Husband of Rebecca Ann Johns. Son of John Walthall and Catherine Madison.

Veteran of the War of 1812. He was a private in Captain Josiah Perrick's company of light infantry in Colonel Gray's 7th Regiment of Virginia Militia. A Bronze grave marker was erected above his grave by the Society of 1812. The only marker of its kind in the Chariton Cemetery.

He served as Lucas County Clerk and Recorder in 1854.

His twin brother, Robert Marshall Walthall, died September 24, 1795, only several weeks old.

His elder brother, Madison Walthall was one of three California assemblymen to sign the petition to congress requesting the admission of California as a state.

His nephew, Edward Cary Walthall served as a Major General in the Confederate army and later became United States senator for the state of Mississippi.

Just by coincidence,another confederate officer from Mississippi, Major W.T. Walthall, became personal secretary to Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He became "as one of the family" to them. Major Walthall is not of our direct line, but he is an interesting fellow.

Samuel's daughter Fannie D. Hardin, attended the funeral of Buffalo Bill in 1917. She was there in an official capacity representing the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic. It was she who placed the folded American flag upon the old scout just before his casket was closed.

His grandson John T. Walthall, while serving as mayor of Ossawatomie Kansas, was once confronted in his store by Carrie Nation, the hatchet wielding prohibitionist. In him she met her match! (the news article concerning this event is posted)

His ggg-grandson Clyde Walthall, served as press secretary to California Governor Ronald Ragan. Ragan went on to become the 40th president of the United States.

Two of Samuel and Rebecca's children have not yet been located and added to the FAG system. They are:
John Daniel Walthall - died at age 8
Elizabeth Jane Walthall - She apparently married a Mr. Ball and had a son named John Robbins Ball, however this is not confirmed.

The graves of Samuel and Rebecca were moved to the Chariton cemetery for reburial in 1919 per the following newspaper article:
Douglass Cemetery, located just southeast of Chariton along the Blue Grass Road, seems to have been abandoned entirely about the turn of the century, when Lucas County stopped using it as a potters field and began burying the indigent either in the new potters field in the southwest corner of the Chariton Cemetery or in the County Farm cemetery, just northwest of town. Families who could afford to bury their loved ones in some style had shifted their allegiance many years before to the Chariton Cemetery, established 1863-64.

As Douglass was allowed to go to rack and ruin, some families decided to move the remains of their loved ones. This probably began soon after the new cemetery was established and continued a grave or two at a time until after the turn of the century. It's useful to remember, however, that a vast majority of the Lucas County pioneers buried at Douglass remain buried there in graves now lost.

Descendants of Lucas County pioneers Samuel W. and Rebecca Ann Walthall moved three family members from Douglass during 1919, as reported in The Chariton Patriot of 2 October 1919 within an article headed, "Daughter of the Revolution Here:"

"Mrs. Ethel Smith, of Des Moines, accompaned by her aunt, Mrs. Fannie Walthall Hardin, of Denver Colorado, were here the latter part of last week visiting the former's uncle, Jay J. Smyth, and attending to business matters. Mrs. Hardin was enroute from Columbus, Ohio, where she attended the national W.R.C. (Women's Relief Corps) encampment. She was a resident of this place many years ago, and she was here for the purpose of removing the remains of her father and mother, Samuel and Rebecca Ann Walthall, and her aunt, Nancy B. Chapman, who was the wife of Joshua P. Chapman, from the Douglass cemetery to the W.H. Smyth lot in the Chariton cemetery. Mr. Walthall was one of the very early pioneers of Lucas County and was buried in 1858, while his sister was buried two years later (actually two years earlier). He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a bronze grave marker will be erected above his grave by the Society of 1812. This will be the only marker of this kind in the Chariton cemetery. Mr. Walthall was county clerk and recorder of this county about 1854. When he came here he brought with him a land warrant as payment for his service in the war of 1812, and entered the farm adjoining Spring Lake on the south, where he resided for some time."

William H. Smyth, on whose lot the Walthalls were reburied and where their tombstones, also brought from Douglass, were re-erected, had married Ida Malone, a granddaughter of Samuel and Rebecca, on 7 March 1880, Lucas County marriage records show.

Samuel and Rebecca, who died eight months apart, share a single tombstone. Samuel's inscription reads, "Samuel W. Walthall, Died Jan. 22, 1858, Aged 62 ys, 4 ms, 24 Ds."

Rebecca's inscription, below Samuel's, reads, "Rebecca A., Wife of S.W. Walthall, Died Sept. 12, 1858." Most likely, Rebecca's age was inscribed below her date of death, but the base of the stone was sunk into cement when it was re-erected, so that line was lost.

The War of 1812 marker mentioned in the preceding article is in fact an elaborate War of 1812 flag holder with the name "Samuel White Walthall" inscribed upon it.

Samuel was the 4th of 10 children.