Return to main Johnson file
Send comments and corrections to anneb0704@yahoo.co.uk
SAMUEL WALKER (c. 1616/7–1684)
ANN SHELDON (d. 1716), daughter of Godfrey Sheldon and Alice Frost
Samuel Walker was born about 1616/7, based on his testimony that he was 44 in 1661 and 48 in 1664. [1, 1;127-1/2,2;6] He died on 6 November 1684 in Woburn. [2][3] He had an unknown first wife. [3] He married second the widow Ann (Sheldon) Alger about 1677. [4][5]
Ann Sheldon, the daughter of Godfrey and Alice (Frost) Sheldon, was probably born in Bakewill Parish, Derbyshire. [4] She died on 21 March 1716 in Woburn. [2][4] She married first Lieutenant Arthur Alger of Scarborough, Maine. [4] He died in Blackpoint in Scarborough on 14 October 1675 from wounds inflicted by the Indians during King Philip's War. [4]
Samuel came to New England about 1636. [4] Walker argues that he was the Samuel who went to Exeter, New Hampshire as a follower of Reverend John Wheelwright in 1636 or 1637. [4] He moved to Reading in 1644. [4]
Samuel was granted land in Reading on 6 January 1644/5. [4]
Samuel was a resident of Reading for some time and was admitted to the church there after 26 March 1650. [3]
Samuel was on a 1655 list of taxpayers in Woburn. [3] He petitioned the court to allow him to distill and sell liquor; his petition was signed by a large number of other residents of Woburn and was granted in April 1662. In making the petition he said that because of his wife's weakness he had bought a place near the meeting house and had spent 200 pounds on the building and utensils. [3]
Ann Alger proved her first husband's nuncupative will on 30 June 1676 in Salem. [4] She probably went to Woburn to join her brother John Sheldon. [4]
Ann Walker was appointed a school dame in Woburn in 1686. [3]
Children of Samuel Walker and his first wife:
i. Samuel Walker was born on 28 June 1643, probably in Exeter, but recorded in Reading. [4][6] Deacon Samuel Walker died on 18 January 1703/4 in Woburn, age 61. [2][3] He is buried in the First Burial Ground in Woburn. [7] He married first Sarah Reed on 10 September 1662 in Woburn. [2][3] Sarah, the daughter of William and Mabel Reed of Woburn, died on 1 November 1681 in Woburn. [2][3] Samuel married second Abigail [Carter] Fowle on 18 April 1692 in Woburn. [2][3] Abigail, the daughter of Captain John Carter and widow of Lieutenant James Fowle, married third Deacon Samuel Stone. [3]
The inscription on Samuel's gravestone says, "Here Lyes Ye body of Deacon Samuel Walker aged 61 years, died January Ye 18 1703." [7]
Samuel was an ensign and a deacon. [3]
Samuel signed his will on 5 July 1699; it was proved on 15 February 1703. He mentioned his wife Abigail; his sons Timothy and Samuel; his son John's children Ruth and Edward; his son Samuel's children Sarah, Judith, Abigail, Samuel and Hannah; his daughter Sarah Johnson's children Edward, Sarah, Esther, Samuel, and Abigail. [3]
Samuel was the grandfather of of Reverend Timothy Walker, first minister at Concord. Timothy was the father of Sarah Walker, wife of Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford of the Holy Roman Empire and the great-grandfather of Lucretia Pickering Walker, wife of Samuel Morse, inventor of the telegraph. [3][8]
ii. Joseph Walker was born in March 1645 in Reading. [6] He died in July 1729 in Billerica. [3] He married Sarah Wyman on 15 December 1699 [3] in Billerica. [2] Sarah, the daughter of Lieutenant John and Sarah (Nutt) Wyman of Woburn, died on 26 January 1728/9. [3]
iii. Hannah Walker was born on 11 April 1647 in Reading. [6] She died there on 28 April 1648. [6]
iv. Ensign Israel Walker (twin) was born on 28 June 1648 in Reading. [6] He died on 20 April 1719 in Woburn. [2][4] He married first Susanna Baldwin, the daughter of Henry Baldwin and Phebe Richardson. [4] She died on 7 March 1694 in Woburn. [2] He married second as his second wife Hannah (Leppingwell) Flagg on 10 December 1696 in Woburn. [2][9] Hannah, the daughter of Michael and Isabel Leppingwell was born on 1 September 1642 in Woburn. [2][9] She married first Gershom Flagg on 15 April 1668 in Woburn. [2]
v. Hannah Walker (twin) was born on 28 June 1648 in Reading. [6] She died on 4 February 1685/6 in Woburn. [3] She married James Thompson on 27 January 1674 in Woburn. [2][3] James was the son of Simon and Mary (Converse) Thompson. [10] He was born on 20 March 1649 in Woburn. [10] He died on 4 September 1693, age 44, [3] in Woburn. [10]
Hannah is an ancestor of President Calvin Coolidge. Anderson provides the descent. [10]
vi. John Walker was born on 14 February 1649 in Reading. [6] He died on 3 January 1723/4 in Woburn. [2] He married first Mary, the daughter of Robert Pierce and Mary Knight, on 14 October 1672 in Woburn. [2][3] She died on 8 November 1695. [2][3] He married second Bethiah Symonds on 13 August 1696 in Woburn. [2][3]
vii. Benjamin Walker was born on 4 June 1651 in Reading. [6] He died there on 26 April 1653. [6]
Children of Samuel Walker and Ann Sheldon:
viii. Isaac Walker was born on 1 November 1677 in Woburn. He died after 1745 in Concord, New Hampshire. He married Margery Bruce.
