Samuel Walker (Florida politician)

Samuel Walker (June 25, 1825 – June 9, 1881) was an American politician from Pennsylvania. He served as mayor of Tallahassee, Florida, in Florida's state legislature, as a Leon County Court judge, and as a U.S. Senator.

Formative years
Born in Londonderry Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, on June 25, 1825, Walker was a son of John and Ann (McNeal) Walker. His family subsequently relocated to Downingtown, Pennsylvania in 1836. In 1850, he entered Yale College in 1850, having previously received apprentice training as a wheelwright.

After his graduation from Yale in 1854, he entered the service of the United States Coast Survey, and from 1859 to 1866 had charge of the Magnetic Observatory at Key West, Florida. Upon completion of his series of magnetic observations, he resigned on May 15, 1866, receiving high praise for his work from his superiors.

Public service career
Walker then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1864, and opened a law practice. On June 18, 1866, he was appointed prosecuting attorney in the county criminal court in Key West.

In 1867, he relocated to Tallahassee, where he remained for the rest of his life. Elected as a member of the Florida Legislature and mayor of Tallahassee, he was also later appointed by Florida's governor as judge of the Leon County Court.

In 1874, he was the choice of the majority of the Republican members of the Legislature for the position of U.S. Senator.

Final years and death
During the autumn of 1876, Walker suffered a stroke of paralysis, and ailed from nervous debility thereafter. After retiring, he spent most of his time on a small plantation that he had purchased. In May 1881, he went north to visit his relatives, and arrived in Downington just a month before his death at the age of fifty-five, which occurred at his sister's house in that town on June 9, 1881.

Walker was never married.