USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume III > Part 68
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(II) Lieutenant Charles Gott, son of Charles Gott (I), was born about June, 1639; married November 12, 1659, Sarah Dennis, who died August 8, 1665. He married sec- ond, December 25, 1665, Lydia Clark. He was admitted a freeman in 1663. He died February II, 1707-8; his widow February 20, 1717-8. Children, all born at Wenham: I. Bethia, born April 24, 1661, died young. 2. Charles, born August 7, 1662, died young. 3. Sarah, born January 4, 1663, died young. 4. Sarah, born December 2, 1664. Children of second wife: 5. John, born November 8, 1668; married July 19, 1693, Rebecca Tarbox, daughter of Samuel; father of Dr. Benjamin Gott, of Marlborough, Massachusetts. 6. De- borah, born October 16, 1670. 7. Bethiah, born July 16, 1674. 8. Samuel, born 1677; mentioned below.
(III) Samuel Gott, son of Charles Gott (2), was born in Wenham, about 1677, and removed to Gloucester, Massachusetts, as early as October 23, 1702, when he bought of Wil- liam Cogswell, of Chebacco, for sixty pounds, lawful money, eight six-acre lots lying upon Halibut Point, and fixed his abode in that remote section of the town. He married Mar- garet Andrews, daughter of William Andrews, of Ipswich, Massachusetts. She died October 30, 1722, aged forty-six years ; he married sec- ond, in 1723, Bethany Cogswell, of Ipswich, and she died November 3, 1748, about seventy- one years of age. He had a large family of children, the names of five of whom are men- tioned in his will.
Of this branch of the family a number were soldiers in the Revolution. Ebenezer Gott, of Cape Ann, was in Captain John Row's company, Colonel Ebenezer Bridge's (27th) regiment in 1775. John Gott, of Cape Ann, was corporal in the same company, and doubt- less brother of Ebenezer. Joshua Gott, of Gloucester, was a private in Captain Barnabas
Dodge's company, Colonel Gerrish's regiment, in 1775; also in Captain Dodge's company, Colonel Loammi Baldwin's regiment, in 1775 and 1776; was in Trenton in 1777.
(IV) Charles Gott, descendant of Samuel Gott (3), was born in Gloucester, about 1775. He was a fisherman, and followed the sea all his life, going to the Banks in his younger days. He lived to a ripe old age and was well known and popular among his townsmen. In reli- gion he was a Universalist, and he and his wife were active members and liberal sup- porters of the church. He was proseprous in his business affairs. Children: I. Charles, born in Gloucester, about 1810; mentioned below. 2. Henry. 3. David. 4. Mary Ann, born December 1, 1817, died October 27, 1889 ; married Addison Butler, who was born July 3, 1816, died April 24, 1887 ; children: i. Ad- dison Butler, Jr., born August 3, 1839, mar- ried November 5, 1863, Ellen Robinson (chil- dren: Frank F. Butler, born September 3, 1865; Fred G. Butler, born January 1, 1867; Blanche, born January 23, 1871 ; Addison, Jr., born May 3, 1872; Matilda J. Butler, born June 14, 1877 ; Ellen Butler, born November 23, 1879) ; ii. David Butler, born January 16, 1841, died 1841 ; iii. Walter, born July 8, 1843, unmarried ; iv. Alfred Butler, born July I, 1846, married first, July 1, 1867, Susan Davis, (children: Ella Butler, born September 24, 1867; Alice Butler born February 27, 1869; Walter Butler, born April 22, 1870) ; Alfred Butler married second, October 3, 1895, Chris- tie McPhee ; v. David Butler, born September 27, 1848, unmarried ; vi. Charles, born October IO, 1851, married Jane Bisbee and had Charles, Louis, Edward; vii. George H. Butler, born December 9, 1854; married May, 1890, Bella Bird, and had Alfred, born December 1, 1893; viii. Annie M. Butler, born August 1I, 1860; married November 21, 1890, William Towle. 5. Amelia, married Gideon Lane.
