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 is the law school of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. History The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest conti ...

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, Re ...

, US, to Benjamin and Susanna (Cook) Walker. He graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

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 effor ...

, and he studied law at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

1829 and 1830. In 1831 he moved to

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

, 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 from 1864 to his death in 1873. Chase served as the 23rd governor of Ohio from 1856 to 1860, r ...

, 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, where Walker met his first wife, Anna Lawler Bryant, the granddaughter of Matthew Lawler. 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 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, 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. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

orator at that institution in 1850.Timothy Walker, The reform spirit of the day: an oration before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard University, July 18, 1850 (Boston, 1850). See als
Alfred L. Brophy, The Jurisprudence of Antebellum Phi Beta Kappa Address
/ref> Timothy Walker died in Cincinnati in 1856.

Family

Judge Walker was first married to Anna Lawler Bryant at

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

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 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 or House speaker, is the Speaker (politics), presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the United ...

. The astronomer Sears Cook Walker was Timothy's brother.

Biography

Family

Works

References

Further reading