Walker, Charles L., 1832-1904

Charles Lowell Walker, an early Mormon diarist and "Poet Laureate" of the Cotton County Mission, was born in Staffordshire, England, on November 17, 1832. His father's family had converted to Mormonism in Manchester and his sister Ann traveled to the United States to marry Parley P. Pratt. Charles Walker arrived in St. Louis in 1849 and was eventually able to travel to Utah in 1855. He was one of the early settlers of St. George and worked on the Mormon temple built there. From the time of his arrival in Utah, Walker kept a daily journal. He also participated in literary clubs, small newspapers, and academic lectures, and was a prolific writer of poems, songs, and hymns. Walker died on January 11, 1904.

Charles Lowell Walker, an early Mormon diarist and "Poet Laureate" of the Cotton County Mission, was born in Staffordshire, England, on November 17, 1832. His father's family had converted to Mormonism in Manchester and his sister Ann traveled to the United States to marry Parley P. Pratt. Charles Walker arrived in St. Louis in 1849 and was eventually able to travel to Utah in 1855. He was one of the early settlers of St. George and worked on the Mormon temple built there. From the time of his arrival in Utah, Walker kept a daily journal. He also participated in literary clubs, small newspapers, and academic lectures, and was a prolific writer of poems, songs, and hymns. Walker died on January 11, 1904.

Facsimiles of Charles Lowell Walker's diaries, which include an almost daily record of his life in Salt Lake City, St. George, and Manti, Utah, from 1855-1899. Include specific entries on the founding of the Reformed Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (1860), Walker's vote for the Constitution of Deseret and Brigham Young as governor, his work as a mule herder and blacksmith, and his work on the St. George and Manti Temples, and numerous entries on Walker's family life, Mormon Church activities, United States laws regarding Utah and Mormonism, Walker's religious musings, polygamy, the Civil War, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and Utah statehood. There are notes throughout on foreign (mainly European) politics and natural distasters gleaned from local newspapers, which become more prevelant toward the end of the diaries. Also includes songs and poems by Walker.