The Proeger Family · Generation 4 — Kristin's maternal great-grandparents

Daniel Jonah Walker & Nettie Ellen "Annie" Cleveland

Melvin's parents · 1890–1964 · she 1896–1971

Daniel Jonah Walker & Nettie Ellen "Annie" Cleveland

Confirmed

Melvin's parents · 1890–1964 · she 1896–1971

Born
10 March 1890 at China Spring, McLennan County
Sources
13

Life in the order the records give it

Census1920
The same entry gives his birth at Lolita, Texas on 5 November 1920 and his death on 23 July 1991
both matching the gravestone exactly and independently, which is what makes the parent fields worth trusting S37S38
Note
His SSN was issued in Texas S38
Military1942
His 1942 draft card gives his birth as 10 March 1890, McLennan County, Texas S211. In 1950 at Lolita his wife was Ida, 57, and his mother Nancy Walker, 85, widowed, born Alabama, lived with them S210
Record1930
The NUMIDENT's "NETTIE CLEVLAND" is Cleveland. The 1930 census of Precinct 2, Jackson County, Texas enumerates Daniel J. and Nettie E. Walker with their children Mary, Olan, Clarence Melvin and Robert J
the household Melvin was born into at Lolita S87. ⚠️ The index spelling is still what it is, and should not be silently normalised when searching S38
Death1890
He was born 10 March 1890 at China Spring, McLennan County and died 30 July 1964 at Ganado; she was born 29 November 1896 in Nebraska and died 25 November 1971 at White Settlement.
Military1917
🆕 His 1917 draft card, as Daniel Jones Walker of Lolita, gives the same birth, 10 March 1890 at China Springs; he was a general laborer for Milton Cleavland, Nettie's father, and supported a wife and two children S393; added 24 September 2026.
Census1910
🆕 In 1910, aged 20 and entered as “John”, a farm laborer in his parents' house on Perryman Avenue, Palacios, with his brother Robert T. S406. A 1923 Jackson County birth certificate for a daughter names the father as D. Jona Walker, 33, born McLennan County, and Nettie E., 26, born Nebraska S407; added 24 September 2026.
Record1920
🆕 The Texas birth index files Melvin's birth (5 November 1920, Jackson County, certificate 61632) as the infant of Jonah Walker, the name he went by Confirmed S943. added 29 September 2026

Family parents, marriages, children, siblings

Parents
Named as the parents of Clarence Melvin Walker in his Social Security NUMIDENT entry
a government record, whose parent fields come from his own SS-5 application rather than from any tree S38
Parents1910
Daniel's mother is now found: Nancy Jane Higginbotham Walker Confirmed S331S210. His father is probably William B. “Willie B.” Walker Probable confirm or correct →: in 1910 Daniel, entered as “John”, 20, lived in the Palacios household headed by Willie B. Walker S406. That is a name on a census page, not a birth or death record; William B.'s own 1914 death certificate is now read: born 11 April 1857, died 27 June 1914 at Lolita, son of Daniel Walker and Mary J. Brass or Bross S787; the link to Daniel Jonah still rests on the 1910 census alone (added 27 September 2026). 🆕 The 1900 census of Jackson County has a son Jackson J., 10, born March 1890, in Willie B. Walker's household, Daniel Jonah's birth month and year, but the given name does not match, so it supports the link without settling it S808. Willie's own parents were probably Daniel Green Walker and Mary Jane Bross. Nettie's are now named on a primary record: her death certificate gives her father as Melton Cleaveland and her mother as Maude Melville Warner S145
neither has a card here yet, and neither is confirmed by a second source. The tree's "Desa Hodges, b. 1888" for Nettie's mother would make the mother eight years old, and is rejected rather than corrected.

