Polk-Desoto-Lee County FlArchives Biographies.....Walker, Kyle November 1861 - October 23, 1934
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Linda Flowers flowers472001@yahoo.com September 1, 2009, 7:31 am

Source: Author is the source
Author: Linda Flowers

              KYLE  WALKER

Growing up…Kyle Walker was a picture I found in the family photo album of a 
nice, distinguished looking man standing next to a white picket fence. He was a 
man, who as my grandmother proclaimed, kept a human skull on his mantle. Kyle 
Walker was also my great grandfather.

I was always fascinated with the story of the skull my great grandfather was 
said to have kept on his mantle. It was supposed to have something to do with 
the murder of his brother near Bartow. For many years I have searched for the 
truth. As I sought out other descendants of the family, I came across someone 
who had heard a similar story told to her by her grandmother, sister to Kyle. 
Although she knew nothing of the skull, she had heard a rumor of bones being 
collected by another brother…Matthew Walker. Joel Walker their brother had been 
murdered in 1895 and his body thrown into Lake-Walk-In-The-Water near Bartow, 
Florida. Matthew had collected his brother’s bones and it was Matthew’s request 
that Joel’s remains be buried with him at his own death. The family secrets 
began spilling out!  

Recently newspaper articles have been found, which seem to explain the skull. 
Joel’s body was found half buried in mud at the mouth of  Tiger Creek in Polk 
County. The coroner held an inquest over his remains with the skull, under jaw 
bone and other articles being taken into evidence. It is believed that after 
the sensational trial concluded the skull was returned to the family, where it 
would rest on the mantle of his brother…for a time. 
NOTE: Refer to “Joel Walker, Murder Revealed” elsewhere on this site.

Cuyler (Kyle) Walker was born to the parents of Ansel and Caroline (Underhill) 
Walker on November 1861 in Pierce County, Georgia. He was also known as Carl 
and CW on census records and other documents. Kyle is left off most genealogies 
circulating on the  various family sites due to gross misinformation passed 
from one to another. Because he was born after the 1860 United States Federal 
Census came out he was not listed with his family in that census. The family 
has not been found at this time for the 1870 census enumeration, but are 
believed to be living in Polk County, Florida. A source at the Bartow 
Historical Library told me the census taker for the year 1870 was a fraud, 
leaving off names and making others up whereby only a very small percentage of 
people living in Polk County for that year were accounted for. Kyle was living 
on his own in 1880, therefore is not listed with the family then, as well, but 
the Bible records kept by his daughter-in-law Alma and his brother Matthew 
Walker’s obituary, along with a phone interview of his nephew’s widow, now in 
her nineties, confirm his place in this family.

Kyle married Martha Jane (Mattie) Mathis January 19, 1889 in Arcadia, Desoto 
County, Florida and this is where they started their family. Their first child 
was born in Arcadia, then Kyle began moving his family from place to place. 
While his siblings were comfortable remaining close to their roots, Kyle was 
not. 1900 found him living in Ft. Drum in Brevard County and in 1908 he is 
living in Ft. Pierce, St. Lucie County. It was while living in Ft. Pierce, that 
tragedy struck and Kyle and Mattie’s son Claude lost his life swimming in an 
underwater race with a group of his buddies. The family picked up and moved 
back to Ft. Meade for a number of years, to be closer to family. Here another 
child Fred,  succumbed due to Cerebral Meningitis in 1921. Kyle eventually 
settled in  Ft. Myers in Lee County, after briefly living in Hillsborough 
County. He is shown there with his family on the 1930 census. Kyle and Mattie 
were the parents of  twelve children; Clyde, Claude, Beulah, Lola, Carl, Helen 
Belle, Harley, Myrtle, James (Barney), Fred, Theda and Sherman.

Kyle was know to the Indians of South Florida as “Little Big Man,” due to their 
fear of him. He carried a bullwhip on his side, which he liked to use on a 
whim. His children left home early to get away from the outbursts of temper he 
often displayed, and when his health started failing and senility began to set 
in, Kyle was committed to the Florida State Hospital where he died on October 
23, 1934 after having been there for seventeen months. He is buried at the 
cemetery on the grounds of the hospital.  His death certificate states he died 
from Cardiac Decomposition as well as “Senile Dementia.” Before the old age 
assistance program was introduced, senile patients whose families were unable 
to care for their loved ones at home were often sent to the State Hospital. 

Kyle was  a farmer, but tried various occupations including…a butcher and a 
mail carrier. 




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