Display Patriot - P-234897 - Martin WALK

Martin WALK

SAR Patriot #: P-234897

The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
 

State of Service: NC      Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
DAR #: A205043

Birth: 02 Apr 1737 / Culpepper / VA
Death: 18 Oct 1791 Friedberg / Rowan / NC

Qualifying Service Description:

Prisoner of War - Martin Walk and unnamed others were forcibly taken from their homes on 8 February 1781 during the invasion of the British army led by Lord Cornwallis during their pursuit of Gen. Greene's American Army—held prisoner, released 2 April.


Additional References:
  1. Fries, Records of the Moravians in NC, Vol IV, 1780-1783, pg 1539, 1675, 1717, 1769, 1775, 1882
  2. Graves report submitted by Compatriot Frederick D Learned - 154907 - Apr 2025

Spouse: Elizabeth/Leisa Fiscus
Children: Johannes; Hannah; Joseph; Elisabeth; Martin; David; Sarah; Abraham; Mary Magdalina; Michael; George; Jacob; Anna Rebecca;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
Date Approved Society ACN SAR Member Info Lineage via Child View Application Detail
2021-11-05 VA 96647 Jeremy Brandon Utt (160537) Joseph   
Burial:
Friedberg Moravian God's Acre (aka Friedberg Moravian Graveyard) (C-0086593)
Location:
/ Davidson / NC / USA
Find A Grave Cemetery #:
2214582
Grave Plot #:
Section 15 - Internment 65
Grave GPS Coordinates:
35.995130 / -80.295530
Find A Grave Memorial #:
5660498
Marker Type:

SAR Grave Dedication Date:

Comments:

Image taken and provided by Compatriot Orin Sadler (NC) Member 182372.



Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:

Come in the west entrance, come to the second bench, turn left, walk toward the cedar tree. Middle of the fifth row from the road is Adam Spach's grave.



Author: Frederick Douglas Learned

Martin Walk was born on 2 April 1737 in Culpepper County, Virginia. In his 13th year, after his mother’s death, he moved with his Lutheran father and stepmother to North Carolina, where they settled south of the Moravian Towns on Abbotts Creek. In 1761, he left his parents and went back to Virginia and Heidelberg, Pennsylvania, to work.

Three years later, he returned to North Carolina and married Liesel Ficus on 22 November 1767 in Bethania, North Carolina. They resided in the Moravian community of Friedberg, located on the south side of the Forsyth/Davidson County line. Together, they had 13 children, of whom four preceded his death and eight survived him.

In his Memoirs, it is noted that he was tormented beginning on 8 February 1781, when he and unnamed others were forcibly taken from their homes by British soldiers to Halifax, Virginia. He escaped and returned home on 2 April, considerably weakened by lack of food. 8 February 1781 is when the Lord Cornwallis-led British army of 3,500 troops invaded and plundered the Moravian Towns, the precursor of the 13 March Battle of Guilford Courthouse. In her Memoirs, it says that Martin was abruptly taken away four separate times, gone for weeks each time, and it was unknown if she’d ever see him again.

The Patriot died on 18 October 1791 at age 54 in the Moravian community of Friedberg, North Carolina. His youngest child, Anna Rebecca Walk, was born after his death. Their son David was accidentally killed eight months before his father's death. His widow, Elizabeth, died on 10 November 1825, aged 75. In her Memoirs, it says that she had 52 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren still living.

 

Sources:

  1.     Salem Diary, Oct 1791, Memoir of Martin Walk  
  2.     Salem Diary, Death Records of Friedberg, #258, Nov 1825, Memoir of Elizabeth Walk, widow of Martin Walk
  3.     Records of Moravians in NC, v4, edited by Dr. Adelaide Fries, pub 1930, pgs 1675, 1769, 1775, and 1882

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