George E. Walker (1797-1864)

Born into a Catholic family, he was the son of Thomas and Catharine McLelland Walker. He became a small farmer living at Sassafras Neck in Cecil County, Maryland, on a 321-acre farm with two slaves. In the 1830s, he ran into financial hardship and lost his land. Taking his family in a covered wagon, they travelled to the Midwest where they were given a homestead at Bloomington, Illinois.