USA > Massachusetts > One of a thousand, a series of biographical sketches of one thousand representative men resident in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, A.D. 1888-'89; > Part 95
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The district schools furnished what edu- cation he received until fourteen years of age. Then, until his twentieth year, he was either at work on a farm, or en- gaged in learning the trade of carpenter and builder. About this time he availed himself of the opportunity presented for a few months' schooling of a higher grade. At twenty-five he began business for him- self as carpenter and builder, continuing in the same until 1857, when he connected himself with the late Gen. Hiram G. Berry, Rockland, Maine, in the handling of lum- ber, doors, windows, and the general wood and coal business. At the breaking out of the rebellion he entered the service with General Berry, colonel at that time of the 4th Maine volunteers. April 24, 1861, under the order of Major-General William H. Titcomb of Rockland, Maine, he enlisted a company for that regiment,
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the first company legally enlisted in the state of Maine. He was elected captain, received his commission June 25th of that year, obtained that of major, November 30, same year, and that of colonel, March 17. 1862, and served as colonel until mus- tered out at the expiration of his term of service, July 19, 1864.
Colonel Walker and the regiment he commanded were many times selected by Generals Hancock, Sickles, and Kearney for delicate and dangerous services. He was always in the entire confidence of his superior officers, and many times assigned to the command of brigades. He was in all the battles of the army of the Poto- mac, from Bull Run to the time of his retirement from service, except the battle of Antietam ; in the latter his division was not engaged. He had three horses shot under him in different actions, was wounded three times, once seriously at Gettysburg, where his regiment held a very important position. His last wound laid him off duty ninety-six days, the only time lost during his term of service, and he returned to his command, able to walk only with the help of a cane.
Since the war he has been engaged in the business of carpenter and builder, save one year spent in the oil-fields of Pennsyl- vania. His residence is Somerville, where he has been in business nineteen years. Mr. Walker was president of the first com- mon council of the city of Rockland, Maine, in 1854, and was re-elected. He was com- mon councilman of Somerville in 1877.
Mr. Walker was married, November 3, 1844, in East Thomaston (now Rockland), Maine, to Susan E. Brown. From this union there were seven children : William H., Narcissa R., Irason B., Winfield S., John F., Annie B, and Elijah C. Walker.
WALKER, FRANCIS AMASA, son of Amasa and Hannah (Ambrose) Walker, was born in Boston, July 2, 1840.
He entered Amherst College in 1855, graduating in 1860.
While studying law in the office of Dev- ens & Hoar, in 1861, he joined the army, where he held the positions of sergeant- major, 15th Massachusetts infantry ; cap- tain and assistant adjutant-general ; major and assistant adjutant-general ; lieutenant- colonel and assistant adjutant-general ; brevet colonel and brevet brigadier-general of volunteers, 1861- 65.
From 1865 to '68 General Walker was a teacher at the Williston Seminary, East- hampton ; on the editorial staff of the " Springfield Republican," in 1868 and '69 ;
deputy special commissioner of United States revenue, 1869 and '70 ; superin- tendent of the United States census of 1870 and that of 1880; commissioner of Indian affairs, 1871-'72.
General Walker was married August 16, 1865, to Exene, daughter of Timothy M. and Maria (Richardson) Stoughton, of Greenfield.
He was professor of political economy and history in the Sheffield scientific school of Yale College from 1873 to '81 ; lecturer in Johns Hopkins University in 1877 and '78 ; university lecturer in political econ- omy, Harvard College, in 1883 and '84 ; and has had the degree of LL. D. con- ferred upon him by Amherst and Colum- bia colleges, and the universities of Yale, Harvard, and St. Andrew's.
General Walker has been president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, since 1881 ; president of the American Statistical Association since 1882, and president of the American Eco- nomic Association since 1886. He was chief of the bureau of awards at the Cen- tennial Exhibition, in Philadelphia, in 1876, and commissioner from the United States to the International Monetary Conference, Paris, 1878.
Among the publications of General Walker may be mentioned : " The Indian Question ;" "Statistical Atlas of the United States ; " " The Wages Question ; " " Mon- ey ;" "Money, Trade and Industry ; " " Po- litical Economy ; " " Land and Its Rent," besides numerous addresses and articles in magazines. He compiled various reports of the bureau of statistics, and directed the publication of the United States census, 1870-'73, and 1880-'81.
