SAMUEL WALKER and his family were living in Pickering near Old Malton, when the railroad industry swiftly expanded in England.

The development of the English railroad system between 1825 and 1860 added fuel to the Industrial Revolution already in progress. After three years of construction, the Stockton-Darlington line was the first to provide railroad passenger service in 1825. By the 1830s several city-to-city railroad lines had been built. There were 500 miles of rail in England in 1838. By 1860, the system had expanded to 10,000 miles of rail, and a transportation revolution had occurred. The new technology of the railroad was accompanied by financial intrigue. Investment in the railroad companies expanded too rapidly, creating a financial bubble that was bound to burst. The railroad investment frenzy reached beyond banks and aristocrats. 

The new and growing middle class also invested in railroad companies. When many of the new railroad companies went bankrupt, some families lost everything they owned. Some investors fell prey to con artists, who never intended to build a railroad. Between 1844 and 1847, one-third of the total approved mileage of railroad was never built.

The English railroad boom was about at the same time period, when the worldwide cholera epidemic made deadly passes through England and Wales. Between 1829 and 1851, cholera carved a deadly path around the world, and England would not be spared. The cholera outbreak of 1832 in London claimed the lives of 55,000 people. England and Wales would suffer another 52,000 cholera deaths in the outbreak that began in 1848.

According to census records, Samuel and his family lived in Old Malton from 1841 at the latest - initially at Westgate Milner's Yard and Bow Carr, and between 1861 and 1881 inclusive at No. 96 Westgate. By then, well into his seventies, he was still working as a agricultural labourer. From 1881 onward, his marital status was registered as a "widower." However, it has not yet been clearly established when and where exactly his wife died between 1871 and 1881, although it can be assumed that it was most likely in her place of residence, Old Malton. By 1891 at the latest, he was living with his daughter Sarah and his son-in-law, James Harker, in Scarborough. He finally died in 1895 at the age of 88, according to records in Malton, where at least his death was recorded.

Samuel's father JOHN WALKER was the son of JOHN WALKER sen. (1730-1814) and his first wife, Mary Lombard (1727-1772), who married on 11. Feb. 1755 in Westow. He was christened on 26. Jun 1758 in Westow and died 1841 in New Malton. He was the third eldest son and fourth eldest child of all children his father had altogether. 

In 1814, at the age of 56, John inherited from his father the sum of 100 pounds, which at that time was equivalent to about two years' wages for an agricultural labourer in the north of England. However, in return, according to his father's will, ownership of houses and properties he currently occupied and managed would pass to three of John's younger sisters and their respective heirs and legal successors, and did not become his property as perhaps expected. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that he was able to continue living there and farming at least until he became too old to do so hisself, especially since two of his younger sisters were still minors at the time of the inheritance and presumably all lived in their mother's household until they themselves perhaps married one day.

John's father, JOHN WALKER sen. of Westow Grange, was a yeoman* of considerable wealth and land holdings in and around Westow, which he put out to rent. Therefore it is fair to say that, although he did not belong to the landed gentry as such, he was wealthy enough to have their lifestyle though. It was only during or after the Napoleonic Wars that the family's prosperity gradually came to an end. Furthermore, it cannot be said whether members of the WALKER family were directly involved, for example as soldiers, in the Napoleonic Wars between 1803 and 1815.

JOHN WALKER sen. was the son of George Walker (1691-1789), christened in Crambe on 13. March 1730. It is village and civil parish in the Ryedale district, near the River Derwent and 6 miles (10 km) south-west of Malton.

He was born during the reign of George II (fl. 1727-1760), who was the 

last British monarch born outside Great Britain: he was born and brought up in northern Germany. He enhanced the stability of the constitutional system, with a government run by Sir Robert Walpole during the period 1730–42. He built up the first British Empire, strengthening the colonies in the Caribbean and North America. In coalition with the rising power Prussia, defeated France in the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), and won full control of Canada. George II was suceeded by George III (fl. 1760–1820). Frequently reviled by Americans as a tyrant and the instigator of the American War of Independence, he was insane off and on after 1788 as his eldest son served as regent. The last king to dominate government and politics, his long reign is noted for losing the first British Empire with a loss in the American Revolutionary War (1783), as France sought revenge for its defeat in the Seven Years War by aiding the Americans. The reign was notable for the building of a second empire based in India, Asia and Africa, the beginnings of the industrial revolution that made Britain an economic powerhouse, and above all the life and death struggle with the French, the French Revolutionary Wars 1793–1802, ending in a draw and a short truce, and the epic Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), ending with the decisive defeat of Napoleon.

