Martha Jane Foster was called by the name Molly Jane. Her parents were Henry Clay Foster and Matilda (Owen) Foster. She was born in Nicholas, Kentucky in 1843 and was the oldest of ten children. Her siblings were Mary (1845), Sarah Elizabeth (1847), Thomas Franklin (1845), Rebecca (1851), William Owen (1854), Louisa "Lucy" (1855), James (1858), Rosa (1862) and George (1864). All of the Foster children attended school. Around 1849, the family moved to Adams County, Illinois and lived there for three years. When Molly Jane was nine years old, they moved again; this time to Taylor, Appanoose County, Iowa, but in 1859 they moved back to Adams County, Illinois, around the town of Concord.

On the 31st of December, 1865, in Concord, Adams County, Illinois, at the age of twenty-two, Molly Jane became the wife of Felix Grundy Walker. She also became the mother of his three small children Sarah Adaline (1858), George W. (1860), and Mary Jane (1862). Felix had been widowed in 1863. So Molly Jane went from helping her mother with her younger brothers and sisters to immediately being a mother of three herself. By 1867, Molly Jane and Felix added Anna May to their family.

In October of 1868 in Tarrant County, TX, Felix and Martha had their second child, Frank Owen. Later that same year, the whole family moved to Chariton County, Missouri. They settled on an area to farm and lived there in tents for several years while the they were building the barn and house. They would remain on that farm for twelve years. Six more children were born to them there, including Franklin, Lucy, Nora, Edward, Katie and Guy. Felix made his living as a farmer while Molly Jane kept the home. In 1880, the Walker's sold their farm to Michael Sauer (who would one day be the father-in-law of two of their sons) and moved to another farm in Chariton County. On this farm, the last three children, Grundy, Cora and Mattie were born. Molly's cousin, Andrew Owen, and his family lived nearby, as did her uncle, Charles Owen.

If anyone has more information or photos of this family, please contact me through Find A Grave.