Formally Atterson P. Walden, most frequently recorded as Addison or AP, he went by Addison, Ad, or AP.

AP was born circa 1846, in Kentucky. The birth year inscribed on his tombstone is incorrect. At the time of his birth, AP's father owned and lived on land located on the southern outskirts of Perryville, Boyle County, Kentucky.

AP was the sixth and youngest child born to Willis Walden and his wife Rebecca Douglass Walden. His paternal grandparents were John and Elizabeth Pitts Walden, of Garrard County, Kentucky. His maternal grandparents were Nathan and Eleanor Dunn Douglass, also of Garrard County, and then Boyle County, Kentucky. The Waldens settled in Kentucky around 1803, from Caroline and Spotsylvania Counties in Virginia. The Douglass family settled in Kentucky around 1781, from Virginia. The Dunn family settled in Kentucky around 1795, from Montgomery County, Maryland. AP's paternal grandfather, John Walden, and his maternal great-grandfather, William Dunn, served in the Revolutionary War. His great-grandfather George Douglass also likely served.

AP grew up in Boyle County. He is enumerated on the 1850 census of Boyle County as being 4 years old, born in Kentucky, and living in the home of Willis and Rebecca Walden. He is enumerated on the 1860 census of Boyle County as being 14 years old, born in Kentucky, and living in the home of Willis Walden. AP had attended school within the year.

AP's father was a farmer, owning several hundred acres of land just to the south of Perryville, along the Lebanon Pike. AP's mother died in August of 1852, when AP was just six years old.

AP served during the War Between the States. He initially served as a Private in Company I of he 1st Louisiana Cavalry.
While with the 1st, he was engaged at the Shelby Farm fight in Boyle County, Kentucky. He was taken prisoner in the days following the fight and ultimately imprisoned at Camp Chase, in Ohio. He was exchanged and returned to the 1st Louisiana Cavalry just in time to be engaged at the Battle of Murfreesboro, December 31, 1862 - January 3, 1863.

The 1st Louisiana Cavalry next participated in Pegrams' Kentucky raid in March of 1863. AP was taken prisoner during that raid, on March 27, 1863, at Harrodsburg. He was forwarded to Louisville, where he was paroled and sent to City Point, Virginia. AP did not return to the 1st Louisiana Cavalry.
The next record for AP shows him in the 6th Kentucky Cavalry, which had recently been formed and placed under the command of General John H. Morgan. The regiment continued under Gen. Morgan's command until the entire regiment was captured during the last days of Morgan's Ohio raid in July of 1863. AP was captured in Mercer County, Kentucky, during that raid. His service records have varying dates of capture, from July 4, to July 7, to July 16, to July 17, 1863. July 4th or 7th are likely the correct dates, as that is around the time that Morgan came through neighboring Marion and Washington Counties. AP's records also reflect varying places of capture, from Harrodsburg to Salvisa, both of which are in Mercer County.

AP spent the rest of the war as a prisoner at Camp Douglas Prisoner of War camp in Chicago, Illinois. He arrived there on August 22, 1863, and was released nineteen months later, on March 24, 1865.

AP's first cousin, Rodney Adams, his first cousin-in-law, Jack King, and his future brother-in-law, Samuel Stewart also served in the 6th Kentucky Cavalry, and were imprisoned at Camp Douglas. Rodney was released early enough to rejoin the troops, and was part of Jefferson Davis's escort from Richmond, Virginia. Samuel Stewart's first cousin, William Harvey Guthrie, also from Perryville, served in the 2nd Kentucky Cavalry and was imprisoned at Camp Douglas, where he died in September of 1864.

AP returned to Kentucky after the war, though it is not clear where he went to live. His childhood home on the Lebanon Pike had been overrun and occupied by Federal forces during the Battle of Perryville. His father Willis had moved up the road to Harrodsburg shortly thereafter. AP could have gone to live with his father in Harrodsburg, or with his brother or sisters who all lived on their own farms around Perryville.

AP married Mary Elizabeth Stewart on January 21, 1867, in Boyle County, Kentucky. As noted, AP had served with Mary's brother Samuel during the war. Mary and Samuel were from the Perryville area. They were the children of George and Talitha Potts Stewart, both of whom died when Mary and Samuel were very young.

AP and Mary settled on land near Mitchellsburg (south of Perryville) in Boyle County. There AP farmed, and he and Mary started a family. In 1870, AP owned 120 acres of land and 3 horses. He grew hay, corn, and wheat, and raised cattle and hogs.

In early 1872, AP sold his land and left Kentucky. He and Mary, and their three young children - Lena, Ida, and George, just 4 months old - traveled by covered wagon to Butler County, in southeast Kansas. AP's older brother Nathan and his family also left Kentucky at this time, and settled in Bates County, Missouri.

AP and his family settled in the Bloomington Township of Butler County, on land adjoining the Little Walnut River, in what would become the community of Bodarc (also seen as Bois d'Arc). There AP farmed, and his family grew. He and Mary would come to be the parents of eight children in all: Lena William, Ida Pearl, George William, Samuel, Bertha Rebecca, Charles Lee, John Morgan, and Basil Duke. Mary's brother Samuel and their first cousin, John Guthrie, also settled in the area.

Mary died on December 29, 1885. Two children - Samuel and Bertha Rebecca - followed several weeks later. AP and his kids remained in Butler County for about a year. By early 1887, however, he and the children had moved out west to Grant County, Kansas, and homesteaded near the town of Ulysses. AP obtained title to his land in January of 1888. AP farmed, and helped his neighbors - the McBride brothers from Butler County - make sorghum syrup. AP homesteaded next to Wilbur F. Sinkhorn, who had relocated to Butler County, and then Grant County, from Mitchellsburg, Kentucky. Wilbur had also served and had been a prisoner of war, like AP, only Wilber served for the Union and was imprisoned at Andersonville. What stories they could have told.

AP, like many others, did not stay long in Grant County. His daughter Lena married in Ulysses in December of 1888, and his daughter Ida had married prior to moving to Grant County. With his two daughters married, AP left Kansas in March of 1889 and headed to Arkansas with his young sons.

AP landed in Van Buren County, Arkansas, where he married Mary Catherine Cullum on September 9, 1889. Mary was the daughter of John Sidney and Catherine Presley Cullum. AP and Mary lived in Van Buren County for a while, then moved to Searcy, in White County, Arkansas, where their first child was born in 1892. They then finally moved to Johnson County, Arkansas, where Mary's brothers Francis and Lewis also lived.

AP and Mary had three children: Addison Francis, Mary Ann, and Lena Eva, who was born after AP's death.

AP is buried here at the Lamar Cemetery, in a row with his son-in-law Norman E. Vaught, his wife Mary Cullum Walden, his brother-in-law Francis M. Cullum and Francis's daughters Marian Lucile Cullum and Julia Cullum Cowan. Thomas M. Cullum, the son of Lewis Cullum, is also buried in this row. Three of AP's grandchildren - Daniel, Doris, and Dorothy Crocker - are also buried in the Lamar Cemetery, as is another son-in-law, James Colclasure.