Richard Wilde Walker, Jr.

Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. (March 11, 1857 – April 10, 1936) was a judge on the Alabama Supreme Court and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Personal

Richard Wilde Walker, Jr. was born on March 11, 1857 in Huntsville, Madison County, Alabama. He was the son of Richard Wilde Walker, Sr. and his wife, Mary Ann Simpson Walker. He was a grandson of John Williams Walker, and nephew of LeRoy Pope Walker and Percy Walker. On January 22, 1886, he married Shelby White (January 14, 1862 - March 12, 1949, daughter of Addison & Sarah White) in Huntsville, Alabama. They had no children. Both are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery, Huntsville.

Education

Walker attended Washington and Lee College in Lexington, Virginia for only one year. But after this, he went to Princeton College in New Jersey where he achieved scholarly distinction, graduating in 1877. (His father and paternal grandfather also graduated from Princeton.) He attended Columbia Law School in New York City for one session. He was admitted to the bar at Huntsville, Alabama in the fall of 1877.

Career

Walker practiced law in St. Louis, Missouri, for about one year. In 1881, he went to New York City where he practiced law for over two years. He returned to Huntsville in early 1884.

On February 23, 1891, just shy of 34 years of age, Walker was appointed by the governor to the office of associate justice on the Supreme Court of Alabama. In 1914, he was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He reached senior status in 1930 and remained with the court until his death.

References

* “Memorial Record of Alabama: A Concise Account of the State's Political, Military, Professional and Industrial Progress, Together With the Personal Memoirs of Many of Its People,” Volume 2, published by Brant & Fuller in Madison, WI (1893), page 765-766 found on Ancestry.com and in libraries.
* U. S. Census Records 1860-1930.