Walker was born August 12, 1783, in Amelia County, Virginia, of Scots-Irish heritage, the son of Rev.

He was educated at the prestigious Willington Academy of Dr. Moses Waddel near Petersburg, Georgia, and received degrees in 1806 and 1809 from Princeton University.

[1] In 1808, Walker married Matilda Pope, daughter of LeRoy Pope and Judith Sale, and in 1810, he followed his father-in-law to settle in the new town of Huntsville, Mississippi Territory (now Alabama), and there began the practice of law.

[5] He was also the grandfather of Richard Wilde Walker, Jr., Alabama Supreme Court Justice and a judge in the 5th U.S.

Circuit Court of Appeals, and American diplomat John Walker Fearn, who served as Minister of Serbia, Romania and Greece from 1885 to 1889.