Timothy Walker (December 1, 1802 – January 15, 1856) was an American lawyer who founded the

Cincinnati Law School The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest continuously running law school in the United States — after Harvard, the University of Virginia, and Yale — and the first in ...

and was its first dean.

Biography

Timothy Walker was born in

Wilmington, Massachusetts Wilmington is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. Its population was 23,349 at the 2020 United States census. History Wilmington was first settled in 1665 and was officially incorporated in 1730, from parts of Woburn, Read ...

, US, to Benjamin and Susanna (Cook) Walker. He graduated from Harvard in 1826. From 1826 to 1829 he taught mathematics at the

Round Hill School The Round Hill School for Boys was a short-lived experimental school in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was founded by George Bancroft and Joseph Cogswell in 1823. Though it failed as a viable venture — it closed in 1834 — it was an early effort ...

, and he studied law at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

1829 and 1830. In 1831 he moved to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, where after a year spent in the law office of Bellamy Storer and Charles Fox he was

admitted to the bar An admission to practice law is acquired when a lawyer receives a license to practice law. In jurisdictions with two types of lawyer, as with barristers and solicitors, barristers must gain admission to the bar whereas for solicitors there are dist ...

and joined a practice with the politician Edward King. They were joined in this partnership by another young Cincinnati lawyer,

Salmon P. Chase Salmon Portland Chase (January 13, 1808May 7, 1873) was an American politician and jurist who served as the sixth chief justice of the United States. He also served as the 23rd governor of Ohio, represented Ohio in the United States Senate, a ...

, who left the firm after a few months to pursue his interest in banking law. Around this time Walker and Chase joined a literary salon, the

Semi-Colon Club The Semi-Colon Club was an informal organization of talented writers in Cincinnati, Ohio during the mid-19th century. Harriet Beecher Stowe was a member of the club while living in the city from 1832 until 1850. Stowe's experiences in Cincinnati an ...

, where Walker met his first wife, Anna Lawler Bryant, the granddaughter of

Matthew Lawler Matthew Lawler (January 1, 1755 – July 14, 1831) was a mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, serving four one-year terms from 1801 to 1805. Lawler was active in the American Revolution, in which he commanded privateering ships, including the ''Hol ...

.Christenson, Gordon A
"A Tale of Two Lawyers in Antebellum Cincinnati"
''University of Cincinnati Law Review'', v.71 (2002), p.467. In 1833, Walker, along with King and John C. Wright, founded the

. At the time there were only six other law schools in the country, and it was the first law school in the West. Walker served as Dean, and continued in that position when the school merged with

Cincinnati College The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...

in 1835. He was Dean 1833 to 1844.History of UC College of Law
Walker was President Judge of the Hamilton County

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

, founded the ''Western Law Journal'' in 1843, and was its editor. His ''Introduction to American Law'' (1837, revised several times) was for many years "the most generally used text-book in the country". This book earned him the title "The American Blackstone". Walker wrote a number of other historical and legal books. He was given the degree LL.D. by Harvard in 1854, and was the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

orator at that institution in 1850. Timothy Walker died in Cincinnati in 1856.

Family

Judge Walker was first married to Anna Lawler Bryant at

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

on May 9, 1832. She died at the age of 23 following the birth of their second child in Cincinnati in 1834. He married Eleanor Page Wood in Cincinnati on March 11, 1840. Their daughter, Susan, married Nicholas Longworth II, a wealthy Cincinnati judge and member of the Longworth family. Susan's son,

Nicholas Longworth Nicholas Longworth III (November 5, 1869 – April 9, 1931) was an American politician who became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was a Republican. A lawyer by training, he was elected to the Ohio Senate, where he init ...

would become

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the ...

. The astronomer

Sears Cook Walker Sears Cook Walker (March 28, 1805 – January 30, 1853) was an American astronomer. Born at Wilmington, Massachusetts son of Benjamin Walker and Susanna Cook, he graduated from Harvard University in 1825, he was a teacher till 1835, was an ...

was Timothy's brother.

Biography

Family

Works

References

Further reading