f great ability
and eminence, then in full practice at Natchez, and who had married the
daughter of Judge Edward Turner, and the cousin of Quitman's wife.
Quitman's rise to eminence was rapid in his profession, but more so in
the public estimation as a man of great worth. His affability,
kindness, and courtesy were so genial and so unaffected as to fasten
upon every one, and soon he was the most popular man in the county.

Soon after Quitman, came Duncan and Robert J. Walker--the latter
subsequently so distinguished as a senator in Congress from
Mississippi, and still more distinguished as the Secretary of the
Treasury during the Administration of Mr. Polk. A close intimacy grew
up between Quitman and R.J. Walker. This intimacy influenced greatly
the future of Quitman. Walker was from Pennsylvania, and had married
Miss Bache, the niece of George M. Dallas, sister to the great
Professor Bache, and great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin. Mrs.
Walker was a lady of great beauty, of rare accomplishments, and
distinguished for her modesty and womanly bearing. Mr. Bache, the
father of Mrs. Walker, emigrated to Texas, was in the Senate of her
Congress at the time she was received into the United States, and was
the only man who voted against the union. He represented Galveston,
and, after his death, that young city, in honor of his services,
erected a monument to his memory.

Walker was of ardent temperament, great abilities, strong will, intense
application, and was soon, at the Bar, among the first lawyers in the
State. He wanted the softness and genial qualities of Quitman, but was
superior to him mentally; and in prompt, decisive action his was the
stronger character, and controlled. Quitman, being intimately
associated with the leading men of the party supporting Mr. Adams, had
adopted their opinions and politics; Walker was an ardent supporter of
Jackson, and claimed to be the first man who brought forward his name
for the Presidency, when he was a citizen of Pennsylvania. Soon after
the election of General Jackson, Quitman, displeased with Mr. Clay,
abandoned his Whig associates, and united himself with the Democratic
party, and from that time until his death was a devoted Democratic
partisan. These two men exercised, perhaps, more influence in the State
than any others of their day.

Robert H. Adams and William B. Griffith, who were considered the ablest
members of the Bar in the State, died young, and in the openi