Walton family history

[bothepug]

What is the family history of the Waltons? What year did they come to the Mt? How many generations? What was their ethnic background?

[Tonyray]

In The Founder's Day season 7 it is said that Rome Walton was the first Walton to settle the Mountain and how he spent his 2nd freezing winter in 1766 so I would say it was in 1765.

[janice10]

Where did you find this information?

Janice

[River]

I'm not sure if John V. is still around but this came from him. I do not know where he got all of the information.
I was thinking about their family and for fun
I wrote down what I think would have been somewhat of a family tree of The Waltons. Now, I got this info from what I remember from various episodes where they mention the family and I kind of filled in gaps with assumptions. Here it goes. The first Waltons on the mountain were Rome and Rebecca Lee Walton. Rome Walton came and settled what came to be known as Waltons Mountain in 1789. He brought with him, an ax, a mule, a plow and a rifle. He cleared his land for planting in the Spring of 1796 and went all the way to Buckingham County to get a gurnsey cow to put on it. Sometime that Spring he married Rebecca Lee and brought her there to settle on the mountain. They had at least two sons, one being Samuel Walton, the father of Zeb and the other, the father of Zadoc Walton. Rome and Rebecca Lee raised their children on Waltons Mountain and the family flourished. The work was hard but the evenings were spent with Rome serenading the family with tunes on his fiddle. His favorite tune was Razin the Bow. He would teach this to his young grandson Zadoc, who would inherit not only Rome's love of music, but also his treasured fiddle. Zadoc would one day pass this treasure on to his cousin Zeb's grandson Jason Walton, who shared in the Walton musical talent.

Samuel Walton grew up and married Zula Tyler. They settled on Waltons Mountain and they had at least six children. First was Henry in 1841, then their came sons, Ben, Charlie, Matt and Zebulon Tyler. They also had a daughter Melissa, that Zeb mentions to Jason in a later episode. The name Tyler is mentioned several times in the series, including the episode The Pony Cart, where Martha Corrine mentions the Tylers. Zeb was the youngest in his family. He was a full twenty years younger than his brother Henry. All the Walton sons grew up and inherited their piece of The Mountain. Not all of them stayed there though.

Henry fought for the Army of Virginia in the War between the States. He came home and married Martha Corrine Tyler, a cousin on his mother's side. They settled up on Blue Rock Creek. They had two sons, Boone, born the same year as Henry's baby brother Zeb, 1862 and a baby boy, named Henry who died in infancy. Henry Walton died in 1921 at the age of 81. His widow Martha Corrine and his grown son Boone continued to live on Blue Rock Creek Boone married and had a son. There was a flood and Boone lost his son and daughter in law. They raised their grandson Wade after that. Henry Walton's family was forced to move from Blue Rock Creek in 1934, after the Government confiscated their land for the Blue Ridge Parkway. Martha Corrine Tyler-Walton spent the remainder of her years in Brightwood. Martha Corrine died in 1939 at the age of 91.

As for the other Walton brothers, Ben married and moved to Goochland County and it is said, had a large family. Charlie Walton stayed on the mountain but no real mention is made of him except in the episode The Deed, when Zeb talks about Uncle Charlie meeting up with a bear. Matt Walton married and had a daugher Cora, who grew up and married Hamilton Denbee. They had a son, Job and spent many years in Kansas, moving back to Virginia during the Dust Bowl years. They attemtpted to settle on Waltons MOuntain again but ended up going on to New York and farming the Mowhawk Valley after learning that Matt Walton had sold his land to his brother Zeb.

Zebulon Tyler Walton was the youngest son.
He stayed on Waltons Mountain, married a young girl they called Sissy Morgan. Sissy came from a very proper family with a strict Baptist up bringing, which was quite a contrast to Zeb's footloose and boistrous personality. She would pretend to scold but Sissy or Esther which was her Christian name, loved him for it. Even as a young couple, Esther took to calling Zeb " The Ol Fool", which had love in every syllable. Zeb and Esther married in 1883, when Zeb was 21 and Esther 17. Esther had wanted to be a seamstress and open her own dress shop but she gave that up to stay with Zeb on the mountain. Their first home was the log cabin on the mountain where Zeb had been rasied. They took care of Zeb's folks in their later years.

At some point, Zeb and Esther built their own home at the foot of the mountain. It was a big white two story house and they built it with their own hands. For several years it didn't seem as Zeb and Esther would be blessed with children even though both had hoped for a large family. But
finally, in about 1889, their first son Benjamin was born.
They ware over joyed. About two years later, they had another baby but it died at birth. The third and last child of Zeb and Esther Walton was a son born in 1897. They named him John. John would share his father's love of the land and would spend his life on Waltons Mountain.
In their ealry years together, Zeb and Esther built their home together at the foot of Waltons Mountain. They built it big because both truly expected to fill it up with lots of kids and in the meantime, they liked lots of company. Zeb came from a large extened family so they always had company. Zeb's brothers and their families aunts uncles and cousins were always welcome guests, not to mention Zeb's mamma and pappa. Zeb was a man who liked excitement.
Although he was born on Waltons Mountain and always had a love of his family and the mountain itself, he always dreamed of other places and of adventures. Zeb loved hearing the talk of folks moving west and of great battles in long ago wars and the late war between the states that his own brother Henry had fought in. So, it was little wonder in early 1898, when men were being called to serve with Teddy Roosevelt in what would be called the Spanish American War, that Zeb's heart would be stirred once more.
Several friends of Zebs were going to Cuba and it was all he could talk about. Finally, even thugh it was against her better judgement, Esther insisted Zeb join up with the Rough Riders and go fight the war in Cuba. She said later she didn't want Zeb to hate her for holding him back and it was with this thought in mind, that she let Zeb go. So off he went to the war in Cuba and Esther and their two boys stayed home on the mountain to await his return. Esther would say she was proud of Zeb for doing his duty but it was the worst time of her life. She learned early on that life could throw you curves but faith would get you through.
So, she spent her days working hard and enjoying her boys waiting for word from her Ol Fool and for the day he would come home.

The day did come when Zeb came home from Cuba. It was the Spring of 99 and home he came to his Sissy, his boys Ben and John and his beloved mountain, never to leave again.
Life continued on Waltons Mountain, the seasons came and went and Zeb and Esther taught their boys the value of family, work, the land and God. They had many good neighbors in those years, The Baldwins, The Godseys who owned the local Mercantile, the Roswells, Sneads and Brimleys to name a few. There was a lot of activity at the local Baptist Chruch which Esther stayed very involved in and always a barn razin or some affair the family would attend. Those were truly good years.

It was also during these years that the two boys were growing up. Ben was the oldest and pretty much looked after his brother John and kept him in line for he was a bit on the wild side from time to time, although serious at the same time. John was never much for school or church goin. He preferred to working out doors with his pa, going fishing or just taking long hikes up Walton's Mountian. Ben was the more serious student and a very hard worker. He had his mother's sense of work and duty. Although John also had that Walton Work ethic and you could always trust both boys to see a job through to it's end, you could tell Ben was the business man to be, while John was to be a man of the land who liked to have a real good time.

[River]

I found this site:
users.galesburg.net/atkins/wfamily.html