John Walker never lived to see the town that bears his name. He died July 18, 1841. But his foresight remains a legacy for the thousands of people who have made Walkersville their home since he purchased the land from Nicholas Randall on April 7, 1814.

Walker paid Randall $26,975 for a tract of land totaling 269 acres. It was part of three original tracts of land: Monocacy Manor, Spring Garden and Dulany's Lott. The earliest survey was for Monocacy Manor in May of 1724.

Walkersville is actually a combination of two towns - Georgetown and Walkersville. Neither town was formally platted. They just grew up. Georgetown is likely the oldest section as it appears that a few houses were in existence as early as 1800, even though they don't appear on any extant maps of this time period.

The deed from Randall to Walker does not gives a metes and bounds description and the acreage is an approximation. A few houses were constructed shortly after the land transferred to Walker.

While Georgetown grew up along present day Biggs Ford Road-Pennsylvania Avenue and was named for an early settler in the area - George Cramer, Walkersville developed along what is today Frederick Street. The two were connected by a country road that we now call Main Street.

Walker was the first owner of the land to seriously cultivate its use. He sold a few lots off over his years of ownership, but at the time of his death on July 18, 1841, he still farmed a large tract.

His home is thought to be the farmhouse on the east side of Rt. 194 across from the rear of the school called the Elementary "B" Building, the Walkersville Middle School "Blue" Building." That property was originally built in 1921 and housed all 11 school grades.

The prominent Nicodemus family still owns this farm. Walker was buried in the Israel Creek graveyard on the northwest corner of the intersection of Devilbiss Bridge Road and Rt. 194.

In the latter half of the 19th Century Georgetown and Walkersville grew closer and closer together, and, in 1892, the town was incorporated and encompassed both villages, retaining the name Walkersville, because it had a post office.

April 14

When Abraham Lincoln heard of Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House, he could finally relax. He decided to take in a night at the theater, his first in many months.

Lincoln had spent many sleepless nights as President in his four years in office. With Lee's surrender, he could finally take time from his pressure-filled job and relax with his family.

On April 14, 1865, just five days after the end of The Civil War, he and his wife went to Ford's Theater to watch Our American Cousin. During the third act, John Wilkes Booth, entered the Lincoln box and fired his single-shot Derringer into Lincoln's head.

At 7:32 the next morning, Lincoln died. The joy of victory just a few days earlier was replaced with the sorrow of loss. Four days later, on April 18, Frederick businesses closed, bells tolled and churches held services to mourn this champion of the Union.

On April 19, one day after Frederick officially mourned the death of The President, The Examiner, published an editorial on his death. "Last Wednesday, the day designated for celebrating the funeral obsequies of our lamented president, will form a sad epoch in the history of Frederick. Our city was overcast with the deepest gloom and the solemnities were conducted amid the tears and sobs of a mourning and grief-stricken people, whose countenance denoted the inward emotions of sorrow. The flags that had a short time previous waved in honor of Union victories, were draped with the emblems of mourning. Business of all kinds was suspended, the bells tolled, their melancholy tones combining to invest the occasion with an aspect of solemnity never before witnessed. Services were held in all the churches which were hung with crepe, & the National affliction and bereavement alluded to in appropriate and affecting terms. Large congregations were in attendance and testified by their tearful eyes and devout demeanor how keenly and intensely they felt the agonizing calamity that had so suddenly overwhelmed them with grief too deep and profound for utterance and that brought to every heart a painful realization of the terrible reality."

The grief was somewhat surprising in that Frederick County had not supported Lincoln in his first election as president.

April 21

After her husband Henry died, Suzanne Schildnecht wanted to continue running their farm near the Mt. Tabor Church, about 3 miles north of Middletown. It was a struggle for her, but she persevered.

As was usual at the time of The Civil War, hired hands were hard to come by. Toward the end of that conflict, Mrs. Schildnecht hired a man named Daniel Shoemaker. For a while he worked out well, but as time went on his performance declined and Mrs. Schildnecht was forced to discharge him.

On the evening of April 21, 1866, as she returned to her home from a nearby woodpile, Mrs. Schildnecht was confronted by an angry Shoemaker. He spoke first, saying: "What are you doing out here?"

Mrs. Schildnecht then asked: "What are you doing here, you vagabond?"

At this point Shoemaker pulled a pistol and fired one shot, which stuck the woman in the left side, but it was only a slight wound.

She started to run toward the house and Shoemaker fired twice more, but neither shot hit its target.

Once inside her house, Mrs. Schildnecht raised a window and blew her dinner horn, the one she used to call the hands to the table at meal time. Realizing that the noise would bring someone running because it was not dinner time, Shoemaker fled.

Later that night, Mrs. Schildnecht told the story to Justice of the Peace and he issued a warrant for Shoemaker's arrest.

On Tuesday the 24th, Shoemaker was arrested in Kearneysville, Virginia, and returned to Myersville where he was placed in jail to await the action of the grand jury.

The following week, The Valley Register carried a story indicating that Shoemaker had been released on a $600 bond. The editors said: "The turning loose of this would-be murderer upon such an insignificant bail as $600 is universally regarded here as an outrage upon the community."

Later accounts in Frederick County newspapers failed to satisfy public curiosity as to the outcome of the case in court. Mrs. Schildnecht, however, lived another 36 years after the assault, dying on April 2, 1902.

April 28

He was a simple, unassuming man who made his living as an artist and photographer in the early part of this century in Frederick. His talent was never truly recognized until after his death in February of 1925.

On April 28, 1925, the Kiwanis Club of Frederick presented a portrait of Francis Scott Key to the hotel at Court and Patrick Streets bearing his name. Today, whenever anyone thinks of the author of "The Stars-Spangled Banner," the image portrayed by William H. B. Grinage is the one, which comes to mind.

For most of his life Grinage was unknown as an artist. But some prominent local men discovered his talent by accident.

A. Hart Etchison, a benefactor and friend and owner of Etchison Funeral Home, who had suggested Grinage for the portrait commissioned by the Kiwanis Club, wrote of him: "All honor to William Grinage...a plain, unassuming colored man, trying hard to make the best of his life... I knew enough of him and about him to say...that I was proud of his friendship. I admired his clean and splendid character. I respected his moral courage, and I know that he was a high-minded, God-fearing man, and a citizen worth while, and at all times, and everywhere, a Christian and courteous gentleman."

Sadly, Grinage died two months before the Key portrait was presented and Etchison penned his tribute.