(V) Charles Gott, son of Charles Gott (4), was born at Gloucester, Massachusetts, about 1810, and died December 25, 1886, at the age of seventy-six years. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, and while still a schoolboy began to take fishing trips. He followed his father's vocation, and, like most of the men of Gloucester went to the Banks of Newfoundland in the fishing boats. Later he shipped as a sailor on various vessels and made voyages to Liverpool, to France, to South America, and to the West Indies. After his marriage he continued fishing on the Banks with great success, and finally became part
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owner of a number of fishing vessels. Among his vessels was the "Cyrene," in which he took great pride. He was fortunate in escaping the perils of the sea and was never shipwrecked. He owned his home in Gloucester. He con- tinued in the fishing business until he retired on account of age a few years before his death. During his last years he followed farming and gardening, selling his own produce in and about the city of Gloucester. He was a thor- oughly upright and straightforward man. In personal appearance he was rather striking, being over six feet tall, and quite slim, though very active and strong. In religion Mr. Gott was a Universalist ; in politics a Republican. He was an earnest believer in total abstinence, and used all his influence to promote temper- ance reform in the community in which he lived and among the men in his employ. He married, at Gloucester, Mary Nichols, daughter of Peter Nichols, of Boston. She died at the age of sixty-five. Children, born at Glouces- ter : I. Charles, born October 30, 1844; men- tioned below. 2. Mary, born in 1848; mar- ried William Stevenson, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
(VI) Charles Gott, son of Charles Gott (5), was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts, October 30, 1844. He received his schooling in his native town, working at odd times in the stone quarry there. After completing his education he went to Belmont, Massachusetts, and became an apprentice to learn the black- smith trade in the shop of R. A. Knight, blacksmith and wheelwright. After some months he removed to North Andover, Mass- achusetts, where he served out his three years of apprenticeship in the blacksmith shop of Thomas H. Kimball. He then worked at his trade at North Andover Depot and at Bel- mont for John C. Hill, returning again to North Andover, where he worked two years for John W. Faulkner. Then in company with John C. Hill he engaged in business for himself in March, 1873, buying the business and blacksmith shop of William Kimball, and later also the business of Thomas Haley, at Arlington, Massachusetts. The firm was dis- solved at the end of five years, Mr. Gott buy- ing out his partner. His shop was on Mass- achusetts avenue, near the present shop, until he removed into the new shop in January, 1896. His present place of business was built for his use by R. L. Hodgdon's heirs. Mr. Gott makes a specialty of wagon and carriage work. He manufactures all kinds of wagons, chiefly for use of farmers, market men and
coal dealers. He has a spacious wheelwright shop, 40 by 80, two stories high, and a large carriage painting shop, besides a horseshoeing shop on Massachusetts avenue in front of the main building. Much of his work is done for customers in Boston and towns within a radius of ten miles. His plant is equipped with the most improved machinery, such as drills, planers, saws and trip-hammer, oper- ated by power. He has a reputation for sub- stantial and artistic work.
He attends the Arlington Congregational Church. In politics he is a Republican, and has served his party as delegate to senatorial, representative and county conventions. He was elected on the board of fire engineers two years previous to 1877, when he became chief engineer of the department, a position he has filled with the greatest credit to himself and satisfaction to his townsmen to the present time. He has brought the department to a high standard of efficiency, being second to no town of its size. He established the perman- ent department and installed the fire alarm system. He is known throughout the state among insurance and firemen for his ability as a fire fighter and the length of time he has been in the service. He was made a member of Belmont Lodge of Free Masons, Febru- ary 17, 1870, and joined Hiram Lodge of Arl- ington, September 8, 1870; Menotomy Chap- ter, Royal Arch Masons, at Arlington, June 15, 1897. He is also a member of Bethel Lodge, No. 12, of Odd Fellows, Arlington, and is a past noble grand. He is a member and former president of the Adelphi Club ; president of the Farmer's Relief Association ; member of the Fire Chiefs' Club of Massa- chusetts ; of the National Fire Chiefs' Associ- ation; of the Wagon and Carriage Makers' Association of Boston, and was for a number of years director of the Arlington Co-opera- tive Bank.
