carolina, whenever that was, the family began to grow. He and Miranda would go on to have 14 children—Louette (Lulah or Lula) Elizabeth Walker (1862), Jesse (or Jessie) Robert Walker (1866), John Christopher Walker (1868), E. Fannie Walker (1870), Mamie Princess Walker (1872), Samuel Moore Walker (1873), James Berry Walker (1874-twin), William Perry Walker (1874-twin), Lena Maranda Walker (1879), Charles C. Walker (1881), Betty Maybelle Walker (1883), and three that did not survive. A militia enrollment taken in 1869 showed that Christopher was a 29-year-old farmer living in Belton, Anderson County, South Carolina.

On July 12, 1870, Christopher, Miranda, Louette, Jessie, and John lived in the Broadway Township of Anderson County, South Carolina. Christopher worked as a farm laborer and had a personal estate valued at $105. Miranda, enumerated as Malinda, stayed at home “keeping house.”

On June 8, 1880, Christopher and his family, now with eight children, lived in Belton. He worked as a farmer, Miranda was keeping house, and sons Jesse and John were farm laborers. Lula, Jesse, and John all attended school. On June 30, 1887, it appears Christopher nearly lost his home to a fire. The Intelligencer, Anderson’s local newspaper, reported the following:

The dwelling house and kitchen of Mr. C. C. Walker, who resides on Mr. W. W. Smith’s plantation, in Garvin Township, were destroyed by fire on last Friday night about 12 o’clock. The fire originated in the kitchen, which was almost consumed before Mr. Walker was awakened. The kitchen was only a few feet from the house, and it was impossible to keep the latter from burning. Mr. Walker succeeded in saving nearly all of his household furniture. The cause of the fire is not known.

Perhaps it was the fire that brought a move to the Storeville section of Anderson County which is where Christopher lived on July 7, 1892 when The Intelligencer reported on his cotton crop:

The first cotton bloom that has been shown us this season comes from Mr. C. C. Walker’s plantation, in the Storeville section. It made its appearance on Sunday, June 27th. Mr. Walker also exhibited to us a sample stalk of his cotton crop, which measured nearly four feet in height. He has only twenty acres in cotton, and this stalk, which is well fruited, is an average one from his fields. Mr. Walker is a practical farmer, and advocates raising home supplies and making cotton a surplus crop.

In 1893, Christopher and Miranda sent son John off to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. John would go on to become a dentist. On March 15, 1893, The Intelligencer reported that a “quilting and sociable” had been held at the Walker home and “was very much enjoyed by the young people.” A church going man, Christopher was a delegate to the first Saluda Association of the Baptist Church that met with Rocky River Church in July 1894. The Intelligencer reported that Christopher was visited by “Mr. Silas Kay and family, of Belton …” in August 1894. His daughter Louette married Silas Kay about 1881. By 1894, she and Silas had at least seven children.

On June 18, 1900, Christopher and his family lived in a rental home on F Street in Anderson, Anderson County, South Carolina. Christopher was enumerated as Columbus C. Walker and worked as a furniture sealer. Miranda was enumerated as having had 14 children, 9 of which were living. Three adult children remained at home. Son Jesse was enumerated as 33 years old and married 10 years, however, there was no sign of a wife living in the home. Jesse worked as a day laborer. Lena, age 21, worked as a weaver in a cotton mill, and Charlie, age 19, worked as a slubber hand in the cotton mill, someone who removed the bobbins from the spindles in the mill. Christopher’s son Jesse died in Pelzer, Anderson County, South Carolina on February 6, 1908. He was buried at Cedar Grove Baptist Church Cemetery in Belton.

On April 20, 1910, Christopher, again enumerated as Columbus, lived in a rental home on Catlett Street in Varennes, Anderson County, South Carolina. At age 70, Christopher had retired. There was a boarder named John Hanna, an 80-year-old widower, living in the home. 

