Augusta County

Biographies of Emancipated Slaves

• Joseph Walker
• Hardy Shaw
• Mary Blackburn
• Henry Carter
• Richard & Marshall Washington
• Thomas & Nancy Jefferson

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Biography: Joseph Walker

When Mary Baker filed a claim with the federal government for property lost during the Civil War, she brought Joseph Walker to testify. Walker was identified by the Southern Claims Commission as “a former slave of the claimant,” but he does not reference former slave status in his testimony. Baker was the widow of John Franger, a slaveowner in 1860, but Franger owned only one slave, a 69-year-old black female, making the assertion of Baker’s ownership of Walker problematic. Walker did “bear testimony to [Mary Baker’s] uniform kindness to myself and family and to my race.” He does not appear in the Free Black Registry of Augusta County. Walker identifies himself as a blacksmith in his claims testimony, although in 1870 he is a farm laborer living east of Middlebrook, Rivershead District. Walker’s wife, Sallie, was keeping house; she was the only other member of his household. The Walkers could not read or write. In 1880, Joseph Walker lived in the household of Jacob Halliburton in the village of Greenville, Rivershead District. Consistent with his claims testimony, he gave blacksmith as his occupation. Apparently now a widower, the 67-year-old Walker was suffering from liver disease.