Charles Walker, often referred to as “Old Charles,” “Uncle Charles,” or just Charles, was born around 1799. He and his wife Seny were the progenitors of a large family, including numerous children and many dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. John B. remarked in a letter that Charles and Seny were “the ancestors of 74 living descendants,” and they were said to have taken the Biblical “increase and multiply” clause very seriously, leading to “numerous posterity.” Lamar also noted that Charles took an annual tour of the Cobb-Lamar plantations to visit his children and grandchildren. Charles was bequeathed to John B. in Zachariah’s 1832 will. An 1841 list of enslaved people who were hired out lists him as 40 years old, 6’2”, and of a “heavy made countenance.” He and Seny frequently moved back and forth between Swift Creek and the Bear’s Den in Macon. John B. and the Cobbs were clearly fond of Charles; John B describing him as “my aide de camp” and the Cobb sons joining him in shooting pigeons and fishing when they visited Swift Creek Plantation. John B. frequently shared amusing anecdotes about Charles in his letters to Athens, including his amazement at his first sight of a railroad. “Well,” Charles remarked, “I can believe anything that anybody tells me these days after I’ve seen that.” He appears to have died by 1859.

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