As Livingston Parish and Walker celebrate the 250th anniversary of America's founding, the story of one family line—the founders of what is now Walker—reflects the experiences of many families in our community who helped shape this land with faith, courage, and perseverance.
The American line of the Milton family in the South began with the arrival of young Richard Milton, a scrivener's apprentice aboard the ship Supply, which sailed from Bristol, England, and landed at Jamestown (Berkeley Hundred) in January 1621. Richard was a first cousin of another scrivener's apprentice, John Milton, who would later author Paradise Lost, the great epic poem of the English language. As a second son seeking opportunity in the New World, Richard's arrival marked the beginning of a Southern Milton lineage rooted in faith, service, and resilience.
The roots of the family's connection to the American Revolution begin with Robert Milton, a plantation owner along the Haw River in Orange County, North Carolina, just south of Chapel Hill. Robert and his sons were early supporters of the Mecklenburg Resolves (May 1775), one of the first formal declarations of independence from Great Britain, and the Halifax Resolves (April 1776). Both historic documents are commemorated on the North Carolina state flag today.
Robert Milton's brother, John Milton, had a son named John Milton as well. This John Milton (nephew of Robert and first cousin of Isham Milton) became a prominent political figure in early America. He received two electoral votes for President of the United States in the very first presidential election of 1789 (won, of course, by General George Washington). He served as Georgia's first Secretary of State and was a signatory of Georgia's ratification of the U.S. Constitution. The town of Milton, Georgia, is named in his honor.
From North Carolina, the line continued through Isham Milton, a Revolutionary War soldier who later became a Methodist circuit-riding preacher. His grandson, Michael Milton, Jr. (c. 1820–c. 1890), a veteran of the War of 1812, founded Milton Old Field—the settlement that became modern Walker, Louisiana. Michael Jr. traveled down the Amite River, landing at Benton Ferry Landing near Denham Springs—where descendants of the founding river families, including those of Jill Benton Glass, had already begun to settle. There, Michael Jr. claimed his War of 1812 veterans' land benefit and began to cultivate the soil that would one day bear the name Walker.
Michael Milton, Jr.'s father, Michael Milton, Sr., had been a landowner in Anson County, North Carolina, and later in Baldwin County, Alabama, along the Tensaw River. He appears to have taken part in the short-lived Republic of West Florida movement around the time of the Louisiana Purchase.
Michael Jr. married Martha Clarke Milton of South Carolina. After his death, Martha received a widow's pension for his service in the War of 1812. This provided a measure of economic independence, allowing her to serve as a roving nurse during the difficult years of Reconstruction.
Michael Jr.'s son Joseph Austin Milton (the second U.S. Postmaster in the area after his father, Michael Milton, the original postmaster; a member of the 9th Louisiana Infantry, Co. G, who fought in the Shenandoah Valley under Stonewall Jackson and later at Gettysburg) carried the legacy forward. His sons included George Michael Milton, Levi Milton (namesake of Levi Milton Elementary School), and William Milton. Together, they established the Milton Gymnasium (in the classical European sense of training both body and mind) for Secondary Education. This institution represented the highest level of education available in Livingston Parish and the old West Florida section of Louisiana until the early 20th century, when Southeastern Louisiana College was established in Hammond. The Milton Gymnasium later evolved into the Milton School and eventually Walker's public schools. The family also helped found the original Methodist church at Milton Old Field, now Walker Methodist Church.
Their lives, of course, intermingled with those of many other families who had come through the old Mississippi Territory and the Republic of West Florida. We think of friends, and historians like Jill Benton Glass, editor of the popular Walker, Louisiana Early Years Facebook group and a descendant of the founding river families at Benton Ferry Landing, who continues to preserve and chronicle this shared heritage through her significant contributions to the area's history.
From the arrival of young Richard Milton in 1621 at Jamestown, through the Haw River patriots of 1775–1776 and the constitutional framers of 1789, to the War of 1812, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and the founding of Walker, the Milton family—like so many others—exemplifies faith, freedom, and community.
As a direct descendant, I give thanks to God for His guiding hand across these generations. And I am but one of many. A nation of families called Americans.
"But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).
