Samuel Walters
- A Man of Integrity
- A Man of Faith
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Samuel Walters was born a slave in 1840 in Arkansas. His mother
was born in North Carlina and brought to Northwest Arkansas while
a child. Samuel while a young man in his 20's was sold into the
Choctaw Nation and became a slave of Jim Davis a wealthy slave
owner in Indian Territory.
After the Civil War, he married Lucinda Quesenbery from
Missouri, and had a family in Van Buren Arkansas. Being able to
read and write, Walters became known in the Crawford County
community and emerged as a leader, serving as a Minister of the
Gospel in his NW Arkansas home. He frequented the Choctaw Nation
however, a land to which he had become accustomed.
It is not known exactly when he began working in the Western District
of Arkansas, but by the late 1870's he was one of several blacks hired
to work out of Judge Isaac C. Parker's court. He was bilingual
and served the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations, and often used to
travel to distances as far away as Texas to capture criminals to
bring to the Ft. Smith Court for trial.
In the early 1880's Samuel Walters, had his own personal case that
was heard in the Ft. Smith court. He was bringing a criminal from
the State of Texas who had several warrants for his arrest. He stopped
along his route back to Ft. Smith, at the Little River courthouse and
jail. The prisoner --- James Campbell was housed in the Little River
Arkansas jail, and managed somehow to escape. Samuel Walters was acckused
of having accepted a bribery allowing the prisoner to escape. Walters
fought this case vehemently. For the next 2-3 years he spent time
defending his case held at the Ft. Smith court. The final outcome
of the case is still being researched.
One of his defenders in his own case referred to Samuel as having
been an honest man, and extremely professional US Deputy Marshal
of high integrity and honesty. Samuel Walters was known to be a
deputy of courage and character, whose personal qualities were known
by those who were in contact with him. Being a man who was literate
his literacy skills would have been an asset for him in both
Indian Territory and the United States.
It is known that by the late 1880's Walters had left the court
of the Western District of Arkansas, and went back to his life as
a Baptist preacher. He travelled to many places throughout the
Arkansas/Indian Territory community. In addition, he also had remarried
this time to an African Choctaw woman---Sallie Anchatubbee Williams.
Sallie was the daughter of Amanda Anchatubbee, and Eastman Williams,
a Choctaw Indian. During this same time, he also changed his name
from Walters to Walton. He and wife Sallie, had 3 sons---
Samuel, Houston, and Louisa--a child by an earlier marriage of
Sallie. Samuel did maintain close contact also with the children
of his first wife Lucinda. These children used the name Walters for
many years, they in later years they also began to use the name
Walton.
Samuel Walters (now Walton) was admitted into full citizenship
in the Choctaw Nation as was the rest of his family---and he remained
mostly in the area that is now known as LeFlore County Oklahoma.
He died in 1912 in Howe Oklahoma, survived by his wife Sallie Walton , and
son Samuel Walton