Open questions what is probable, weak or missing — confirm or correct it

Open question
⚠️ Her birth date is not settled. The 29 November 1896 above is the 1930 census reading S87; her 1971 Texas death certificate says 27 November 1897 S145. Two days and one year apart. Item 8 of a death certificate is informant-supplied, seventy-four years after the fact, so neither date is settled and both stay up until a Nebraska birth record decides. Her own card carries the same hedge.

Daniel Jonah Walker & Nettie Ellen "Annie" Cleveland · Sources

Citations

Sources cited on this card

13 of the record's sources are cited here. The numbering is the record's own; the full list, with where else each is cited, is at Sources.

  1. S37FindAGrave memorial 103851507, Clarence Melvin Walker (5 November 1920 – 23 July 1991), Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth, Tarrant County, Texas — findagrave.com/memorial/103851507. A grave marker transcription. ⚠️ Neither this memorial nor Dorothy's carries any family link — both were checked, and neither has parents, spouse or children attached. The shared cemetery corroborates; it never carried the finding.
  2. S38US Social Security NUMIDENT — Walker and Peters entries, republished verbatim at SortedByName.com — walker/index_707 and peters/index_123. A government record; parent fields come from the person's own SS-5 application. Gives "WALKER, CLARENCE MELVIN … born 5 November 1920 in LOLITA, Texas, son of DANIEL J WALKER and NETTIE CLEVLAND … died 23 July 1991," and "PETERS, BENJAMIN L … born 12 October 1905 … died 9 April 1993, while residing in Zip Code 78154" (Schertz, Guadalupe County, Texas). Both sets of dates match the headstones exactly and independently.
  3. S871930 United States federal census — Precinct 2, Jackson County, Texas: the Walker household. Read 16 September 2026. Enumerates Daniel Jonah Walker and Nettie Ellen "Annie" Walker with their children Mary, Olan, Clarence Melvin and Robert J — the household Kristin's grandfather was born into at Lolita in 1920. This is what took the Walker great-grandparents past two bare index names. Before it, the couple existed only in the parent fields of their son's Social Security NUMIDENT record, which spells her "Nettie Clevland" and gives no dates, no places and no children. The census writes Cleveland and supplies the household. Their own parents are still Not found; the tree's "Desa Hodges, b. 1888" for Nettie's mother would make the mother eight years old and is rejected, not corrected.
  4. S145Texas certificate of death no. 92128, 1971 — Nettie E. Walker (Nettie Ellen Cleveland). Ancestry collection 2272 (Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982), record 1216570, image 33154_b062847-00961, form VS-112 rev. 1/58. Filed with the local registrar 1 December 1971 (file no. 96, L. M. Sheffield) and received by the Texas Bureau of Vital Statistics 18 December 1971. Read from the image at full resolution — 2811 × 2390 px, 30/30 DeepZoom tiles, 21 September 2026. The sheet gives: name Nettie E. Walker; died 25 November 1971 at 6:00 a.m. in White Settlement Hospital, White Settlement, Tarrant County, after a stay of one month; usual residence 5717 Terrace Trail, Sansom Park; female, Caucasian, married; date of birth 27 November 1897, age 73; birthplace Nebraska, citizen of the U.S.A.; occupation housewife, homemaking; father Melton Cleaveland; mother's maiden name Maude Melville Warner; never in the armed forces; Social Security number on the certificate, not transcribed; cause of death uremia (2 weeks) due to renal shutdown (3 weeks) due to post-traumatic shock (3 weeks); autopsy performed; certified by C. J. Carter, M.D., who had attended her since 1965; buried 27 November 1971 at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth, by Maxine Biggers of Biggers Funeral Home. Her parents are named here for the first time in this research — Melton Cleaveland and Maude Melville Warner. Neither has appeared in any earlier file, and neither is given a person record on the strength of one line on one certificate. The burial is the strongest