WALKER, GEORGE WILLIS, son of John and Abigail Cox (Walker) Walker, was born in Exeter, Penobscot county, Maine, August 27, 1827.
He was educated in the local schools. When twenty years of age he went to Boston, and was employed in various business houses. In the spring of 1853 he made an engagement with Johnson, Cox & Fuller, of Troy, N. Y., extensive manufacturers of stoves. With this firm and its successors he remained five years, acquiring a thorough knowledge of the business. He then returned to Boston and established himself in this line on his own account, doing a successful business.
Six years afterward, Horace E. Walker was admitted to partnership, under the firm name of George W. Walker & Co. In 1874 the firm of Walker, Pratt & Co.
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was formed, George W. Walker & Co. and Miles Pratt & Co. uniting, from which, in 1877, came the Walker & Pratt Manufac- turing Co., a corporation with a capital of three hundred thousand dollars, organized under the laws of Massachusetts. Of this company Mr. Walker is president. The works of the company are at Watertown, and their ware-rooms are in the city of Boston.
For the past twenty years Mr. Walker has been a resident of Malden, taking an active interest in local affairs, and has been repeatedly called to public office. He was the chairman of the board of selectmen
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during the last two years of Malden's corporate existence as a town, and has been on the board of sinking fund com- missioners and trustees of the public library since they were established.
He was one of the representatives from the 8th Middlesex district (Malden and Everett) in the Legislature of 1885-'86, and served on the committees on finance and expenditures. Mr. Walker's business career has been conspicuously successful, and in public office he has served with credit to himself and satisfaction to his constituents. He is a member of Con- verse Lodge F. & A. M., Royal Arch Chapter of the Tabernacle, Beauseant
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Commandery of Knights Templar, all of Malden. His church relations are with the First Congregational church of that city.
In Albany, N. Y., on September 2, 1857, he married Elizabeth Mary, daughter of John Wesley and Gertrude (Van Schaick) Kinnicutt. Mrs. Walker died June 3, 1879. Of this union were five children : George Kinnicutt, Arthur Willis, Gertrude Annie, Bessie Louise, and Mary Lena Walker. For his second wife he married in Port- land, Maine, on December 14, 1880, Mrs. Dorcas Elizabeth Hagar, daughter of Abiel and Elizabeth (Philbrick) Shaw.
Mr. Walker is one of the six owners of Big Five Island, located in Sheepscot Bay, off the coast of Maine, where they usually reside with their families during the months of July and August. Mr. Walker is one of the two members of this com- munity who own steam yachts, which furnish additional recreation to their com- rades.
WALKER, HENRY, son of Ezra and Maria A. Walker, was born in the city of Boston, his present residence.
His early education he obtained at the public schools of Boston, receiving the Franklin medal and other prizes at the Boston Latin school, where he fitted for Harvard College. He was graduated from Harvard in 1855, in the class with Alex- ander Agassiz, Phillips Brooks, Theodore Lyman, F. B. Sanborn, and others, and commenced the study of law in the office of Hutchins & Wheeler.
Three days after the first gun was fired at Fort Sumter, as adjutant of the 4th regiment, Massachusetts volunteer militia, he patriotically answered the call of Presi- dent Lincoln for troops, being the first Harvard graduate to take up arms for his country. The 4th regiment was the first to leave Massachusetts, and the first to land at Fortress Monroe, ensuring the safety of that most important military posi- tion. After serving there, at Newport News and at Hampton, he returned home with the regiment, and actively engaged in the rallying of troops, and in other duties pertaining to the war. In the fall of 1861 he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the 4th regiment, and in the following year, as its colonel, was ordered with it to the department of the Gulf. There he took part in the campaign up the Têche and the siege of Port Hudson, holding several im- portant positions. Honorably discharged at the expiration of his term of service, he returned to Boston early in 1865 and re- sumed the practice of law.
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In 1877 he was license commissioner, and from 1879 to '82 he served as police commissioner of the city of Boston. He was commander of the Ancient and Hon- orable Artillery Company during the years IS87-'S8, including its two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, June 4, 1888. As com- mander of the company, he visited England to take part in the celebration of the three hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Honourable Artillery Company of London.
HENRY WALKER.
