THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF DR. THOMAS WALKER Albermarle County Court House, Virginia Book 3, Page 232 I, Thomas Walker, of Albermarle County do make the following disposition of all and singular my estate and interest whatever by this my last will and testament. To my son John Walker, I give the sum of seventy pounds, twelve shillings, and nine pence half penny, together with the sums heretofore charged to him on my books. To my son Thomas Walker, I devise the land on which he now lives, which I purchased of Thomas Meriwether and John Lewis, together with all the slaves and cattle which were on them when this said son Thomas took possession and all their increase to him and to his heirs forever. I also devise to my son Thomas the tract of land called Walker's Meadows on the western waters to him and to his heirs forever, for which a suit is now pending in the General Court against William McClung. But if the said tract of land should be adjudged to the said McClung, then I give to the said Thomas the sum of 1500 pounds. To my son Francis Walker I devise my Castle Hill tract of land and all my lands adjoining the same. Also all my slaves, stocks, household furniture, books, utensils, and instruments, to him and to his heirs forever, reserving to Mary Broun (?) her life, in two hundred-hundred (?) acres of land whereon she now lives. (Hundred was written twice, likely an error in copying.) To George Gilmer, I give twelve mutton. To Joseph Horns by, I give eight white steers. To Henry Fry, I give fifty-eight pounds, fifteen shillings and four pence, together with the sums already charged to him on my books. To the Rev. Matthew Maury, I give the sum of two hundred fifty six pounds, eight shillings and nine pence farthing, together with the sums already charged to him on my books. To George Divers, I give the sum of one hundred ninety three pounds, nine shillings, two pence, with the sums already charged to him on my books, To Joshua Fry, I give the sum of four hundred seventy seven pounds, ten shillings, together with the sums charged to him on my books. To my wife Elizabeth, I give my chariot forever and the use of Hannah, a slave whom I purchased of David Hops, during the said Elizabeth's natural life. And whereas my said wife and myself entered into articles of agreement before our marriage, the purport of which is that if-said Elizabeth should depart this life before myself, her then intended husband should be at liberty to dispose of the property she had before our intermarriage and it was further agreed that if I should depart this life before the said Elizabeth, my then intended wife, that the said Elizabeth should disavow any right of dowry in the said Thomas's estate. It is my will and desire that said articles may be complied with and that want of form or error in the said articles may not operate to the prejudice of the said Elizabeth or her friends. I declare it as my meaning that the devises and legatees before mentioned shall be taken as a full satisfaction for any portion of my estate or any advancement which I may at any time have undertaken to give or promise to give or make to any of the different devises or legators. I also declare it to be my desire and intention that all sums of money or the value of any property which may be given by me to either of the legators. I also declare it to be my desire and intention that all sums of money or the value of any property which may be given by me to either of the
legators to whom I have left particular sums of money between the date of this will and the time of my death shall be taken and considered as so much of the legacees intended and shall be deducted from the sum mentioned in the bequest and the balance shall be considered as the legacys intended with my debts, my law office certificates and the residue of my estate not before devised. I desire that all my debts and legacys may be paid and discharged. I empower and require my executors to make titles to all the land I have sold on the purchasers complying with their part of the contract. I do hereby revoke all former wills and testaments heretofore made by me. I do hereby appoint my three sons, John, Thomas, and Francis Walker, my executors to execute this my last will and testament. And as Francis, from his professional line of business, will have much the greatest share of trouble, and I depend on him to transact the most of my business I make him my residuary legatee and do hereby devise and bequeath to him and his heirs forever the residue of all my estate and interest whatsoever after all debts and legacees paid. In witness whereof I have hereunto subscribed my name and affixed my seal this thirteenth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand and seven hundred and eighty eight. Signed, sealed and declared by Thomas Walker as and for his last will and testament in presence of us who have hereunto subscribed our names in presence of the testator.
