Melvin DeWitt Walker

Melvin Walker was the youngest son of Maggie Lena Walker and Armstead Walker

NPS Photo/Maggie L. Walker NHS

Quick Facts

Significance:

Youngest son of Maggie L. Walker and employee of the St. Luke Bank & Trust Co.

Place of Birth:

Richmond, Virginia

Date of Birth:

August 19, 1897

Place of Death:

Richmond, Virginia

Date of Death:

December 31, 1935

Place of Burial:

Richmond, Virginia

Cemetery Name:

Evergreen Cemetery

Melvin DeWitt Walker was the third and youngest son of Maggie Lena Walker. Born and raised in Richmond Virginia, Melvin Walker followed in the family business ventures by working for several of the businesses started by his mother, such as the St. Luke Emporium, The St. Luke Bank and Trust Co, which later became the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company, where he worked until he passed away in 1935.

Melvin DeWitt Walker was born to Maggie L. Walker and Armstead Walker Jr. on August 19, 1897, the third son born to the family. Melvin grew up in Richmond, Virginia with his parents and in part by Polly Payne (née Anderson), the family's foster daughter. Melvin attended Richmond Public Schools, eventually graduating from the Richmond Colored Normal School, the same school the rest of his family had graduated from. After high school Melvin advanced his formal education by attending Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina where he would play on the football team and become the first member of his family to receive a college degree.  

After finishing college, Melvin went to Howard University in Washington DC to attend a Student Army Training Camp to support the war effort. Melvin never saw active combat as World War I ended before he deployed and he returned to Richmond to begin working for his mother's businesses.

In 1919 Melvin's personal life changed when he married Ethel Robinson on March 12 and the new family welcomed their son, Armstead Walker, later in the year. The new family continued to live at 110 1/2 E. Leigh Street with the rest of the Walker family. Melvin and Ethel welcomed two more daughters with Mamie Evelyn in 1922 and Elizabeth in 1924. The marriage between Melvin and Ethel faced difficulties throughout their time together and sometime in the late 1920s separated. Ethel and the three children stayed close, moving down the street to her mother's house.

Melvin continued working for his mother at the Independent Order of St. Luke. He traveled on business trips supporting Maggie L. Walker while she recruited new members and started new councils in different areas of the country.  He also continued his work with the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, working as an assistant cashier when the bank merged with two other Black owned banks and became Consolidated Bank and Trust Company. Melvin died of pneumonia on just one year after his mother at the young age of 38.