William Walker

WALKER, William. b. near Cross Keys, South Carolina, 6 May 1809; d. Spartanburg, South Carolina, 24 September 1875.  Walker is known primarily as the compiler of Southern Harmony* and Musical Companion, which, according to his records, sold more than 600,000 copies. William was the second of five children born to Absalom Walker (1780-1854) and Susannah (Susan) Jackson Walker (1787-1863), who, like William, was born in Union County, South Carolina.  Accounts of Walker family history differ.  According to J. B. O. Landrum’s History of Spartanburg County (Atlanta, Georgia, 1900), Absalom was born in Wales, but the obituary in The Carolina Spartan (4 January 1855, page 3), has the birthplace in...