ix. Ezekiel Walker was born on 5 March 1679 in Woburn. [2] He died in December 1723 in Boston. [3] He is buried in the Granary Burying Ground in Boston. [7] He married Ruth Cook on 7 August 1701. [3] Ruth, the daughter of Thomas and Ann Cook of Boston, died in September or October 1743. [3]
Ezekiel was a cordwainer. [3]
Endnotes:
1. "Middlesex County, MA: Abstracts of Court Records, 1643–1674," database with images, AmericanAncestors.org.
2. Edward Francis Johnson, Woburn Records of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, Part 1 (births), Part 2, (deaths) Part 3 (marriages) (Woburn: Andrew Cutlery & Co., 1890).
1: 267 [WALKER] Ezekiel, s. of Samuel, March 5, 1679.
1: 267 [WALKER] Isaac, s. of Samuel, Nov. 1, 1677.
2: 200 [WALKER'] Sarah, wife of Samuel, Nov. 1, 1681.
2: 201 [WALKER] Ann, d. of ____, March 21, 1716.
2: 201 [WALKER] Ensign Israel, s. of ____, April 20, 1719.
2: 201 [WALKER] John, Sen., s. of ____, Jan. 3, 1724.
2: 201 [WALKER] Mary, wife of John, Sen., Nov. 8, 1695.
2: 201 [WALKER] Samuel, Sen., s. of ___, Nov. 6, 1684.
2: 201 [WALKER] Dea. Samuel, s. of ____, Jan. 18, 1704; 61 y.
2
:201 [WALKER] Susanna, wife of Israel, March 7, 1694.
2
:201 [WALKER] Samuel (Jr.) and Sarah Reed, Sept. 10, 1662
2
:201 [WALKER] Joseph of [Woburn] and Sarah Wyman of Woburn, at Billerica, Dec. 15, 1669
2
:201 [WALKER] John and Mary Pierce, Oct. 14, 1672
2
:201 [WALKER] Hannah and James Thompson, Jan. 27, 1674
2
:201 [WALKER] Ensign Samuel and Abigail Fowle, April 18, 1692
2
:201 [WALKER] John and Bethiah Simonds, Aug. 13, 1696
2
:201 [WALKER] Ensign Israel and Hannah Flagg, Dec. 10, 1696
3: 96 [FLAGG] Gershom Flagg (see 2nd Footnote) and Hannah Lepingwell, April 15, 1668.
1: 150 [LEPINGWELL] Hannah, d. of Michael, Sept. 1, 1642.
3. Arthur G. Loring and William R. Cutter, Samuel Walker of Woburn, Mass. and Some of His Descendants (Boston: David Clapp & Son, 1903).
4. Eugene Allen Walker, "The Whereabouts of Samuel Walker of Reading and Woburn, Massachusetts, Prior to His Arrival at Reading in 1644," New England Historical and Genealogical Register 177 (2023): 119–25.
5. Charles Thornton Libby, Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire (Portland, ME: Southward Press, 1928).
6. Thomas W. Baldwin, Vital Records of Reading, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1850 (Boston: Wright & Potter, 1912).
Pages 240–1 WALKER, Benjamin, s. of Samuell, June 4, 1651 |
Page 579 WALKER, Benjamin, s. of Samuell, Apr. 26, 1653. |
7. Find a Grave, database and images (accessed 05 November 2023), memorial pages for
Samuel Walker Jr. (28 Jun 1643–18 Jan 1704), Memorial ID 7849515, citing First Burial Ground, Woburn, Middlesex County, MA; Maintained by Kevin Avery (contributor 47024642).
Ezekiel Walker (5 Mar 1679–5 Dec 1723), Memorial ID 21757288, citing Granary Burying Ground, Boston, Suffolk County, MA; Maintained by Nancy Eliason Walker (contributor 46774804).
8. Nathaniel Bouton, History of Concord (Concord, NH: Benning W. Sanborn, 1856).
9. Jon Wardlow, “Revisiting the Family of Gershom Flagg of Woburn, Massachusetts,” New England Historical and Genealogical Register 163 (2009): 20.
10. Robert Charles Anderson, "Ancestry of President Calvin Coolidge," The American Genealogist 53 (1977): 65–75, 160–70.
© A. Buiter 2014
06-Nov-2023 11:17 AM