He married, October 21, 1868, Bessie H. Elwell, born at Gloucester, December 5, 1846, daughter of George and Clara (Haskell) El- well, of Gloucester. Her father was in the fishing business there. Children : I. Mabel Nichols, born September 21, 1869; married, December 8, 1891, William K. Cook, of Provincetown, Massachusetts; children: i. Robert Parker, born June 8, 1895; ii. Stan- wood Hilliard, born May 21, 1898. 2. Edith, born June 15, 1871 ; died December 25, 1877. 3. Florence May, born June 20, 1873; mar- ried, December 10, 1901, Egbert E. Stackpole ; children : i. Alan Douglas, born September 7,
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1902; ii. Edith, born March 21, 1904. 4. Jen- nie Louise, born August 8, 1876. 5. Bessie Elwell, born August 9, 1877 ; married, August 23, 1899, Herbert Francis Winn, of Arling- ton, Massachusetts ; children : i. Warren Bail- ey Winn, born October 26, 1900; ii. Richard Wilkins Winn, born June 19, 1903; iii. Frances Winn, born September 17, 1906. 6. Charles William, born October 9, 1878, died November 4, 1878 .. 7. Maud Evelyn, born October 2, 1880; married, December 6, 1905, Oscar S. Creeley, of Belmont; child, Phillip Laurie, born February 16, 1907. 8. Harriet Califf, born December 3, 1882; married, June 27, 1906, William B. Brown, of Somerville. 9. Hollis Marshall, born May 25, 1885; mar- ried, April 17, 1907, Adele H. Tribble, of Somerville, Massachusetts. IO. Charles, Jr., born September 29, 1887. II. Marjorie Stan- wood, born September 7, 1890. 12. Howard Palmer, born October 21, 1892.
Mr. Charles Gott died November 26, 1907, after a brief illness resulting from a surgical operation. When at II.IO o'clock on the night of Tuesday, November 26, two blasts from the fire gong vibrated over the town of Arlington, there were many saddened hearts besides those in the bereaved family of the deceased. Mr. Gott stood in high esteem with his towns- men, all of whom felt that they had lost a good friend, and the town a good and useful citizen. The funeral services were held in the Congre- gational church (Orthodox), at Arlington, on Saturday afternoon, November 30, 1907. The business houses and city departments and offices were closed out of respect to the de- ceased.
WALKER Walker is an English sur- name, although many of its representatives in New Eng- land since the time of the colony are of Scotch extraction. Their names have been found among the early immigrants to America and the records disclose that at least fourteen fam- ilies, not including those of the "Old Colony" nor those related to each other, were in the country previous to the year 1650. The Walk- ers of the particular branch proposed to be treated in this place are believed to have been descendants of John Walker, of Charlestown, Massachusetts, "bricklayer," age thirty-five in 1675, which mention of him in Wyman's "Genealogies and Estates of Charlestown" appears to be the first authenticated account of him and his family in New England his- tory.
The genealogist of the Walker family in several of its important branches gives no account of John Walker, of Charlestown, and his descendants, and makes no mention what- ever of that numerous and highly respectable branch of his descendants who are believed ultimately to have become seated in the pro- vince of Maine, and one of whom has been mentioned in history as proprietor of the town of Fryeburg. In his admirable work entitled "Saco Valley Settlement and Families," Mr. Ridlon speaks of the Walkers of Fryeburg as having borne the same christian names as the immediate descendants of John Walker of Charlestown, and his wives Anna Leager and Hannah Mirick. By his first wife he had four children: John, Richard, Samuel and Anna ; and by his second wife had ten children: Mary, Joseph, Anna, Benjamin, Lydia, Ben- jamin, Sarah, Hopestill, Rebecca and Joseph.
John Walker, eldest of these children, set- tled in Newington, New Hampshire, and had children, and some of them, or their children, settled in Fryeburg and other towns in Maine, and became themselves progenitors of fami- lies. Among those of the surname who appear earliest in the records as heads of families in Fryeburg were Joseph Walker and his wife Mary; Lieutenant John Walker, who is men- tioned as one of the "nobilities" of the town, having served at Fort William Henry when Quebec was taken, and there suffered many hardships and privations; Ezekiel Walker, who settled in the town in 1766-67 and was its first licensed innkeeper; Lieutenant Isaac Walker, who settled there. with others of the same family in 1767; Samuel, whose settle- ment dated 1767 and who by his wife Hannah had eleven children.
The Walker family of Malden, Massachu- setts, two generations of which have been closely identified with the business and civil history of the city of Boston and its vicinity during the last more than two score years, is descended from the Maine branch of the same family and from one of its representa- tives whose name is mentioned in the preced- ing paragraph, although because of the ab- sence of records the connection between John Walker of Fryeburg and Exeter, Maine, and the earlier generations of his ancestors cannot be determined with genealogical certainty. It is understood that John Walker was a son of Samuel Walker, and that he was born in Frye- burg. The youngest but one of the children of Samuel Walker and his wife Hannah was Samuel, born December 6, 1784, and who,
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while not known to have been the immediate ancestor of John Walker of Fryeburg and Exeter, was at least contemporary with his time.