(King George II, portrait by Charles Jervas, c. 1727)

SAMUEL WALKER's direct family can only be traced back to William Walker (1621-1719), son of George, earlier entries of Walkers in Westow area, which is including Crambe and Whitwell on the Hill, can still be found in parish records there. Unfortunately, these ancient records cannot be tied to the pedigree though as records of two or perhaps three generations of the 17th century are seemingly missing.

The earliest hint for a Walker in the area of Westow is that one of the husbandman ROLAND WALKER of Whitwell on the Hill (born c. 1480) mentioned in the Cause Papers (30. Oct 1555 - 03. Jun 1556). There is besides mentioned a second ROLAND WALKER of the same place, perhaps his son. That Roland Walker was a gresman, which means that he had pastures, where he kept sheeps.
NOTE: A husbandman in England in the medieval and early modern period was a free tenant farmer or small landowner. The social status of a husbandman was below that of a yeoman.

In the course of JOHN WALKER's first marriage to Mary Lombard he fathered 10 children. Shortly after the death of his first wife, JOHN WALKER married for a second time. This marriage did not last long, as his second wife, Catherine Hoog, died two years later, perhaps in childbirth. During that marriage, John fathered upon Mary Harrison of Westow in 1793 a female child. John had to sign a Bastardy Bond sworn and witnessed to be the father of her, because The Poor Law at the time stipulated that the father, if known, should not only acknowledge the bastard child as his, but provide for the expenses of the birth and for the upkeep and education of the child. However, upon the death of his second wife, John made an honest woman of Mary Harrison, who outlived him by many years after his death. JOHN WALKER fathered altogether 22 children, his last one being born in the year of his death.** He died 29. November 1814 at the age of 84, and was buried 02. Dec 1814 in Westow, Saint Mary Churchyard.

The depression in agriculture after the end of the Napoleonic Wars lasted until 1836 and destroyed nearly the industry. This depression was so severe that landlords as well as tenants suffered financial ruin. Also the Walkers of Westow were surely affected by it and were dealing with consequences after a fashion, especially after William Walker, the main heir of JOHN WALKER, had to pay out monetary his siblings a fortune. (see last will and testament below). It is possible to derive it from the fact that he became impoverished and worked 1834 as farm labourer for Thomas Saltmarsh, freehold house and landowner (Source: Genuki, Electoral Rolls 1834, Wilberfoss No. 5131) and that according to Bulmer's Directory of 1892 Westow Grange was owned by Miss Rebecca Ward end of the 19th century.

NOTE:    To get an idea of ​​how wealthy the Walker family of Westow was originally, it's important to know what money was worth at that time.
Before 1832 the basic qualification for the vote in county elections was ownership of a freehold land worth 40 shillings (£2) a year by men aged 21 and over. In those days it was said that an income of forty shillings a year made a man independant, being sufficient to furnish him with all the necessaries of life.
By 1832, however, forty shillings would just about support a labouring man for a month, but the number of people who had such an estate in England and Wales was then only about 247,000.


(Churchyard of St Mary, Westow; burial place of John Walker)

Transcribed Will of JOHN WALKER, dated 27 Aug 1814
This is the last will and testament of one John Walker of Westow Grange, in the parish of Westow, in the county of York, farmer made this twenty-seventh day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourteen as follows.