Colonel Walker has traveled extensively, and is a man of varied accomplishments. He was in official life prompt and capable in the performance of his duties, and in private life is highly esteemed and re- spected by a large circle of friends.
WALKER, JOSEPH HENRY, son of Jo- seph and Hannah Thayer (Chapin) Walker, was born in Boston, December 21, 1829. In February, 1830, the family removed to Hopkinton, their former residence, and in 1843 removed to Worcester, where they now reside.
Mr. Walker was educated in the district and high schools of Hopkinton and Wor- cester, leaving school when he was sixteen years old.
In May, 1852, he was united in marriage with Sarah Ellen, daughter of Jubal and Lucretia (Keyes) Harrington, of Worcester.
She died August 5, 1859, leaving a daugh- ter, now the wife of Milton Shirk, a banker of Peru, Ind. His second wife, Hannah M. (Kelly) Spear, of New Hampton, N. H., he married April 3, 1862. Of this union were three children : Joseph, now in Har- vard law school ; George, now in Brown University, and Agnes, the wife of Adams Davenport Claflin, the son of Ex-Governor Claflin.
At the age of twenty-three Mr. Walker was elected to the common council of Wor- cester, of which body he was president in 1869 ; was a member of the House of Rep- resentatives in 1879, '80, and '87, serving on the retrenchment committee in 1879 ; was chairman of the public service committee in 1880, and in the latter year was a strong though unsuccessful candidate for speaker. He was chairman of the committee on labor in 1887, and served on the commit- tees on finance and expenditures.
He was for several years president of the Worcester board of trade, and chair- man of the committee on foreign trade and exports of the National Hide and Leather Association for several years, and also vice- president of the New England Shoe and Leather Association.
Mr. Walker has written and spoken con- siderably upon questions of trade, banking and coinage, publishing in 1881, through Houghton, Mifflin & Co., of Boston, a mono- graph, entitled " Money, Trade and Bank- ing," which attracted general attention. He was one of the leading boot and shoe manufacturers in the country from 1851 to '87, at which time he retired from that business. He is still the senior member of the large leather house of Walker, Oakley & Co., of Chicago, Ill., which he estab- lished in that city in 1868.
Mr. Walker was elected representative to Congress from the 10th congressional district, November 6, 1888.
He has great energy and an uncommon talent for organizing and administering business affairs, to which may be attributed his pronounced success as a manufacturer. His public spirit and liberality have been conspicuously shown in his relations with Worcester Academy, whose present pros- perity is due in a great measure to his gen- erous gifts, and his valuable service as president of the board of trustees.
WALKER, MYRON PHILO, the son of Asa Morse and Fanny (Pease) Walker, was born in Belchertown, Hampshire county, February 18, 1847.
He obtained his education in the com- mon and high schools of his native town.
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At the breaking out of the war, when only fourteen years of age, he left school and entered the service as a drummer-boy. He joined the Belchertown militia company, which was being recruited, with the expec- tation of entering the United States serv- ice in the roth Massachusetts volunteers. Before the company could be filled, how- ever, this regiment was completed, and the Belchertown company was disbanded. With seven others, young Walker went to Springfield, where the roth regiment was encamped, and offered his services to the Northampton company. On account of his age and size, the officers declined to
MYRON P. WALKER.
enlist him, but he was afterwards accepted as a drummer-boy in this regiment, with which he remained, frequently at the front and under fire, until the return of his regi- ment in June, 1864.
During his absence his father had died, and being obliged to abandon his hopes of a collegiate education, he began life in a country store in Belchertown, where he spent a year and a half, and then accepted a clerkship in Springfield. In 1868 he de- termined to seek his fortune on the Pacific coast, where for a time he was again be- hind the counter.
In 1870 he accepted a situation with the general agency of the Pacific Mutual Life
Insurance Company, of Sacramento, Cal. He afterwards went to San Francisco as secretary of the Trust Fund Insurance Association, and with his associates held the general agency of the New York Life Insurance Company, for the Pacific states. Here his reputation as a successful insur- ance man was firmly established.
In 1878 he returned to his native town, and purchased the property which he now owns. In 1886 he was appointed assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, on the military staff of Governor Robin- son.
