John Walker was born around 1823 in Delaware. By the early 1860s, he was living in Ohio. He married Laura Olive Scoville on September 18, 1862, and they had ten children, including: James, born around 1864; Jennie, born around 1866; Princess, born around 1868; Sarah, born around 1872; Lillie, born around 1876; John, born around 1878; and Charles, born around 1881.
They lived in Ohio until the mid-1860s, when they moved to Illinois. By the mid-1870s, they were living in Tisdale, Kansas, and Walker was working as a farmer. By 1900, they were living in Richland, Kansas. He died in 1901, probably in Kansas.