Thomas Walker
(SEAL)
Robert Michie James Barrett W. Alcock Joshua Fry, Jr. Thomas Meriwether Thomas Walker Gilmer Thomas Divers Lewis Nicholas Note: That the 14th line was underlined with the words, to him and his heirs forever before this will was executed. Albermarle December Court 1794. This last will and testament of Thomas Walker deceased was produced into court and proved by the oaths of W. Alcock and Thomas Divers, two of the witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded. John Nicholas The detailed diary so carefully prepared and preserved by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750, reciting all the important incidents of his long and dangerous exploration from the hour he left Castle Hill, Virginia, until he returned, though interesting and instructive so far as it goes, does not include the entertaining and significant events which flowed from the exploration and which makes it far more important and consuming than would otherwise appear.
Perhaps there is no more gripping, thrilling, amazing and terrifying pioneer adventure story in existence or can be imagined than that surrounding the attempts, finally successful, of the hardy, colorful, dauntless Virginia frontiersmen who followed Dr.. Walker's trek of 1750 into what is now Walker State Park, to take over and occupy the new house built by Walker and to found a permanent settlement, build a fortification, all wrapped in stories of blood curdling events, trials and tribulations extending through more than two decades, imposing every hardship, privation and torturing death known in the annals of pioneer life, occurring long before any other white settlement was begun in Kentucky or any part of the western wilderness. The first settlers consisting of several families which came to the Walker house in the autumn of 1750 were content until a fierce Indian Tribe from the northwest came into the neighborhood and began depredations, first killing live stock, then wounding and later assassinating one or two men from ambush, keeping up such terrifying and menacing conduct that the whites, after some months of terror, decided to move across the mountain into a valley which they had discovered on their hunting trips, and thus get away from the annoyance of the Indian Warriors, and this they did temporarily. Indian Creek, a tributary of Cumberland River having many prongs and branches, passes through a beautiful wide valley at that time rich in great forests and productive soil. It obtained its name later from a savage and bloody massacre which the Indians perpetrated upon the whites. The tall rugged mountain between what is now Walker State Park and Indian Creek is called Paint Ridge or Mountain because of the bloody incidents related by old citizens of the Indian Creek settlement which tales have been handed down through generations. Hardly had white settlers completed their cabins and fortifications of logs and began to prepare for the planting of crops in the early spring of 1751 until an Indian massacre, well organized and executed, left all the white settlers dead, except two men who happened to be absent on a hunting trip, and one young woman who temporarily concealed herself as the massacre started and lived to witness the burning of their cabins and fortifications but who was later taken by the Indians and carried along a buffalo-Indian trail to a high point of what is now "Paint Hill"-so named because of these things-and there scalped and with her blood the Indians painted a large rock near the crest of the mountain and one or more trees, hung the scalp near the trail and left a threatening warning in characters and pictures, saying in substance: "Beware: See this scalp and blood: This treatment will be meted out to other whites. Keep out." The two surviving men hurried back to Virginia to report the disaster, not knowing what had befallen the captured woman. Hurriedly the two men gathered a group of Indian fighters and organized another family of settlers and returned to the scene of the Indian Creek massacre but apparently that group of Indian Warriors had dispersed. The whites were not again attacked for some months but occasionally roving bands of Indians from other sections of the country traveling towards Cumberland Gap, hung around the settlement threatening the whites and compelling them to stay in their fortifications for protection.
Notwithstanding all these interruptions and many privations the Walker settlement never gave up or evacuated. The Walker house was occupied almost continuously through many years down to the memory of people now living. This is only a part of a long and unhappy story of the
Walker Exploration, but it resulted in the first permanent white settlement in all the western wilderness. Historians and researchers are now engaged in sifting out the facts and verifying legends which, no doubt, will before long result in the exposure of all the truths concerning the exploration so that the Walker generations may know and realize what wonderful good resulted to all America from Dr. Thomas Walker's courageous exploration of 1750-an important part of early American history.
Bell County Historical Society, P.O. Box 1344, Middlesboro, KY 40965