Col. Walker is a member of Post 97, G. A. R., and has served on the staff of the national commander of the Grand Army. He has been president of the 10th, and is an honorary member of the 37th, Massachusetts regiment associations, also of the armed guard of Wilcox Post, G. A. R., a member of Springfield Com- mandery, Knights Templar, and an Odd Fellow. He is also a member of the An- cient and Honorable Artillery Company.
In 1888 he was made commander of the Grand Army for the department of Massa- chusetts. Col. Walker represented his senatorial district in the Senate, 1885-'86, serving on the insurance (chairman), mili- tary, and treasury committees, and was a member of the Republican state central committee, 1887, '88, and 'S9.
Col. Walker was married in London, England, 1878, to Mary N., daughter of Hon. E. B. Crocker, judge of the supreme court of California.
WALL, JAMES T., son of P. Henry and Mary J. (Burker) Wall, was born in Middlefield, Hampshire county, August 19, 1855.
He received his early educational train- ing in the common and high schools of his native town, supplemented by a business course at Carter's commercial college at Pittsfield.
His first entrance into business life was as book-keeper for a grocery firm in Me- thuen. Subsequently he became manager for J. A. Magee & Co., manufacturing chemists, Lawrence, where he remained three years. He is at present postmaster of the town of Methuen, which position he has held since his appointment on March 31, 1886, by President Cleveland.
On the 6th of July, 1879, at Methuen, Mr. Wall was married to Mary F., daugh- ter of Joel Foster, 2d, and Elizabeth Foster.
Mr. Wall has been a justice of the peace for three years, having received his ap- pointment from Governor Robinson ; a
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member of the school board since 1885, at present holding the position of secretary of the board. He was at one time a mem- ber of the board of selectmen of Methuen for two years.
He is treasurer of Methuen Council No. 41, R. A .; honorary member of Colonel William B. Greene Post No. 100, G. A. R. (Methuen); past grand of Hope Lodge, No. 34, I. O. O. F., and president of the Methuen Gas Light Company at the pres- ent time. He is a Democrat in politics, and in 1884 was a delegate to the national Democratic convention, where he sup- ported President Cleveland.
WALLACE, ANDREW B., son of David and Christine (Brabner) Wallace, is a na- tive of Scotland, and came to America twenty-one years ago. He was born March 27, 1842, in Newburgh-on-Tay, and after attending the grammar school until he was fifteen, he served a four years' apprentice- ship in the dry-goods business in his native
ANDREW B. WALLACE.
town. For a time he held a clerkship in Sterling and Glasgow, and came to Boston in 1867.
For three years he was in the employ of Hogg, Brown & Taylor ; then, moving to Pittsfield, he opened a dry-goods business for himself, which he continued until 1874, when he went to Springfield, and formed the
partnership which has since done business under the firm name of Forbes & Wallace. The business of the firm has rapidly grown to its present important and influential position.
Mr. Wallace has refused to accept any political office, but is a director in the Springfield Safe Deposit & Trust Company, and in the Springfield Electric Light Com- pany. He is a member of the prudential committee of the First Congregational church of Springfield, director in the Young Men's Christian Association, and is a very public-spirited man.
Mr. Wallace was first married in Glas- gow, in 1867, to Janet Miller, who died, leaving one son, Robert. In 1883 he was again married, in Springfield, to Madora, daughter of Dr. Henry R. and Sarah (Lewis) Vaille. They have three children: Andrew B., Douglas V., and Madora Wal- lace.
A man of decided business ability and unquestioned integrity and energy, his success has been honestly earned and well deserved.
WALLACE, RODNEY, son of David and Roxanna (Gowing) Wallace, was born at New Ipswich, Hillsborough county, N. H., December 21, 1823.
Necessity compelled him to earn his own living at a very early age, but he succeeded in the meantime, by attending school in the winter, in obtaining a good education.
When he was thirty years of age he became a resident of Fitchburg, and began as a wholesale dealer in books, stationery, and paper stock, in the well-known firm of Shepley & Wallace. After twelve years he retired from this firm, and has since been successfully engaged in the manu- facture of paper.
For many years he has been a director in the Fitchburg National Bank, the Fitch- burg Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and the Fitchburg Railroad Company. Since 1864 Mr. Wallace has held the position of president and director of the Fitchburg Gas Light Company, and is a trustee of the Fitchburg Savings Bank, and a member of the board of trustees of the Smith Col- lege at Northampton. He was for four years the president of the Fitchburg board of trade.
