Born in Harwich in 1799, Captain Walker attempted to help seven slaves in Pensacola, Florida, escape in 1844. Arrested as a “Slave Stealer,” he was branded on orders of a United States Court on the right hand “SS” and jailed there for nearly a year. With the support of his wife, Jane Gage Walker, also of Harwich, and their nine children, Captain Walker was an active anti-slavery lecturer and writer until 1852. The family moved to the new state of Wisconsin, where Jonathan and Jane carried on their efforts to free the slaves in the Underground Railroad. Jonathan and Jane relocated to Michigan in 1864, after his death in 1878. A ten foot memorial was dedicated at his grave there before six thousand friends and admirers.