Lewis Gideon Walker
1850-1936
A Life of Ministry in Central Ohio
Lewis Gideon Walker was a restoration preacher whose ministry reached across central Ohio through evangelism, congregational leadership, teaching, and service to families. Remembered as L. G. Walker, he helped establish new congregations, strengthened existing churches, and returned repeatedly to communities that valued his preaching and pastoral care. The 1935 history of Knox County’s Churches of Christ connects him with eleven congregations.
Walker was born March 30, 1850, in Keene, Ohio, to Adam Fletcher Walker (1819–1859) and Mary Ann Kay Walker (1820–1854). He lost both parents before his tenth birthday. In 1869, he married Matilda Cooper in Tiverton, Ohio. Their family grew to include eight children born over a period of twenty-five years. Their long marriage eventually became part of Centerburg’s congregational memory: near the end of their lives, they were recognized as the oldest married couple belonging to the church.
The available accounts do not establish when Walker entered the ministry or describe his preparation for preaching. The history of Dennis Chapel Christian Church, however, records that he preached his first sermon there on “Atonement.” By the late nineteenth century, he was serving congregations throughout Knox County and neighboring communities.
Walker preached at Bladensburg from 1889 to 1891 and at Martinsburg from 1892 to 1895. At Martinsburg, his preaching attracted audiences large enough to require additional seating, with some listeners still obliged to stand. One meeting brought forty-seven additions to the church. This account offers a particularly vivid measure of his ability to draw listeners and encourage a religious commitment.
His ministry also helped congregations take root. At Danville, he participated in the preaching effort begun in 1892 and assisted in completing the church’s organization in 1893 with sixteen charter members. He served there from 1893 to 1895 and returned from 1907 to 1909. At Brinkhaven, he was among the ministers who preached during the congregation’s founding year of 1895.
Repeated invitations to serve suggest the confidence churches placed in him. Grove Christian Church in Harrison Township listed his service in 1890–1894, 1895–1901, and 1916–1918. He was its regular preacher when a new meetinghouse was dedicated in June 1899, at which time the congregation numbered 160 members. Milford recorded five periods of his ministry between 1897 and 1927. He also served Millwood in 1893 and 1909, preached at Waterford, and led worship near Messiah Church when its deteriorating building made a schoolhouse preferable. He later returned to Messiah church of Christ for a full year in 1918.
Centerburg church of Christ became an especially enduring home for Walker’s ministry. Although its ministerial list gives his tenure as 1900–1907, the accompanying history makes clear that his service extended beyond those dates: “Brother L. G. Walker has served at various times until his health would no longer permit and has rendered more years of service by far than any other minister to this congregation.” Written shortly after his eighty-fifth birthday, this tribute portrays a preacher whose usefulness continued into advanced age.
Walker’s influence also extended through individuals. According to the additional account supplied for this sketch, he baptized the future Disciples preacher and educator Dr. Alonzo Fortune when Fortune was a boy in Killbuck. The supplied recollections also describe frequent newspaper notices of Walker’s preaching, teaching, weddings, and funerals. Such work placed him alongside families at both ordinary and defining moments of life and helps explain his broad reputation in central Ohio.
Matilda preceded him in death, April 27, 1936. After several months of failing health, Walker died at the M. and S. Hospital in Mount Vernon on August 13, 1936, aged eighty-six. His obituary named five surviving sons—Rev. W. R., J. F., H. R., L. L., and R. C. Walker—and a daughter, Mrs. H. B. Church. Funeral services were announced for Centerburg church of Christ under the direction of C. A. Brady, with burial next to his dearly departed wife in Centerburg Cemetery.
Walker’s legacy rests in the congregations he nurtured and the people he served. His recorded ministry combined effective evangelism with decades of dependable pastoral work, leaving a lasting place for him in the history of central Ohio’s Christian Churches and churches of Christ.
-Scott Harp, 09.05.2026
Sources: E. H. Althaus, Churches of Christ, Knox County, Ohio (1935), especially printed pp. 21, 25, 29, 32–35, 39, 42–43, 50–51, 55–57, 60, 63, and 89; “Centerburg Pastor Dies at Mt. Vernon,” The Coshocton Tribune, August 14, 1936, p. 1, as transcribed by the user; and additional family and ministry information supplied by the user.
Reports
Christian Leader, February 20, 1894, p.12.
Christian Leader, Janary 23, 1900, p.12.
Christian Leader, February 06, 1900, p.12.
The Democratic Banner, Mount Vernon, Ohio
Friday, October 24,
1919, p.3
Coshocton Daily Age, Coshocton, Ohio
Saturday, November 8, 1884, p.1
Obituary
The Coshocton Tribune, Coshocton, Ohio
Friday, August 14, 1936, p.1.
Directions To Grave
L. G. & Matilda Walker are buried in the Centerburg Cemetery in Centerburg, Ohio. Just northwest of the city of Columbus on Hwy. 36 (W. Main St.) turn right on S. Hartford Ave. and the cemetery will be on the outskirts of town. Note that you will see graves on both sides of the street. They are two different cemeteries. Centerburg Cemetery is the older cemetery and is on the left side of the street. The GPS location below is the autual location of the graves the cemetery.
GPS Location
40°17'44.5"N 82°41'25.6"W
or D.d. 40.295692,-82.690437
WALKER
Lewis G. 1850-1936
Matilda 1849-1936
Photos Taken 04.18.2026
Webpage produced 09.05.2026
Courtesy Of Scott Harp
www.TheRestorationMovement.com
Special Recognition: It was an extreme pleasure for your webeditor to spend April 16-22, 2026 in the state of Ohio. Hundreds of miles were traversed and a good number of graves of gospel preachers of yesteryear were located. Also, while in the state, I thorough enjoyed preaching a Gospel Meeting at the Alkire Road church of Christ in SW Columbus.