Walton writes to a fellow Quaker, a doctor, that he set up practice in his rural area northeast of Baltimore:

 

    “Esteemed Friend

         Joseph Foulke Jun,

            … I find there is a diversity of opinion in regard to the prospect of a Physician commencing in this neighborhood; thee is well aware that almost any one would feel somewhat of a delicacy in too strongly urging a M.D. to come & settle in a neighborhood for fear blame might be attached should he not meet that success he anticipated… There is no Dr here that is any thing like a friend, & there is quite a large settlement of friends here … Dr. Meacham our family physician lives 4 miles from here in another direction he too has a very extensive practice & is in rather delicate health … he has a wild unsettled son that he would like to give up his patients to but scarcely any one will employ him; we have 2 other Drs rather nearer than the 2 mentioned… both of the latter are from slaveholding families; this neighborhood is quite thickly settled … I would be glad if thee could feel it right to come settle among us …”

 

The Fallston area had been home to a vibrant community of Quakers since colonial times. “Friends” who owned slaves and did not want to part with them were “disowned” by their fellows, who assisted the Underground Railroad before the Civil War and were not enthused about entrusting the health of their families to slaveholders.