That is to say I give and devise to my dear wife, Mary Walker, and her assigns for and during the term of her natural life one annuity or clear yearly sum of twenty pounds of lawful English money free and clear of and from all deductions whatsoever whether on account of the income or property tax or of any other tax duty matter or thing whatsoever to be charged and chargeable upon and issuing and payable out of messuage farm lands and hereditaments situate at Westow Grange aforesaid and to be paid and payable unto her my said wife or her assigns by half equal payments on the sixth day of April and the 11th day of October in every year the first payment of the said annuity or yearly sum of twenty pounds to be made on such of the said days as shall happen next after my decease with a proportionate of the said annuity or yearly sum of twenty pounds up to the death of my said wife from the last of the said days of payment next preceding her decease and I declare and direct that my said wife and her assigns shall and may have and take the same remedies by entry and distress in and upon the said messuage farm land and hereditaments for the recovery of said annuity or yearly sum of twenty pounds or any part thereof wherein arrear and unpaid as landlords are entitled so by law for recovery of rent upon leases for years I give and bequeath unto my said wife Mary such part of my household furniture, Beds, Bedsteads, and hangings plates and linens and shall be sufficient and necessary for furnishing the dwellings house hereafter devised to her for the term of her life as hereinafter mentioned. I give and devise all that my cottage, dwelling house, or tenement with the garth and garden and appurtenances thereunto belonging now in the occupation of William Bogg and situate at Westow aftersaid unto my said wife Mary Walker and her assigns for and during the term of her natural life and from and immediate after the decease of my said wife
I give and devise the same cottage house or tenement with the garth and garden and appurtenances hereunto belonging unto and to the use of my son Charles Walker his heirs and assigns forever and . . . .
I declare and direct that the provision hereinbefore made for my said wife shall be and be taken by her in lieu bar and full satisfaction of all such dower . . . . and thirds or other estate and interest which she can shall or might have claim or be entitled so by the common law or custom or by statute or when howsoever from and out of any real and personal estate and effects or any part thereof I give and devise all that my cottage house or tenement with the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging now In the occupation of John Rivis situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my reputed daughter Charlotte Harrison who now lives along with me to hold the same unto and to the use of the said Charlotte Harrison her heirs and assigns forever
I give and devise all that my cottage house or tenement and hereditaments with the garth or garden thereunto belonging now in the occupation of John Walker situate and being at Westow unto the said Charlotte Harrison and to my daughter Hannah Walker to hold the same to the said Charlotte Harrison and Hannah Walker there respective heirs and assigns forever as tenants in common and not as joint tenants
I give and devise all that my cottage house or tenement with the garth and garden thereunto belonging now in the occupation of John Richardson situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my said daughter Hannah Walker to hold the same unto the said Hannah Walker her heirs and assigns forever
I give and devise all that my cottage house or tenement with the garth called “Hiln Garth” thereunto belongings now in the occupation of John Hill situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my daughter Mary Walker to hold the same to the said Mary Walker her heirs and assigns forever
I give and devise all that my house or tenement with the garth thereunto belonging now in the occupation of my son John Walker II situate and being at Westow aforesaid and all the my cottage house or tenement and with hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging now in the occupation of Elizabeth Jackson situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my daughter Tamer Walker to hold the same unto the said Tamer Walker her heirs and assigns forever.
I give and devise all the my cottage house or tenement with the hereditaments and appurtenances hereunto belonging now in the occupation of Frances Bentley situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my daughter Ama Walker to hold the same with the said Ama Walker her heirs and assigns forever
I give and devise all that my cottage house or tenement with hereditaments and appurtenances there unto belonging now in the occupation of John Nicholson situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my daughter Rachel Walker to hold the same unto the said Rachael Walker her heirs and assigns forever
