John Butler Walden

JOHN BUTLER WALDEN, Attorney-at-law, was born in Jasper County, Ga., September 1, 1816, and is a son of Charles and Sarah (Walker) Walden, natives of South Carolina.

He was reared on a farm, and at the age of twenty years, at Wetumpka, Ala., began the study of the law, and at Talladega was admitted to the He located first in the practice at Lebanon, De Kalb County, and was within a short time appointed Register in Chancery, and afterward appointed Judge of the County Court of De Kalb County. He held these ofiices but a few months, when he_resigned for the purpose of devoting his entire time to the practice of the law, and soon gained rank in the profession. He was appointed Solicitor of the Huntsville Circuit in 1862, and was shortly afterwards elected by the Legislature to that ofiice, and held it the close of the war. In 186-1 he came to Centre, and has here since that time given his whole attention to his profession.

Mr. Walden was married in December, 1842, to Catharine O. Chambliss, daughter of John and Sarah (Pierce) Chambliss, who came from Darlington District, S. C., to Talladega County in 1841. Of the children reared by Mr. Walden we have the following data: John is a farmer and trader in Texas; Charles is a trader at Mcl\Iinnville, Tenn.; Joseph A. studied law of his own volition; was admitted to the bar on the day after he was twenty-one; was elected Solicitor for Cherokee County by the popular vote, and served one term only. He holds a high standing in his profession as an untiring, zealous advocate. Emily married Captain Marable, of Georgia, and Minnie is unmarried, and remains with her parents.

The senior Mr. Walden, in about 1800, moved to Green County, Ga., and from thence to Jasper. He was a lieutenant under General Floyd in the War of 1812. He came into Alabama in 1819, and located in Autauga County, near old Fort Jackson. He died in 1832. Of his seven sons John B. is the only one now living.

His wife was one of those excellent pioneer, Christian women. She was a member of the Baptist Church over fifty years, and many of her ancestors and kinsmen were noted divines. She died in 1854, at the age of seventy years. Her father, Jeremiah Walker, a Virginian by birth and a gallant old Revolutionary soldier, was a farmer in South Carolina. His praetorial ancestors came from England.

Source: Northern Alabama: Historical and Biographical... Smith & De Land, (1888 - Alabama), page 132-133.