Born in Van Buren County, Iowa, August 22, 1852, and died in Keosauqua March 19, 1930. His parents, Dr. Peter Walker and Christian (Schuyler) Walker, died when William was a small boy. He thereafter lived with relatives, attended country school, early began teaching during winters, working on farms during summers. He took up the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1881 and in 1884 located in Keosauqua as a member of the firm of Lea, Wherry & Walker. In 1885 he was elected representative and served in the Twenty-first General Assembly. After the death of Mr. Lea in 1885, the firm remained Wherry & Walker until the removal of Mr. Wherry to Los Angeles, California, when the firm became Walker & McBeth and so remained until Mr. Walker was elected a judge of the Second Judicial District in 1922. He was re-elected four :years later and was serving in that position at the time of his death. He was an. ardent Republican and frequently shared actively in political campaigns, His principal interest, however, was in his profession in which he gained distinction for his thorough knowledge of the law, his professional rectitude, his fairness of judgment and his courage.