I give and devise all that my cottage house or tenement with the hereditaments and appurtenances thereunto belonging now in the occupation of Peter Dow situate and being at Westow aforesaid unto my daughter Elizabeth Walker to hold the same unto the said Elizabeth Walker her heirs and assigns forever provided nevertheless that in case anyone or more of my said daughters or my reputed daughter to whom I have hereunto devised any part of my real estate at Westow as aforesaid shall happen to die before she or they shall respectively attain the age of 21 years and without having lawful issue living at the time of her or their decease then and in such case I give and devise such part or parts of said real estate as is hereinbefore devised to such of them so dying under age and without leaving lawful issue as aforesaid unto and to the use of my two friends John Morritt of the parish of Westow aforesaid farmer trust and John Botterill of Kirbyunderdale in the said county of York farmer their heirs and assigns upon trust as soon as conveniently may be after the decease of any of my said daughters or my reputed daughter under age and without leaving lawful issue as aforesaid to sell and absolutely dispose of the same to any person or persons whomsoever for the best price or prices that can be reasonably had or gotten for the same and in such manner as to them my said trustees shall seem proper and expedient and I declare and direct that my said trustees and the survivor of them his heirs executors and administrators shall stand and be possessed of and interested in the money to arise and be produced from such sale or sales as aforesaid upon the trusts following that is to say in trust thereout to pay and discharge the expenses attending such sale or sales as aforesaid and of deducing a title to such of the hereditaments and premises as may happen to be sold as aforesaid and then upon trust from time to time to pay and divide the surplus of the money to arise from the said sale or sales unto and equally among all such of my daughters and reputed daughter before named as shall be living at the time of the decease of the other of them as aforesaid and also to and amongst all and every the child and children of any of my said daughters or reputed daughter who may be then dead leaving lawful issue _______such children to take according to their stocks and not according to their heads and I declare and direct that the receipt or receipts of the said John Morritt and John Botterill and of the survivor of them his heirs executors or administrators under their or his hands and seals or hand and seal from time to time effectually discharge the purchase or respective purchases of the hereditaments and premises so divided to be sold as aforesaid off and from so much of the purchase money as shall be therein expressed to be received and that such purchasor or purchasors shall not afterwards be answerable or accountable for loss misapplication or nonapplications of such purchase money or any part thereof or to obliged to look or see to the appropriations thereof and I declare and direct that the rents and profits of the hereditaments and premises before devised to any of the daughters before named who shall be under the age of twenty one years at the time of my decease shall be paid to my said wife to be by here applied in the maintenance clothing or education of such child or children respectively during her or their minority or minorities in such manner as she my said wife shall think proper
I give and devise all that my messauge farmlands and hereditaments now in my own occupation situate and being the parish of Westow aforesaid called Westow Grange with the appurtenances thereunto belonging unto and to the use of my son William Walker his heirs and assigns forever and I give and bequeath to my said son William Walker all my horses cattle sheep and stock of every kind which I may die possessed of together with all my household furniture except so much thereof as in hereinbefore bequeathed to my said wife and also all the crops of corn and grain and crops of every kind that shall be growing stand or being in or upon the said farm and lands at the time of my decease subject nevertheless to the right which I hereby give to my said wife of occupying and enjoying the said messuage farm and lands which the stock crop and effects therein until my said son William or my youngest son for the time being shall attain the age of twenty one years for the purposes hereinafter mentioned and also subject to and charged and chargable in the payment of the payment of the following legacies or sums of money which
I give and bequeath to the several persons hereinafter named this is so say
to my son David Walker the sum of one hundred and twenty pounds
to my son George Walker the sum or one hundred pounds and
to my son John Walker the sum of one hundred pounds
to my son Jonathan Walker the sum of one hundred pounds and
to my son Israel Walker the sum of one hundred pounds
to Rachael Walker the wife of my son Abraham Walker the sum of five pounds
and to my daughter Ann Wilson the sum of five shillings
and to my daughter Jane Hepton the sum of five shillings and
I direct that the six first mentioned legacies or sums of money shall remain at interest upon security of my said estate for such space of time and _______exceeding the term of ten years from the time of my decease and until it shall be convenient for my said son William Walker in the person or persons for the time being entitled to said estate called Westow Grange to pay off and discharge the same and that the same legacies or sums of money shall have interest after the rate of four pounds ten shillings percentum per annum from the time of my decease until the time of the actual payment thereof and I declare and direct that in case my said son David shall happen to depart this life under the age of twenty one years and without leaving lawful issue then and in that case the legacy or sum of one hundred and twenty pounds hereinbefore given to him shall go unto and be equally divided amongst my daughters Charlotte Hannah Mary Tamer Ama Rachael and Elizabeth share and share alike but such legacy or sum shall not be payable or paid sooner than the same would have been paid in case my son David had lived to attain the age of twenty one years and
I direct that the respective legacies or sums of five pounds five shillings and five shillings hereinbefore by me bequeathed shall be paid by my executors hereinafter named at the end or twelve calendar months next after my decease but without any interest in the meantime for the same and I declare that the said legacy or the sum of five pounds herebefore bequeathed to my said daughter Rachael Walker shall be paid into her own hands for her own use and benefit and that her receipt alone notwithstanding her coverture shall be an effectual discharge to my executors hereinafter named for the same and
