WALKER, THOMAS

born Jan. 25, 1715, King and Queen County, Va. died Nov. 9, 1794, Albemarle County, Va. American physician, land speculator, explorer, and public official. As a youth, Walker went to live with his sister in Williamsburg after his father died. While there, he studied medicine under her husband, Dr. George Gilmer. Walker then moved to Fredericksburg, where he established a thriving medical practice as well as a mercantile business. In 1741 he moved to a frontier estate in Albemarle County named Castle Hill, which he had acquired through marriage. He began to speculate in land purchases there in 1748 and later became chief agent for the Loyal Land Company. In 1750 he led an exploration of the company's western land claims, discovered the Cumberland Gap, and became the first Englishman to record the experience of a journey into the Kentucky region. Walker was elected to Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1752, but he resigned his seat to become deputy surveyor of Augusta County. Three years later he was appointed commissary general for Virginia's troops serving in Gen. Edward Braddock's expedition against Ft. Duquesne in Pennsylvania. He was accused of submitting fraudulent accounts for this campaign but later was exonerated of this charge. In 1756 he was elected to the legislature from Hampshire County, and after representing this region for five years, he was elected to the House of Burgesses for Albemarle County, where he had sold property in the new county seat at Charlottesville, built a homestead on his estate, and also acted as Thomas Jefferson's guardian. Walker remained active in public affairs throughout his later years. He represented Virginia at the signing of the Treaty of Ft. Stanwix in 1768 which resolved colonial boundary disputes with the Iroquois, and the following year he became active in Virginia's patriot cause. In 1775 he was appointed to a commission negotiating with Indians from Ohio, and the next year he became a member of Virginia's Committee of Safety. Under Virginia's new state government, he served on the executive council from 1776 to 1781. His last public office was as a member of the state's House of Delegates; he worked on a committee promoting Virginia's western land claims in the 1780s.