Walker Keith Armistead was born to Lewis Addison Armistead and Cecilia Lee Love on the 12th of December 1844. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Walker Keith Armistead. Because he was the third living member of the Armistead family to carry this name he was called Keith, his uncle and grandfather being called Walker. He was born in Lowndes County, Alabama (near Montgomery) in the parsonage of St. Peters (St. David's) where his uncle Reverend William Johnson was the minister. The Rev. Johnson was married to Flora, the older sister of Cecilia Lee Love.
As a child Walker Keith lived with his parents in Fort Towson, Arkansas. He also lived at Fort Washita near the Oklahoma border and later in northern Virginia. His sister Flora Lee was born in the summer of 1846 on June 26th. When Lewis Addison went to fight in the Mexican War he left his family in Milledgeville, Ga, again with the Johnsons and his mother-in-law, Matilda Lee Love. After the Mexican War, Keith accompanied his parents to Louisville, Ky, then to northern Virginia and back to Milledgeville, Ga.
At Jefferson Barracks, just south of St. Louis, Mo, Keith lost his little sister Flora. She is buried there. The family then moved to Fort Snelling, Minn. where they stayed while Lewis Addison was in Fort Dodge. When Cecilia Lee Love's illness worsened (it is possibly believe that she may have had tuberculosis) her brother, John Love, brought her, Keith and Matilda Lee Love back to Jefferson Barracks. As winter arrived they traveled down the Mississippi to Mobile where the Johnsons were living. Cecilia Lee Love, Keith's mother died in Mobile on December 12, 1850 and is buried there.
Keith was then taken by his grandmother Matilda Love to Tuscaloosa, Alabama where the Johnsons had moved. In the summer of 1851, Lewis Addison traveled to Tuscaloosa and left with Keith. It is not known at this time if Keith stayed in northern Virginia with his paternal grandmother Elizabeth Armistead or returned to Fort Dodge with his father.
In March, 1853, in Alexandria, Va, Lewis Addison Armistead married for a second time, to Cornelia Lee Taliaferro Jamison who had a young daughter named Williamina Henrietta. The Taliaferros and Armisteads were families that had known each other for a long time. One of John Baylor Armistead's daughters had married a Taliaferro. (John Baylor was the eldest brother of Walker Keith Armistead, Keith's grandfather) .
The new family traveled from post to post in Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. At Fort Riley, Kansas in the summer of 1855 a cholera epidemic took the life of Cornelia. In late 1855 thru May 1856 it is hypothesized that Lewis Addison took Keith and Henrietta Jamison to live in the east. Henrietta went to stay with her grandfather in Alexandria. Where Keith stayed is unknown. He was not living with Elizabeth Armistead, his grandmother in the 1860 census.
Walker Keith was aide-de-camp on his father's staff at Gettysburg. Through his mother he was related to the Lee family of Virginia. Cecilia Lee Love's mother was Mathilda Lee, the daughter of Ludwell Lee and the granddaughter of Richard Henry Lee.
After the death of his father at Gettysburg, there are two contradictory accounts of his status. In both cases he stayed with the Confederate cause until the Confederate Army was disbanded. One account has him becoming the aide-de-camp to Robert E. Lee (this is mentioned in the 1890 census listing of "Surviving Soldiers, Sailors and Marines") the other has him choosing to become a regular soldier and he appears (W. Keith Armistead) with Company A, Virginia 6th Cavalry, with his uncles Walker Keith and Bowles Edward. Of the two versions, the latter seems more likely.
On the the April 12, 1871, Keith was married in Trinity Chapel in New York by the Reverend Dr. Cornelius Swope to Julia Webster Appleton, granddaughter of Daniel Webster. It is suspicioned that he met his future wife in Baltimore as his aunt Georgiana Louisa Frances Gillis Armistead (born at Ft McHenry in 1817, the daughter of George Armistead who was Keith's uncle) was married to William Stuart Appleton (the uncle of Julia Appleton). Georgiana and William Stuart Appleton lived in Baltimore just 3 houses from Jerome N. Bonaparte who married Julia Appleton's sister Caroline on September 7, 1871.
Julia Webster Appleton and Walker Keith Armistead stayed in New York after their wedding, as their first son Lewis Addison was born there on February 7, 1872, their second son Walker Keith was born on August 13, 1873 and their third son Daniel Webster Appleton Armistead was born at Bayonne City (Bergen Point), New Jersey on September 20, 1874. They then built a home in Newport, RI, moving there in 1882 and made it their permanent residence. The money for these projects clearly came from Julia.
Keith was the President and General Manager for a large association formed for the protection of animals of which Captain Nathan Appleton of Boston was associated, now known as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). For several years he was the official reporter of the higher court of Massachusetts with headquarters in Boston. He was an expert stenographer.
Walker Keith Armistead died at his residence on Gibbs Avenue in Newport, RI late on Saturday afternoon March 28, 1898 after a long illness. He is buried in a lovely Episcopal cemetery at St. Columba's, the Berkeley Memorial Chapel which is an old stone English-style church in Middletown, RI. He is surrounded now by his wife and two of his sons Walker Keith and Lewis Addison. His stone reads "Walker Keith Armistead Son of Cecilia Lee Love and Lewis Addison Armistead of Virginia. December 12, 1844 - March 28 1898"
His wife Julia Webster Appleton Armistead rented out their home to a school, St. George's but when it built its own campus she returned to their home from Boston. She is listed as living in Newport in the 1900 and the 1920 censuses.
At the time of W. Keith's death his son Daniel Webster was a sophomore at Harvard College and his son Lewis Addison was a clerk in the employ of the West End Railroad of Boston. The second son, Walker Keith, died in a hunting accident in Moosehead Lake, Maine at the age of 16 years and 11 months on July 23, 1890.
On September 3, 1907, Daniel Webster married Mary Elizabeth Sherman Fitch, the granddaughter of William Tecumseh Sherman. (yes, the one that marched to the sea). She was from Pittsburgh and the marriage took place in Sharon, Conn. On September 15, 1915, Lewis Addison married Adelina Marie Connell at St. Patrick's in Roxbury, Boston, Ma.
Julia Webster Appleton Armistead followed Walker Keith in death on June 11, 1921. On her death ownership of the home was split between the two surviving sons. Daniel Webster sold his half to Lewis Addison. Lewis Addison and his wife lived there until his death.
The Headstone of Walker Keith Armistead
The Armistead Family Headstones
This brief summary of Walker Keith's life has been provided by Mrs. Joan Armistead. If anyone has any questions about the Armistead Family, please feel free to contact Joan at: JoanA1493@aol.com. She will be happy to answer any questions that you have pertaining to the Armistead genealogy and family.
Some details of Walker Keith's descent have not been presented to protect the privacy of the family.
Thank you.
The photographs are the property of Joan Armistead and are reproduced here with permission.
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© Cynthia M. Buck-Thompson 1997 - 2008