ROBERT WALKER There is probably no family in Oceola Township better known for integrity, fair dealing, enterprise and intelligence than the one represented by the name at the head of this paragraph, and it is one of those which have helped to make Livingston County a center for all good influences and a county which is known throughout the Commonwealth as one of the most intelligent and enterprising sections of Michigan.

Our subject was born in Ontario County. N.Y. in the township of Manchester, October 5, 1832. He is a son of Henson and Matilda (Arnel) Walker, both natives of Maryland, of whom our readers will be pleased to learn more in the life sketch of their son Thomas A. Walker, upon another page of this Album. Robert is the sixth son and eighth child in this household, and was only three years old when he made his entrance into the State of Michigan with his parents. Here he took his first schooling in a log schoolhouse in Oceola Township, and never went outside the boundsof this township for his educational advantages, yet he made such a thorough application of what he here learned and studied to such good advantage under the thorough yet somewhat restricted drill and curriculum of the Oceola schools that he obtained a comprehensive and common-sense preparation for the battle of life. He remained with his parents until the death of his father, assisting him in every way in his power.

We must here introduce into this sketch the name of her who became the companion of our subject, Fidelia Cole, who was born in Dutchess County, N. Y., January 31, 1832. Her parents, Enos and Laura (Mason) Cole, were natives of New York, and she was the first-born of their four sons and three daughters. Mr. Cole was a boat builder in his younger days, but finally abandoned that occupation and followed farming. He came to Michigan in 1836, and located in Green Oak Township, Livingston County, where he took up land from the Government and transformed it into an improved farm. He came to Oceola Township in 1850. and there both he and his good wife remained until they passed from earth, she at the age of forty-two and he when sixty-six years old. Their daughter, Fidelia, was united in marriage with our subject in 1852. Her youngest brother. Arthur Cole, was the youngest Probate Judge ever elected in the county. He took his seat in 1885.

For awhile after their marriage the young couple remained with the parents of the bride and then purchased the farm where they now reside, which is the old Cole homestead. Three sons and one daughter have blessed this union; Laura, the wife of William B. Eager, whose biography is to be found elsewhere in this volume; Lyman, who married Hattie McMillan and resides in Oak Grove Township, Livingston County; Mason, who married Jessie Rumsey and resides in Howell Township; and Thomas, who married Etta Hardy and resides with her parents.

Besides the home farm of one hundred acres, our subject has one hundred and forty acres of fine land in Howell Township. most of which is highly cultivated. Into his attractive and pleasant home he has put some $1,500. This was built in the place of the one that was burned to the ground in 1871. He is deeply interested in every movement which tends to secure the best interests of the farming community, and with this end in view he is a hearty worker in the Grange. In the Baptist Church both Mr. and Mrs. Walker are most highly esteemed and prized as being earnest workers whose truly Christian spirit makes them helpful to all with whom they come in contact.

Ref. "Portrait and Biographical Album of Ingham and Livingston Countys Michigan" (Chicago, Chapman Bros., 1891), Pg 558-9.



Son of Henson Walker SR. and Matilda Ann Arnold
Husband of Fidelia Elizabeth Cole, married 1 Jan 1852