2 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 95 



internecine local warfare the life of a gentleman farmer, botany being 

 at least an absorbing avocation. Porcher states that Walter's " de- 

 votion to the cause of science led him to the wilds of Carolina ", and 

 it is not difficult for us to accept this as a motive, in spite of the doubts 

 implied by Britten. It explains his assiduous study of the flora of the 

 region, his painstaking analysis of a majority of the species sought out, 

 his laborious preparation (completely isolated though he was) of an 

 erudite " flora " of the region, and the formation of a veritable botani- 

 cal garden upon his estate, where he is said to have brought into 

 cultivation, aside from exotics, a majority of the species described in 

 his book. According to Coker the plantation became after Walter's 

 death a part of the estate called Mexico and for a long time was owned 

 by the Porcher family. 



Marriage and descendants. — Walter was thrice married, the essential 

 data being as follows : 



(i) March 26, 1769, apparently while residing in Charleston, to 

 Miss Anne Lesesne, of Daniels Island,^ who died September 1 1 of the 

 same year.^ These published data are substantiated by Miss Anne A. 

 Porcher, of Pinopolis, South CaroHna, a great-great-granddaughter 

 of Walter, from records entered in the family Bible. 



(2) March 20, 1777, to Miss Ann (not Sarah) Peyre, born March 

 26, 1755, the fourth child of Samuel Peyre and Sarah (Cantey) Peyre. 

 According to the published record^ their issue was as follows: (i) 

 Ann Walter, married May 29, 1794, to Thomas Hasell Thomas, of 

 St. Stephen's Parish, died April 25, 1818; (ii) Mary Peyre Walter, 

 born in 1780, married August 19, 1800, to Francis Peyre, her cousin, 

 died January 4, 1818. This record is supplemented by Miss Anne A. 

 Porcher to the effect that Ann (Nancy) was one of twins born in 1777, 

 her sister (Polly) dying in October 1779, and that Mary Peyre Walter 

 was born December 5, 1780, her mother dying in childbirth. 



(3) Date unknown, to Miss Dorothy (Dolly) Cooper, concerning 

 whom nothing apparently is of record. Their daughter, Emily, mar- 

 ried Judge Thomas Usher Pulaski Charlton. 



The record of Walter's numerous descendants was sketched by 

 Coker in 1910, at which time some of the above data apparently had 

 not been published, the fact of Walter's earliest marriage being un- 

 mentioned. He refers to a son, Thomas, born of the Peyre marriage, 

 who reached maturity but died (unmarried) before his father. No 

 record of this son has been found by Miss Porcher. 



' So. Car. Hist. & Gen. Mag. 11 : 37- 1910. 

 -Ibid. 10: 157. 1909; 16:91. 1915. 

 ^ Ibid. 11: 221, 222, 241. 1910. 



