Walker, T. B. (Thomas Barlow), 1840-1928

Thomas Barlow Walker (1840-1928) was born at Xenia, Ohio, to Platt Bayless Walker (1808-1849) and Anstis Keziah Barlow Walker (1814-1883). His father died in 1849 at Westport, Missouri, while on the way to the California gold fields in search of fortune. His mother married Xenia widower Oliver Barnes (circa 1800-1868) in 1854. The household included four other children: Oliver W. Barnes; Platt Bayless Walker II (1832?-1906), founder of the Mississippi Valley Lumberman magazine; Adelaide B. Walker (d. 1929); and Helen M. Walker (1842-1876?).

The family moved to Berea, Ohio (thirteen miles west of Cleveland) in 1855, where T. B. and his sister Helen attended Baldwin University, a Methodist-affiliated institution. In 1862 T. B. came to St. Paul with a load of grindstones to sell, where he made acquaintance with young James J. Hill, then a clerk on the wharf. Later that same year in Minneapolis Walker was able to secure a job as a chainman for surveyor George B. Wright, who was beginning a survey of a large tract of federally owned land. When this survey was completed, Wright conducted a survey for the St. Paul & Duluth Railroad. Employment with Wright was a fortunate move for Walker, as his work acquainted him with the locations of choice pine tracts in northern Minnesota--tracts which he later purchased as the basis for his fortune in the lumber business.

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