Editing William Walker (composer) (section)

== Life ==

Walker was born in Martin's Mills (near [[Cross Keys, South Carolina|Cross Keys]]), [[South Carolina]], and grew up near [[Spartanburg, South Carolina|Spartanburg]]. From an early age he became deeply involved in music and became a song leader in the Baptist church. To distinguish him from other William Walkers in Spartanburg, he was nicknamed '''Singing Billy'''.<ref name="walker"/>

He married Amy Golightly in 1832 and they lived in Spartanburg. Her sister Thurza had married [[Benjamin Franklin White]] in 1825; while is clear that there was strife between the two brothers-in-law, there is no evidence for the claim, sometimes heard among Sacred Harp singers, that B.F. White helped Walker compile the ''Southern Harmony,'' only to be cheated of authorship rights when it was finally published.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Steel |first1=David Warren  |last2=Hulan |first2=Richard |date=2010 |title=Makers of the Sacred Harp |url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/89sbq9gd9780252035678.html |publisher=University of Illinois Press |pages=4–5 |isbn=978-0-252-07760-9 }}</ref> In 1842 the Whites moved from Spartanburg District, SC to [[Harris County, Georgia]], and in 1844 B. F. White, in concert with [[Elisha J. King]] published ''The [[Sacred Harp]]''.

Walker died in Spartanburg in 1875.<ref name="walker">{{cite web|url=http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/l/walker_w.htm|title=William Walker|website=www.hymntime.com|access-date=17 October 2017|archive-date=17 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190117213116/http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/w/a/l/walker_w.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Walker is buried in Magnolia Cemetery, Spartanburg, Spartanburg County, South Carolina.