In regard to his life, but a few materials can be gathered; but what
is known of him, furnishes proof to the opinion which the friends of
man have formed of him--that he possessed a noble and a courageous
spirit, and that he was ardently attached to the cause of liberty.

Mr. Walker was born in Wilmington, North Carolina, Sept. 28, 1785. His
mother was a free woman, and his father was a slave. His innate hatred
to slavery was very early developed. When yet a boy, he declared that
the slaveholding South was not the place for him. His soul became so
indignant at the wrongs which his father and his kindred bore, that he
determined to find some portion of his country where he would see less
to harrow up his soul. Said he, "If I remain in this bloody land, I
will not live long. As true as God reigns, I will be avenged for the
sorrow which my people have suffered. This is not the place for
me--no, no. I must leave this part of the country. It will be a great
trial for me to live on the same soil where so many men are in
slavery; certainly I cannot remain where I must hear their chains
continually, and where I must encounter the insults of their
hypocritical enslaver. Go, I must."

The youthful Walker embraced his mother, and received a mother's
blessings, and turned his back upon North Carolina. His father died a
few months before his birth; and it is a remarkable coincidence, that
the son of the subject of this Memoir, was a posthumous child.

After leaving home, David Walker travelled rapidly towards the North,
shaking off the dust of his feet, and breathing curses upon the system
of human slavery, America's darling institution. As might be expected,
he met with trials during his journey; and at last he reached Boston,
Mass., where he took up his permanent residence. There he applied