Lafayette Walker has the distinction of being the oldest resident attorney of Hughes County. He began practice there about seventeen years ago. His work has taken him into close touch with public affairs, particularly in the service of the Interior Department and in connection with Indian affairs. He is now one of the probate attorneys under the Indian Department looking after the interests of the Seminole Indians.

He was born in Carroll County, Arkansas, in November, 1867, a son of William and Mary (Ramsey) Walker. He comes of substantial old Southern stock. His father was born in Overton County in Middle Tennessee, June 6, 1823, while the mother was born in North Carolina June 5, 1834. The mother went to Arkansas when a child, was married there, and the parents spent most of their years in that state, where the father died November 8, 1911, and the mother on March 3, 1912. William Walker was a pioneer farmer in Arkansas, where he had homesteaded one of the best farms in Carroll County. He was honored for two terms by election as county judge. During the war between the states he was in the Confederate army and served as quartermaster in the brigade commanded by General Stand Watie (Note: Stand Watie), the famous Cherokee general. He was a Methodist and in politics a democrat. In the family were five sons and four daughters, and five of them are still living.

The first twenty-four years of his life Lafayette Walker spent on the old farm in Arkansas. A common school education was supplemented by a course in Clark Academy, and for more than two years he was employed as a private tutor and was a regular teacher for portions of three years. He began the study of law, came to Oklahoma and continued his reading with George E. Nelson at Muskogee, where he was admitted to the bar before Judge John R. Thomas on December 8, 1898.

After one year of practice at Muskogee Mr. Walker removed to Holdenville August 4, 1899, and he is the only one of his contemporaries at that time who are still practicing law in Hughes County. He conducted a general practice until 1904, when he was appointed by the United States Treasury Department to represent the receiver of the Capital National Bank of Guthrie and the National Bank of Holdenville. On April 28, 1915, he was appointed United States Probate Attorney in Indian Field service, and in November, 1915, was given charge of the probate affairs of the Seminole Nation. This is a work in which Mr. Walker’s broad experience, intimate acquaintance with the older life of Indian Territory, and his thorough knowledge of Indian law and customs enable him to render the highest degree of efficient service.

He has been a lifelong democrat, and is affiliated with the Scottish Rite bodies of Masonry and with the Mystic Shrine. On October 31, 1886, he married Miss Amanda M. Seitz, who was born and reared on a farm adjoining that on which Mr. Walker himself grew up in Carroll County, Arkansas. She was born March 31, 1871, a daughter of Abram and Evelyn Seitz. Mr. Walker and wife had five children: Carl, who died at the age of seven years; George Earl of Holdenville; Mary; Abe; and Robert Owen.