tie to this family: Mount Olivet Cemetery, Fort Worth, on 27 November 1971 is the same cemetery as her son Clarence Melvin Walker. ⚠ The birth date on this sheet conflicts with the one already on this site. The certificate says 27 November 1897; the couple card carries 29 November 1896 — two days and one year apart — and neither date is settled. Item 8 of a death certificate is informant-supplied, not a birth record; the age column (73 last birthday) agrees with the certificate's own date, which corroborates the sheet and not the fact. Both stay on the page until a Nebraska birth or baptismal record decides. ⚠ The certificate is registered under her married surname and names no husband — the form has no spouse field, so the sheet never says Daniel. The identification rests on the Cleaveland maiden surname in item 13, the middle initial E. for Ellen, the Nebraska birthplace already independently on record [S87], and the shared Mount Olivet burial. Ancestry's hint engine also matched it to her, which is an opinion and not evidence. ⚠ The informant is a signature, not a printed name, reading most plausibly E. G. Walker; it is not D. J. Walker and not C. M. Walker as written, and who E. G. Walker was is unknown. ⚠ Post-traumatic shock is named as the underlying cause while every injury field is blank — items 20a–20f, accident/suicide/homicide, time, manner and place of injury, are entirely empty. The certificate contradicts itself by omission, and what happened three weeks before her death is not on this page. ⚠ The physician's street address (item 22b) reads 6721 and the street name is not legible.
  5. S2101950 U.S. Federal Census — D. J. Walker household, Lolita, Jackson County, Texas. Ancestry record 186702072; ED 120-15, sheet 3. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. D. J. Walker, 60, farmer, and Ida, 57, both born Texas; his mother Nancy Walker, 85, widowed, born Alabama. 🔑 A second wife, Ida, and his mother Nancy (c.1865). Nettie is not in the household; when and how the first marriage ended is not settled.
  6. S211WWII draft registration card, 1942 (U-534) — "Daniel Jones Walker", Lolita, Jackson County, Texas. Ancestry record 12617872. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Age 52, born 10 March 1890, McLennan ("McClellon") County, Texas; farmer; contact R. T. Walker, Lolita. Only the front of the card was fetched. ⚠ The card reads "Jones"; the site keeps Jonah.
  7. S331Texas death certificate no. 3466 — Nancy Jane Walker, 1953. Texas, U.S., Death Certificates, 1903–1982 (Ancestry collection 2272, record 21787116), Jackson County. Read from the image. Born 19 October 1864, Alabama; died 3 January 1953, Lolita; widowed; father Robert Higginbothan; mother's maiden name Avery; cause of death carcinoma of the jaw, one year; buried Lolita Cemetery. The certificate image is in the Documents grid.
  8. S393World War I draft registration card — Daniel Jones [Jonah] Walker, Precinct 13, Jackson County, Texas, 5 June 1917. Ancestry record 16436681. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Daniel Jones Walker, 27, of Lolita, born March 10th 1890 at China Springs, Texas; general laborer for Milton Cleavland at Lolita; married, claiming exemption as the only support of a wife and two children; medium height and build, gray eyes, dark brown hair. His employer is his father-in-law, Nettie's father Melton Cleaveland. “Jones” is how the card writes Jonah.
  9. S4061910 U.S. Federal Census — Willie B. Walker household, Perryman Avenue, Palacios, Matagorda Co., Texas (ED 145, sheet 1B, lines 71–77). Ancestry record 123055432. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Willie B. Walker, 53, born California, owning his house; wife Nancy J., 45, born Alabama, mother of 5 children, 5 living; sons Robert T., 22, delivery-wagon driver, and “John”, 20, farm laborer, born Texas; Ruth E., 12; Willie E. Jr., 7; and Mary J. Daniels, 79, “mother”; enumerated 13 May 1910. “John” is taken to be Daniel Jonah: the only son of his age, with his parents and brother Robert T. (the R. T. Walker of his 1942 draft card). The name as written is John. Mary J. Daniels is probably Willie's mother Mary Jane Bross under a later married name; not proved.
