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JOHN WALKER (1763–1830), son of James Walker and Ruth Abbott

ELIZABETH CALEF (1767–1829), daughter of Joseph Calef and Hannah Pettingill

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John Walker, the son of James and Ruth (Abbott) Walker, was born on 8 May 1763 Rumford, Merrimack County, New Hampshire. [1] He died on 25 February 1830. [2] He married Eliza Calef. [2]

Elizabeth Calef, the daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Pettingill) Calef, was born on 1 October 1767. [3] She died on 14 November 1829. [2]

Boughton says John married Betsey Calef of Salisbury. [4] Elizabeth is undoubtedly the daughter of Joseph and Hannah (Pettingill) Calef of Salisbury. [5] The names fit nicely, John and Elizabeth named four of their children James, Ruth, Joseph and Hannah. Joseph and Hannah had a daughter Elizabeth who was born on 1 October 1767. [3] Joseph Calef refers to his daughter Elizabeth Walker in his will of 19 June 1810. Boardman provides an ancestry for this Elizabeth. [3]

John came to Bethel Hill "quite early." [2] He was a tailor. [2] He was chosen a road surveyor in Bethel, Oxford County, Maine. in 1815. [2]

John is probably the John Walker who headed a household in Bethel consisting of a male 45 and over, a female 26 to 44, a male 16 to 25, a male and two females ten to 15, and a male and female under ten. [6]

Children of John Walker and Elizabeth Calef:

i. James Walker was born in July 1791. He died on 7 December 1866, probably in Bethel. He married Hannah Barker.

ii. Joseph C. Walker was born about 1793, probably in Salisbury, New Hampshire. He died on 10 April 1881, age 88. [7] He married Lucinda Hale of Waterford. [2] Lucinda was born about 1798 in Waterford. She died between 1860 and 1870. Joseph and Lucinda are buried in the Elm Vale Cemetery in South Waterford, Oxford County, Maine. [7]

The death record of Joseph and Lucinda's daughter Charlotte H. Swan says that her parents were Joseph Walker, a farmer born in Bethel, and Lucinda Hale, born in Waterford. [8]

Joseph C. was a private in Joseph Holt's company of William Ryerson's regiment of Massachusetts militia drafted in Bethel for service at Portland from 25 September to 9 November 1814. [2][9]

Joseph C. and Abial Walker signed a petition for a company of artillery in Bethel on 29 December 1815. [2] He was a town officer in 1819. [2]

According to the census, in 1830 Joseph headed a household in Bethel that included a man and woman age 30 to 39 and a girl age five to nine. Sometime between 1830 and 1840 Joseph moved to Waterford, as in 1840 he headed a household there that included a man and woman age 40 to 49, a girl age 15 to 19, a boy age ten to 14 and a girl age five to nine. In 1850 Joseph again headed a household in Waterford. He was a 57-year-old farmer, born in New Hampshire, with real estate worth 1,600 dollars. He lived with Lucinda, age 52, Caroline, age 35 and Charlotte, age 18. He had a 95-acre farm with a horse, three milch cows, two working oxen, two other cattle, and two pigs. He grew wheat, rye, corn, oats, peas, and hay and he produced butter and cheese. In 1860 Joseph was a 67-year-old farmer, born in Salisbury, New Hampshire with real estate worth 1,150 dollars and a personal estate of 2,500 dollars. He lived with Lucinda, age 62 and born in Waterford, and Caroline, age 25, and Charlotte, age 28, both born in Bethel. By 1870 Lucinda had died and Joseph, age 77, with real estate worth 800 dollars and a personal estate of 5,000 dollars, was living with his daughter Charlotte, age 38. Like her grandfather, she was a tailor. By 1880 Charlotte had married and Joseph, 88, was living—still in Waterford—with Charlotte H. Swan and her husband Thomas Swan, a farmer. [6]

iii. Hannah Walker was born about 1796. She died on 22 August 1868, age 72, and is buried in the South Bethel Cemetery. She married James Pressey.