John Walker is believed to have been born in Fryeburg, although the scene of his life was chiefly laid in Exeter, where he died in 1879. He was a farmer and merchant, suc- cessful in his business life, a man of quiet tastes, and highly respected in the community in which he lived. He married twice. His first wife was Abigail Cox, who bore him two children : Olive Ann, who married James Woodbury, of Bangor, and died in that city in 1906; and George Willis Walker, of whom particular mention is made in later para- graphs. For his second wife John Walker married Hamilton, by whom he had two children : Abigail, unmarried, now living in Bangor ; and John W., unmarried and liv- ing in Exeter.
George Willis Walker, son of John Walker and his first wife, Abigail Cox, was born in Exeter, Penobscot county, Maine, August 27, 1827, and died at his home in Malden, Massa- chusetts, October 4, 190i. His young life was spent in his native town, where he was educated in the public schools and worked on the farm with his father until he was about eighteen years old, when he started out to make his own way in life. After a few months spent in Bangor he went to Boston, and when he arrived in that city the sum of his cash capital amounted to just six dollars ; but what was of far greater value to him at that time than the money he had, was a strong consti- tution and an equally strong determination to succeed. He soon found work to do and did it, and also made excellent acquaintances, among whom may be recalled the names of Thomas N. Hart, afterward mayor of Boston, and the late J. K. C. Sleeper, at one time mayor of Malden.
After working at various occupations in Boston for about three years, Mr. Walker found employment with a stove dealer in the city, and afterward continued in that line of work with two other dealers, and each of the three in subsequent years became his own em- ployees after he had returned from Troy, New York, to Boston, and established himself as proprietor of a general furnace and stove store business. He went to Troy in 1853 and secured a position with the large house of Fuller, Warren & Co., stove founders and dealers, remained there five years, then re- turned to Boston and became proprietor of a
general stove and furnace business. His cap- ital at that time was not large, but he had good credit with the trade, especially with his former employers in Troy, who shipped him their goods with every confidence in his integ- rity and business capacity ; and they were not disappointed in ultimate results. In the course of about six years Mr. Walker removed his stock of goods from his original location in Boston to Union street, where for more than thirty-five years afterward, both as sole pro- prietor and as president and active manager of the Walker & Pratt Manufacturing Com- pany, he was well known in business circles throughout New England. The company dates its incorporation from the year 1874, and is known as one of the large and success- ful manufacturing enterprises of the city. His business life was rewarded with a com- fortable fortune and whatever measure of success he achieved was entirely the result of his own personal effort.
In 1869 Mr. Walker took up his residence in Malden, and his home soon became a cen- ter for the cultured and musical people of the town and subsequent city, while he himself in later years became actively identified with the social and civil history of Malden. He held many public offices, and was chairman of the board of selectmen during the last two years of its existence as a town. He was sinking fund commissioner fifteen years, a trustee of Malden Public Library more than twenty years, water commissioner several years, representative of Malden in the legis- lature in 1885 and 1886, and presidential elec- tor in 1892. He also was active in Masonic circles, a member of the various subordinate bodies of the order, Converse Lodge, Taber- nacle Chapter, Melrose Council and Beauseant Commandery, and past commander of the lat- ter body. At the time of his death he was president of the Malden Club. He had been a consistent member of the church since his youth, and on coming to Boston he united at once with the Shawmut church; and later in Malden he was a member and liberal support- er of the First Trinitarian Congregational church.
Mr. Walker married twice. His first wife, whom he married in Albany, New York, Sep- tember 2, 1857, was Elizabeth M. Kinnicutt, of Troy, New York, a native of Mayfield, Fulton county, New York, and a daughter of John Wesley Kinnicutt. She died June 3, 1879, and Mr. Walker married (second), Mrs. Dorcas E. Hagar, of Malden. His children,
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all born of his first marriage: I. George Kin- nicutt, born in Albany, New York, March 9, 1859, died in Boston, May 4, 1860. 2. Arthur Willis, born in Boston, May 8, 1861, now pres- ident of the Walker & Pratt Manufacturing Company (see post). 3. Gertrude Annie, born in Boston, April 5, 1863, now a prac- ticing physician of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Whitefield, New Hampshire (see post). 4. Elizabeth Louise, born in Boston, July 7, 1868. 5. Mary Lena, born in Malden, March 20, 1870
Arthur Willis Walker, second child and only surviving son of George Willis Walker and his wife Elizabeth M. Kinnicutt, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 8, 1861. His earlier education was acquired in the public schools of Malden, and his higher education in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After leaving the latter institution he became connected with the manufacturing business of which his father was the head, and spent two years in the foundry at Watertown, Mass- achusetts, where he acquired a practical knowledge of the business in all its details. From that time he was advanced through var- ious higher positions to that of treasurer of the company, which he held about ten years, and as his father's years increased he assumed more and more of the responsibilities and con- duct of the general business of the company ; and upon the death of his father in 1901 he succeeded him as president, which office he still holds. Mr. Walker is strictly a business man, a member of the Congregational church of Malden, a Templar Mason, and in politics is a Republican.
