Composite family page: Amy Perry FitzSimons and James Pickens Walker with their four children and grandchildren
Book 1, Page 392 ·1888–1973
Transcription
The page is arranged around a central row of large head-and-shoulders childhood portraits of the four Walker children. A vintage studio portrait of Amy Perry FitzSimons (the compiler’s mother) holding a mandolin sits at the upper left. A formal late-life portrait of James Pickens Walker Sr. in coat and tie is at the upper right. Across the bottom edge are smaller snapshots of the same children grown, a 1917 St. Cecilia Society admission card made out to Mr. J. P. Walker, and the newspaper obituary clipping.
Handwritten genealogical notes (across the top of the page):
Amy Perry Fitz Simons — B. Feb. 4th 1888 — D. Dec. 1, 1973 —M— Oct. 20th 1908 James Pickens Walker — B. April 27th 1883 — D. Nov. 19, 1960
Four numbered columns for the children, written across the next register down:
(1) James Pickens Walker Jr. B. Jan. 5th 1912 — D. Jan. 21, 1969 —M— June 26th 1941 Ann Seymour Knight B. June 17, 1917
(2) Emma Dee Walker B. Oct. 18th 1915 — D. May 11th 1959 —M— Oct. 9th 1937 Robert Lawrence Corbell D. Jan. 3rd, 19[60] [final digit overwritten]
(3) Mary Ann Walker B. June 9th 1918 — D. Feb. 7, 1975 M. May 14, 1941 Oswald Beverly McEwan
(4) Amy Perry Walker — B. Nov. 17, 1921 [no further entry — her line is detailed on adjacent pages]
Right-margin notes — Corbell grandchildren (under column 2):
- Robert Lawrence Corbell — B. Jan. 14th 1941
- Pickens Walker Corbell — B. Nov. 13th 1944 — D. Dec. 2nd 1953
- Dee Corbell — B. Nov. 23rd 1946
Right-margin notes — McEwan grandchildren (under column 3):
- Christopher Gaillard McEwan — B. June 27, 1942
- Nancy Fletcher McEwan — Sept. 13, 1946
- James Walker McEwan — April 25, 1949
Photo captions, written in pencil beneath each image:
Upper-left portrait: Amy Perry FitzSimons
Center upper portraits, left to right:
- James Pickens Walker Jr.
- Emma Dee Walker — Mrs. Corbell
- Mary Ann Walker
Upper right: J. P. Walker — 1949
Lower row, left to right:
- Amy P. Walker (snapshot of a young woman on a wooden swing or porch)
- Amy Perry Walker — Age 8 yrs. (small caption above an older snapshot of a girl)
- Pickens Walker Jr. / Dee Walker / Mary Ann Walker (group snapshot of three children)
- Dee + Mary Ann Walker (smaller snapshot of two girls in white dresses)
St. Cecilia Society admission card (centre lower):
St. Cecilia Society 1917 Admit Mr. J. P. Walker — A Member Mrs. [H. Greenleaf] Secretary & Treasurer
Newspaper clipping (lower right):
A column-width obituary illustrated with a head-and-shoulders portrait of an older man in coat and tie, the photo credited “—Times-Union Photo” and captioned “J. Pickens Walker Sr.”:
JACKSONVILLE, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1960
Death Takes J. P. Walker At Residence
West Virginia Native Was Retired ACL Executive
James Pickens Walker Sr., 77, who retired in 1949 as an executive of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad after 49 years’ service with the line, died at his home last night. His death, attributed to a heart condition, was unexpected.
At the time of his retirement, he was general superintendent of the Southern Division of the ACL, with headquarters in Jacksonville. His home was at 3698 Hedrick St.
Mr. Walker, a native of the Overfield Community, near Philippi, W. Va., was a graduate of Washington and Lee University in [text continues across columns]
Came Here in 1906
He came to Jacksonville as a civil engineer for the ACL in 1906 after prior service with the line in other cities. In 1907, he was transferred to Charleston, S. C., as superintendent of division transportation.
He was returned to Jacksonville in 1923 as superintendent of transportation and was shifted to Savannah, Ga., in 1926 as superintendent of two consolidated divisions.
He was returned to Jacksonville in 1933 as general superintendent of the ACL’s Southern Division.
Mr. Walker was a communicant of the Church of the Good Shepherd and a life member of the Timuquana Country Club.
Arrangements Incomplete
Surviving are his widow; a son, J. Pickens Walker Jr., news editor of The Florida Times-Union; a daughter, Mrs. O. B. McEwan of Orlando; and five grandchildren.
Funeral services and burial will be in Philippi. No time has yet been set. The family requests flowers be omitted. Hardage and Sons is in charge of local arrangements.
AI Notes
A composite album page densely arranged with sepia and black-and-white photographs of Amy Perry FitzSimons, her husband James Pickens Walker Sr., and their four children at various ages — together with a 1917 St. Cecilia Society admission card, J. P. Walker’s 1960 Times-Union obituary clipping, and extensive pencilled genealogical notes in the upper margin and along the right side recording births, marriages, deaths, and grandchildren. The compiler’s column-by-column scheme numbers the four Walker children (1) James Pickens Walker Jr., (2) Emma Dee Walker, (3) Mary Ann Walker, (4) Amy Perry Walker, with each spouse and children listed below. Amy Perry Walker (the fourth child) has only a brief ‘B. Nov. 17, 1921’ entry — her own family is laid out on adjacent pages. The Corbell children include ‘Robert Lawrence Corbell III’ — i.e. the eldest Corbell son was named after his father Dr. Robert Lawrence Corbell Sr.
This is the album’s central family-record page, the hinge between the FitzSimons line and its 20th-century descendants in the Walker, Corbell, and McEwan branches. Amy Perry FitzSimons (1888–1973) is the compiler of the entire archive; her husband J. P. Walker Sr.'s 49-year career with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad placed the family in Jacksonville from 1906 onward, with brief postings in Charleston (1907) and Savannah (1926). The ACL was headquartered in Wilmington, N.C., for most of his career and did not officially move its corporate headquarters to Jacksonville until 1960, the year of his death.