Lapham says that Hannah married Isaac Pressey of Mercer. [2] However, the death record of Mrs. Laura Bartlett, who was born in Mercer and died in Bethel in 1894, lists her parents as James Pressey and Hannah Walker, suggesting that Hannah married James Pressey. [8]

A gravestone in the South Bethel Cemetery is inscribed, "Hannah W. Pressey" and says that she died on 22 August 1868, age 72. [7] A Find A Grave entry says that it belongs to Hannah W. Needham Pressey, but it seems likely to be the Hannah here.

iv. Abial (Abiel) Walker was born about 1799. He died between 1870 and 1880. He married Armina Stevens of Greenwood. [2] She died before 1850. Abial married second Christiana Robbins on 15 April 1860 in Dummer. [10] Christiana, the daughter of Moses and Hannah Robbins, was born on 29 June 1824 in Paulsburg, New Hampshire. [11]

Abial was the first trader at Walker's Mills (South Bethel). [2]

Abial moved to Dummer, New Hampshire. [2] In 1850 Abial, age 51 and born in Vermont [!], lived in Dummer with Charles, 15, born in Maine. Abial had real estate worth 200 dollars. In 1870 Abial lived in the bordering town of Milan with Christina, age 46, and Anna, age 7. He had real estate worth 500 dollars. In 1880 Christiana was a widow, age 55, living in Woodstock, Oxford, Maine with her apparent daughter Hannah V., age 17, a domestic servant, and a farm laborer. [6]

v. Ruth Walker [2]

vi. Eliza Walker died on 11 January 1835. [2]

vii. Charles Walker was born on 7 August 1809. [2] He is probably the Charles Walker who died of consumption in February 1850 in Lovell, Oxford, Maine. [6] Charles Walker of Bethel married Louisa Barker of Lovell on 9 December 1835 in Lovell. [12] Louisa, the wife of Charles, died on 11 August 1839, age 31 years and seven months, and is buried in the Lovell Village -Wood Farm Cemetery in Lovell. [Ref]

Lapham says that Charles married Louisa Barker of Bridgton. [2]

viii. Betsey Walker [2]

Endnotes:

1. "New Hampshire: Births, Deaths and Marriages, 1654–1969," database with images, AmericanAncestors > Births W to 1901, page 4412, entry for John Walker.

2. William B. Lapham, History of Bethel, Maine (Somerset, NH: New England History Press, 1891), 87 (artillery petition), 91, (Joseph's military service), 170 (John chosen a road surveyor), 173 (Joseph a town officer), 387 (Abial a trader), 395 (Abial sold land), 636–7 (genealogy).

3. Anne Calef Boardman, Robert Calef of Boston and Some of His Descendants (Salem: Newcomb & Gauss, 1940), 16–17, 31, 54–55.

4. Nathaniel Boughton, History of Concord (Concord, NH: Benning W. Sanborn, 1856).

5. John J. Dearborn, The History of Salisbury, New Hampshire (Manchester, NH: William E. Moore, 1890), 516.

6. U.S. Federal Census Collection, searchable databases, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/categories/usfedcen).

7. Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 20 September 2023), memorial pages for

8. "Maine, U.S., Death Records, 1761–1922," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/1962) > Oxford > 1899 > S, image 85, entry for Charlotte H. Swan; Oxford > 1894 > B, image 11, entry for Mrs. Laura Bartlett.

9. "Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812," database with images, Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com/image/309593170) > MA > W > Walker, Joseph C. (Pvt.).

10. "New Hampshire, U.S., Marriage Records Index, 1637–1947" database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2554), entry for Abial Walker

11. "New Hampshire, U.S., Birth Index, 1659–1900," database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/4582) > Payson–Robinson, image 2625, entry for Christiana Robbins.

12. Donald L. McAllister and Lucille E. Nass, Marriage Returns of Oxford County, Maine, Prior to 1892 (Camden, ME: Picton Press, 1993), 24.

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© A. Buiter 2014

21-Sep-2023 10:12 AM