I declare and direct that the issues and profits arising from my said messuage farm lands and hereditaments called Westow Grange during the time of my said wife shall continue the occupation and enjoyment thereof as hereinbefore mentioned shall be applied and dispossed of by my said wife in the first place and the discharge of the interest which shall from time to time become due and payable on the several legacies before mentioned and by me directed to bear interest and in the next place in the maintenance support and education of my said son William and such other of my children as shall be under the age of twenty one years until they shall respectively attain that age or until my youngest son for the time being shall attain the age which shall first happen and in case of the death of my said wife before my said son William or my youngest son for the time being shall attain the age of twenty one years and then in such case
I direct that the rent issues and profits of my said estates called Westow Grange shall be applied and disposed of by my said trustees in the same manner and for such purposes as the same that had been payable and applicable by virtue of this my will in case my said wife had been then living provided always and my will and mind is in case my said son William shall happen to die under the age of twenty one years and without having lawful issue he surviving that then and in such case my said messuage farm and lands so devised to him as aforesaid shall subject to the several charges and incumberances herebefore mentioned and charge therein as aforesaid go to and
I give and devise the same unto and to the use of my said son David Walker his heirs and assigns forever and in case he my son David Walker shall die under the age of twenty one years and without leaving lawful issue at the time of his decease
I declare and direct that the same messuage farm and lands shall go to and I give and devise the same unto and to the use of my son Charles Walker his heirs and assigns forever subject nevertheless and chargable as aforesaid
I give and bequeath the said John Morritt and John Botterill their heirs executors administrators and assigns all the rest residue and remainder of my monies securities for money goods chattels and real and personal estate or effects whatsoever and wheresoever and of what matter or kind not hereinbefore disposed of upon trust to sell and convert the said goods, chattels, estate and effects into money and to call in the money which I may have on security as soon as convenient upon my decease and to pay and apply the money arising by such sale or sales and be called in as aforesaid in the first place in this charge of my just debts and funeral and testamentary expences and in the and in the next place to retain and reimburse themselves and himself all such costs charges and expences as they shall have sustained together with the . . . . reasonable allowance for the trouble they shall have been put unto in the execution of the trust hereby in them reposed and with respect to the surplus thereof upon trust to pay and apply the same [as far as it will intend] in discharge of the legacies hereinbefore mentioned and bequeathed as such or so much of them and in said manner as they my said trustees shall think proper and I request that they my said trustees will assist my said wife in the cultivation and management of my said estates called Westow Grange and in the ordering and management of my family so far as shall be necessary and they conveniently can or may and
I declare and direct that they my said trustees their respectives executors administrators or assigns shall not be answerable or accountable the one for the other of them and that they or either of them shall not be charged or chargable with more ________ answerable for the acts receipts neglects of defaults or the other of them but each for each for his own separate acts only nor for more money than they shall actually receive by virtue of this will
I appoint my said wife Mary guardian of the persona and estate of such of my children and shall be under the age of twenty one years at the time of my decease and in the case of the death of my said wife before the youngest of my children shall have attained the age of twenty-one years then and in such case
I appoint the said John Morritt and John Botterill guardians of the person and estates of such of my said children as shall be under the age of twenty one at the death of my said wife as aforesaid and lastly
I appoint the said John Morritt and John Botterill joint executors of this my will and
I revoke and make void all former and other wills by me at any time heretofor made and executed in witness thereof the said John Walker the testator have to this my last will and testament comprised in this and the five preceding sheets of paper hereto annexed set my hand and seal to wit my seal is the top of the first of the said preceding sheets my hand to the bottom of the said preceding sheets and hand and seal to this last sheet the day and year first above written John Walker the writing contained in this and the five preceding sheets or paper hereto annexed was signed and sealed by the said John Walker the testator and by him published and declared as and for the last will and testament in the presence of us who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other have subscribed our names as witnesses thereto Jno Harker Wm Ainsley Jos Barnes part second 1815. British Wills from 27 August 1814 through May 1815 Wills Westow, Yorkshire, England