Christopher died in Anderson County on January 19, 1913. He was buried at Silver Brook Cemetery (aka Old Silver Brook Cemetery) in Anderson. 

A year after his death, Miranda filed for a widow’s pension but needed witnesses from other men who served in Beauregard’s Artillery with Christopher. To find them, an article was published in The Intelligencer on February 17, 1914:

Survivors Wanted of Beauregard Company. Are there any survivors in Anderson or among the readers of The Intelligencer of the Beauregard Artillery? Information to this effect will be received very gratefully by Mrs. C. C. Walker, relict of the late C. C. or “Lum” Walker, who served in that command. It will be necessary in getting some important matters settled for Mrs. Walker to have two of his comrades to state as witnesses that they knew the deceased and that he was a member of that command. Unfortunately the military history of Anderson county is in such poor shape that it is difficult to get information of this kind. Some old comrades please let Mrs. Walker hear from them. Mr. Walker enlisted in the Beauregard Artillery on the 6th of July, 1863 and served until the surrender. The captain of his battery was named Ferguson. Mr. Walker died on the 19th of January, 1913.

His daughter Betty (Mrs. W. H. Moore) applied to the War Department for a military headstone on September 4, 1936. The application recorded Beauregard’s regiment as Company F, the only record I’ve seen that shows that. As noted above, the record provides a different enlistment year, 1861 vs. 1862 on the Company Muster Rolls. It also provides a discharge date, but is it correct?  

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References

• Battle Unit Details, Confederate South Carolina Troops, Beauregard's Company, South Carolina Light Artillery (Ferguson’s), The Civil War, National Park Service; https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battle-units-detail.htm?battleUnitCode=CSCBEAUCAL.
• Christopher Columbus Walker, U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925–1970.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/19749534/christopher-columbus-walker: accessed 01 January 2022), memorial page for Christopher Columbus “Lum” Walker (9 Feb 1840–19 Jan 1913), Find a Grave Memorial ID 19749534, citing Silver Brook Cemetery, Anderson, Anderson County, South Carolina, USA; maintained by Gale and David Moore (contributor 46910034).
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/48777468/jessie-robert-walker: accessed 01 January 2022), memorial page for Jessie Robert Walker (26 Aug 1866–6 Feb 1908), Find a Grave Memorial ID 48777468, citing Cedar Grove Baptist Church Cemetery, Belton, Anderson County, South Carolina, USA; maintained by Cousins by the Dozens (contributor 46904925).
• Local News, The Intelligencer, Anderson, South Carolina, June 30, 1887, July 7, 1892, March 15, 1893, October 25, 1893, and August 29, 1894.
• Personal visit to Old Silverbrook Cemetery, Anderson, South Carolina.
• Roll of Citizens, Militia Enrollments, 1869.
• Saluda Association, The Intelligencer, Anderson, South Carolina, July 25, 1894.
• South Carolina Artillery Units in the War of the Rebellion; https://corktree.tripod.com/South_Carolina_Artillery_Units_in_the_War_of_the_Rebellion.
• South Carolina Ferguson’s Light Artillery (Confederate); https://www.fold3.com/regiment/14704/south-carolina-fergusons-light-artillery-confederate-civil-war-stories. 
• Survivors Wanted of Beauregard Company, The Intelligencer, Anderson, South Carolina, February 17, 1914.
• U.S. Federal Census, Anderson, Anderson County, South Carolina, 1900.
• U.S. Federal Census, Belton, Anderson County, South Carolina, 1880.
• U.S. Federal Census, Broadway Township, Anderson County, South Carolina, 1870.
• U.S. Federal Census, Eastern Subdivision, Anderson County, South Carolina, 1850.
• U.S. Federal Census, Varennes, Anderson County, South Carolina, 1910.
• Weaste Cemetery Heritage Trail, Some Old Job Titles from the Textile Industries; http://www.weasteheritagetrail.co.uk/Resources/some-old-job-titles-from-the-textile-industries/index.htm.