James D. Walker

James David Walker (1830-1906) was a Democratic Party politician from Arkansas who represented the state in the U.S. Senate from 1879 to 1885. His uncle was Finis McLean who served as United States Representative from Kentucky.

Walker was born near Russellville, Kentucky on December 13, 1830; he attended private schools in Kentucky, followed by the Ozark Institute and Arkansas College, both in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He moved permanently to Arkansas in 1847, whereupon he began the study of law. On his admittance to the bar, in 1850, Walker began practicing in Fayetteville; he served as a circuit court judge in the fourth judicial district for a time.

Upon the outbreak of the Civil War, Walker served as a colonel of the Fourth Regiment of the Arkansas Infantry; he was captured at Oak Hills, Missouri in 1861 and held as a prisoner of war for two years.

In 1865 he resumed his practice in Fayetteville, and soon became Solicitor General of the state. He served as a Democratic elector for the 1876 election; elected to the Senate, he served from 1879 to 1885, declining to run for reelection in 1884. He again resumed his practice in Fayetteville, where he died on October 17, 1906, and where he is buried.

Further reading

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000057 - Congressional biography, with picture.