Biographical Sketch of Dr. James Wyatt Walton
January 23, 1863 – April 18, 1928
“James Wyatt Walton was born in Traskwood Township, Saline Co. Arkansas, January 23, 1863. He was the son of James W. Walton and Amey Angelina Poe, natives of Mississippi and Alabama, respectively.
His father practiced the trade of carpentry for one year, but afterward engaged in farming. In July, 1861 he enlisted as a private in Co. A, 11thArkansas infantry Regiment (the “Saline Tornadoes”). He served with several other units as the war progressed. He was killed at or near Atlanta, Georgia, in July 1864. His body, like those of many others, fills an unknown grave. Mrs. Walton died in 1865, her death, according to family tradition, resulting from a “broken heart” following the loss of her husband in the Civil War. At her death she left behind two small sons, Newton J. Walton, age 4, and James W. Walton, age 2. The boys were raised by their maternal grandparents.
James W. Walton attended school in Little Rock from age six through eleven. After that time he worked to support his grandmother. In 1886 and 1887, he attended the Benton graded school. Long before this time, however, young James W. Walton had decided he should study medicine, so from the latter part of 1887 until the Fall of 1888 he studied faithfully, and in 1889 took a course in the medical department of the Arkansas Industrial University at Little Rock, graduating in 1892. In April 1889 he had became the partner of Dr. Daniel N. Fisher. In 1896, Dr. Walton did postgraduate work in surgery at the Chicago Polyclinic. He received an honorary degree from St. Luke’s Hospital in Niles, Michigan, and continued the study of medicine for the rest of his life.
On May 18, 1890, he married the daughter of Dr. Daniel N. and Mary (Graham) Fisher, Ada Angelina Fisher. To this union was born six children. In 1905, Ada A. Walton died. On October 1, 1908, Dr. Walton married Sarah Alma Poe. To this union was born four children.
Dr. James W. Walton was a very successful physician in the Benton community and the surrounding area. His work often required his driving to remote parts of the county to treat his patients. Both his first and second wives accompanied Dr. Walton on these trips to serve as his nurse and assistant. The Walton home, as family members recall, was always open to the sick and needy. Many times Dr. Walton brought sick people home from the country so that he could take better care of them. Also, many young people lived at the Walton home to enable them to finish high school. One of whom, T. E. Buffington, became interested in medicine while living with the Walton family, became a physician, and was inducted into the Arkansas Country Doctor Museum Hall of Honor on April 18, 2020.
Dr. Walton was instrumental in organizing the Saline County Medical Society and was the first County Health Officer. As Saline County Heath Officer, Dr. Walton stressed sanitation with an emphasis on typhoid and malaria control.
Dr. Walton died April 18, 1928, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and he was laid to rest among many of his family members in the Rosemont Cemetery in Benton. The home of Dr. Walton, built in Benton, circa 1903, has subsequently been designated as a National Historical Landmark.” 1
Dr. Walton’s obituary reads in part: “Dr. James W. Walton, aged sixty-five years, prominent physician and citizen, generally beloved, passed away in a Little Rock hospital earl Wednesday morning following a general break down in health several months ago.
Dr. Walton was one of Saline county’s first citizens, his service as a medical practitioner bringing him in contact with a large number of families to whom he administered professionally though forty years of service, and to whom he had endeared himself through kindly interest and good fellowship.” 2
1Dr James Wyatt Walton (1863-1928),Find A Grave, Memorial ID 16308554
2 The Benton Courier, Benton County, Arkansas, April 19, 1928
John T. Mitchell, BBA
October 19, 2024