  10. S407Texas birth certificate no. 16186 — a daughter of D. Jona Walker and Nettie E. Walker, born 10 March 1923, Jackson Co., Texas. Ancestry record 108602949. Image examined, read 24 September 2026. Confirmed Father D. Jona Walker, 33, farmer, of La Ward, born McLennan Co., Texas; mother Nettie E. Walker, 26, born Nance Co., Nebraska; fifth child of the mother, 4 living; physician Jesse L. Womack, Edna. “Jona” supports Jonah over the “Jones” of the draft cards. Nettie's age, 26, fits a November 1896 birth (1930 census) rather than November 1897 (death certificate); it narrows the question but is not a birth record.
  11. S787Texas death certificate 12730: Willie Bernard Walker, died Lolita, Jackson County, 27 June 1914. Ancestry record 21516133. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 26 September 2026. Confirmed Willie Bernard Walker, farmer, born 11 April 1857 at Columbia, California (his age, 57 years 2 months 16 days, agrees), died 27 June 1914 of pellagra, asthma contributing; buried in Lolita Cemetery on 28 June. Parents given as Daniel Walker and Mary J. Brass (or Bross), born Alabama. Informant: Mrs. W. B. Walker. 🆕 The Texas death index agrees: “Walker, Willie Bernard”, Jackson County, 27 June 1914, certificate 12730 (Ancestry record 6333149, read 27 September 2026); it has no birthplace column. Corrects the tree's 10 April 1858. It is the first record to name his parents; that he is Daniel Jonah Walker's father is still probable (S406). Collection: Texas, U.S., Death Certificates.
  12. S8081900 U.S. census — Justice Precinct 2, Jackson County, Texas, sheet 16, dwelling 296: Willie B. Walker household. Ancestry record 43657783. Image examined, read 27 September 2026 (ED 59, sheets 16A–16B, lines 47–53). Probable Willie B. Walker, head, born April 1858, 42, born California, both parents born Alabama; a farmer owning a mortgaged farm; Nancy J., wife, 35, born Alabama; Neomi, 13; Robert, 12; Jackson J., 10, born March 1890; Ruth E., 2; and, on line 53, Mary J. Daniels, “Mother”, born June 1830, 69, widowed, mother of three children, born Alabama, her parents born South Carolina. Mary J. Daniels is taken as Mary Jane (Bross) Walker, remarried after Daniel Green Walker died: the 1880 “Mary Dannels” of Angelina County, with her son Edgar (S809). Her Alabama birth matches the birthplace given for Willie's mother, not Nancy J.'s (whose mother was born in South Carolina). Jackson J.'s birth month and year, from the index, are Daniel Jonah Walker's (10 March 1890), but the given name does not match. Collection: 1900 United States Federal Census.
  13. S943Texas, U.S., Birth Index, 1903–1997 — 1920 births, Wal–Wal, p. 1358: Walker, Jonah, Inf. of, Jackson County, 5 November, certificate 61632. Ancestry record 150398391. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 24 September 2026. Confirmed "Walker | Jonah, Inf. of | Jackson | 11-5 | 61632": an unnamed infant of Jonah Walker, born in Jackson County on 5 November 1920, state birth certificate 61632. This is Clarence Melvin Walker's birth registration: the same date and county as his Social Security entry (S38) and gravestone (S37), and his father Daniel Jonah Walker went by Jonah. The first digit of the date is overstruck; certificate numbers on the page run in date order, which places 61632 in November. The certificate itself has not been ordered. Collection: Texas, U.S., Birth Index, 1903–1997.

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Compiled for the Proeger family

Living adults appear in full, on the same terms as everyone else here: what the records say, each claim cited. Minors appear by name only — no date of birth, no birth year, no age, no school, no place, no address, no other identifying detail. A minor may be named and may appear in a family photograph; nothing further about them is published. Where it is not established whether someone is an adult or a minor, the minor rule applies.

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