Archives of Maryland
(Biographical Series)

Elizabeth Walker (b. circa 1834 - d. ?)
MSA SC 5496-51516
Maryland State Colonization Society Emigrant to Liberia from Caroline County, 1835

Biography:

Elizabeth Walker was the freeborn daughter of Luke and Ann Walker, manumitted slaves from Caroline County. Elizabeth had eight brothers and sisters; the two eldest, Thomas and Laura Ann, had had their freedom purchased by their father. Her remaining siblings--George, Mahalah, William, Mary Adeline, Joseph, and Allen--were all free born.1

On December 24 1835, the family, including Elizabeth's fourteen-month old nephew, John Smith, departed for Liberia, where Luke hoped to set up a saw mill.2 The Walkers sailed from Baltimore on the brig Fortune, arriving at Cape Palmas, Liberia on February 4, 1836.3  By the time that the colony's first census was conducted in 1837, Luke was working as a carpenter, and all of the Walkers had survived acclimation to the new land.4 However, the family did not remain in Liberia for long. Luke became disillusioned by the frequent material shortages and lack of opportunities in the new colony. In June 1837, Luke and his family returned to the United States on the Niobe. Colonial officials welcomed his departure, believing that his attitude demoralized the colonists as well as dissuaded potential settlers from coming to Liberia.5

By December 1837, the family probably lived in Baltimore where Luke owned a grocery store in the Fell's Point area..6 In 1850, Elizabeth and much of her family were living in New York City in the home of Lewis Walker, who was probably a relative. Elizabeth's older brothers, Thomas, William, George, were working as porters while Elizabeth, her mother and sister Mahala, had no occupation listed.7 By the next federal census in 1860, the family had dispersed with Thomas remaining in New York City while Allen had moved to Massachusetts, George to Philadelphia.8, 9, 10 The whereabouts of Elizabeth and the other Walkers is unclear.


1. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Manumission Lists, 1832-1839, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13248-1, Emigrants, Lines 279-285, 286-289.

2.  Hall, Richard L. On Afric’s Shore: A History of Maryland in Liberia, 1834-1857. (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 2003), 156.

3. Ibid, 453.

4. SPECIAL COLLECTIONS (Papers of the Maryland State Colonization Society), Subscribers Reports Census, 1817-1902, MSA SC 5977, Film Number M 13247-1, 1837 Census.

5. Hall, 453.

6. "Luke Walker." Maryland Colonization Journal, December 1837, Vol. 1, No. 13, p. 54.

7. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, NY) for Elizabeth Walker, 1850, New York County, 1st District, 8th Ward New York City, Page 235a, Lines 37-42. Page 235b, Line 1.

8. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, NY) for Thos. Walker, 1860, New York County, 3rd District, 16th Ward New York City, Page 181, Lines 33-36.

9. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, MA) for Allen Walker, 1860, Worcester County, 9th Ward, City of Worcester, Page 12, Lines 16-18.

10. U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (Census Record, PA) for George Walker, 1860, City of Philadelphia, 14th Ward, Page 139, Lines 9-15.

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