WALKER, Jesse, missionary, born in North Carolina about 1760; died in Cook county, Illinois, 5 October, 1835. He emigrated to Tennessee about 1800, became a travelling preacher in the western conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1802, and served in Tennessee and Kentucky till 1806, when he was appointed a missionary to Illinois. He engaged in revival work in that state with great success, erected churches, and established congregations. He was then appointed to Missouri, where his lessons of temperance and industry exercised a beneficial influence on the pioneer community. He became presiding elder of the Illinois district in 1812, conference missionary in 1819, and in 1820 built the first Methodist Episcopal church and formed the first Methodist Episcopal congregation in St. Louis, Missouri At that time there were only three persons of that denomination in the town. He went on a mission to the Mississippi river Indians in 1823, established several schools, and is credited with many converts. "Father Walker," as he was called, was without early advantages of education, but by his shrewd common sense, and by ignoring all personal needs, as well as difficulties, did efficient work in the pioneer ministry.