He married, October 28, 1884, at Malden, in the old Dexter family homestead, Annie Murdock Dexter, who was born in Malden. daughter of Richard Dexter and Julia A. Dole his wife, and a descendant of Richard Dexter, the immigrant ancestor, and one of the earliest settlers of what now is the city of Malden. (See Dexter family). Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Walker; all in Malden: 1. Margaret, born April 6, 1886, died April 6, 1886. 2. George Willis, born October II, 1888, died May 18, 1889. 3. Rich- ard Dexter, born December 4, 1890. 4. Eliz- abeth Dexter, born August 3, 1897.
Gertrude Annie Walker, third child and eld- est daughter of George Willis Walker and Elizabeth M. Kinnicutt his wife, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, April 5, 1863. She was educated in the public schools of Malden and entered Smith College, Northampton, in
1881, graduating A. B. in 1885. She began the study of medicine in the Woman's Medi- cal College of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, in 1889, made the course of that institution and was graduated with the degree of M. D., in 1892. During the next year she was interne at the New England Hospital for Women and Children at Roxbury, Massachusetts, then took a special course of study of diseases and treatment of the eye, and in 1893 became pro- fessor of ophthalmology in the Woman's Med- ical College of Pennsylvania, her alma mater. She is engaged in active practice in Philadel- phia and also at her summer home in White- field, New Hampshire. Dr. Walker is a mem- ber of various prominent medical societies, also of the Society of Colonial Dames, and enjoys celebrity as an authoress. Her "Songs and Games for Little Ones" was published by Ditson & Co. in 1887, and later, in collabora- tion with her sister Elizabeth, she produced "The Children's Song Serial" and "Songs of Nature," and besides these works she also has published, through P. Blakiston & Co., of Philadelphia, a text book on diseases of the eye.
DEXTER The Dexter family of New England of the particular branch under consideration here appears to have been one of great antiquity in Europe, and although seated in Ireland for perhaps two or more centuries previous to the immigration of Richard Dex- ter to this country soon after the year 1640, there is reason to believe that the family orig- inated elsewhere than in Ireland, and that one of its ancient branches became planted there as early as the twelfth century.
One authority informs us that Richard Dex- ter, the immigrant, was descended from one of the lords chief justice of Ireland, that he lived and probably was born in the town of Alede, in county Meath, and there married his wife Bridget, whose family name does not appear in any of the published records. It is further said, and probably with much truth, that Richard Dexter and his family were sub- jected to religious persecution, for they were Protestants, and that by reason thereof they were compelled to find refuge in England, from whence soon afterward they embarked for America.
The work, "American Ancestry," speaks of Richard Dexter, of Charlestown and Malden, as having been born probably in Ireland in
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1606, and died at Charlestown in 1680. He was admitted as townsman at Boston, Febru- ary 28, 1641-42. The same authority says that Richard Dexter was probably descended from Richard de Exeter, governor of Ireland, 1269, and Richard de Exeter, chief justice of the Dublin bench, 1307, and whose descendants can be traced in the County Meath until their names finally became spelled Dexter. Savage mentions Richard Dexter as having been ad- mitted townsman at Boston, February 28, 1642, and was of Charlestown, 1644, on the Mystic side, where his estate descended through five generations. To this statement we may add that the estate of Richard has con- tinued in his family from his time to that of the present generation of his descendants. The "Memoirs of Prince's Subscribers" says that Richard Dexter became the owner of a farm in Malden by deed dated December 7, 1663, which has continued in possession of his des- cendants to the present time, and that the orig- inal purchase was afterward increased to about two hundred acres. Little is known of Bridget, the wife of Richard Dexter, except that she is believed to have been born in coun- ty Meath, Ireland, and in Malden was num- bered among the faithful followers of the meek preacher, Rev. Marmaduke Matthews. She has been mentioned by some chroniclers as a woman of great piety, and her life and Christian example lived long after she had gone to the grave. On one occasion the wife of one of the townsmen spoke ill of her, and for the offense was speedily brought before one of the magistrates. She bore her hus- band five children : Alice, Ann, Elizabeth, John and Sarah, the latter having been born in Boston in 1644.
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