On the Ist of December, 1853, Mr. Wal- lace was married to Sophia, daughter of Thomas and Sophia (Shurtleff) Ingalls of Rindge, N. H. Their children were : Her- bert I. and George R. Wallace. Mr. Wal- lace married for his second wife Sophia F., daughter of Oel and Sophia (Wetherbee)
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Billings, of Woodstock, Vt., and widow of G. F. Bailey, of Fitchburg, Mass.
Politically Mr. Wallace is an earnest Republican. For three years, 1864, '65, and '67, he was one of the selectmen of Fitchburg, and in 1873 was sent as a rep- resentative to the Legislature, where he served on the committee on manufactures. Ill health forced him to decline a renomina- tion, but in 1880 he accepted a nomination, and was elected to the executive council of Governor Long, where he served on the committees on pardons, harbors and pub- lic lands, prisons and warrants, and in other important positions, being re-appointed the following year. In 1888 he was elected a member of the 5 Ist Congress from the 11th congressional district.
Mr. Wallace stands deservedly high in the estimation of his fellow-citizens of Fitchburg as a man of rare integrity, saga- cious in business, and generous in the sup- port of praiseworthy enterprises.
WALTON, GEORGE AUGUSTUS, son of James and Elizabeth (Bryant) Walton, was born at South Reading (now Wake- field), Middlesex county, February 18, 1822.
He received his early education at the common schools and academies in his na- tive town and vicinity, and at the normal school in Bridgewater. He entered the normal school in March, 1843, and gradu- ated in November, 1845, under the dis- tinguished normal instructor, Nicholas Til- linghast. Mr. Walton was subsequently a critical observer and devoted student of the pedagogical methods of the Hon. John WV. Dickinson, at that time principal of the Westfield normal school.
Immediately on graduating at Bridge- water he commenced teaching in the public schools - first at Duxbury during the win- ters of 1845-'6, and subsequently at Ed- gartown and Barnstable. Meeting with marked success as a teacher of public schools, Mr. Walton was selected in 1847 principal of the Model school at West New- ton, an institution for observation and prac- tice connected with the state normal school at that place. In 1848 he received the ap- pointment of principal of the Oliver gram- mar school of Lawrence. The marvelous increase of efficiency of this school at- tracted the attention of the state board of education, and he was employed as institute instructor in 1861, and ap- pointed one of its agents in 1871, which office he now holds. The duties of this office consist in inspecting and examining the schools in various parts of the State, in instructing teachers how to teach, and
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in addressing the public on educational topics.
One of the most noteworthy services ren- dered by Mr. Walton for the public schools is his examinations in Norfolk county. The published report of these examinations is a most interesting document, giving the details of methods and results of the work, which occupied in its accomplishment a long time of patient labor.
As early as his first teaching in the Model school at West Newton, Mr. Walton employed the method of teaching numbers since known as the Grube method. In 1850 he became joint author with Dana P.
GEORGE A. WALTON.
Colburn of an elementary arithmetic, en- titled " The First Steps in Numbers." It was the initial step to the introduction into the schools of this country of the Grube method. Upon this little book as a basis, Mr. Walton published two other books, one a primary, the other a mental, arithmetic ; he also wrote and published with these a book of higher grade, thus completing " Walton's Series."
Previous to this he prepared " A Table for Practice in the Fundamental Operations of Arithmetic." He also prepared a " Key" to this table, containing dictation exercises, with several thousand answers. This form of dictation had its origin in the Oliver
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grammar school, with Mr. Walton as the originator. A second series of arithmetics by George A. Walton and Mrs. E. N. L. Walton was published in 1870 - this was called "The Normal Series." It finally gave way to the " Franklin Mathematical Series," prepared by Mr. Walton and Mr. Seaver, the present superintendent of the Boston schools.
Mr. Walton has won an enviable repu- tation as an instructor in teachers' insti- tutes, and as inspector of public schools. The honorary degree of A. M. was con- ferred upon him by Williams College, in recognition of his successful services in the cause of education. Mr. Walton was for many years treasurer of the American In- stitute of Instruction, and subsequently held the office of president. He served as alderman in the city of Lawrence, and on the school committee in the city of Newton.
He was married August 27, 1850, to Electa Noble, daughter of Martin and Su- san (White) Lincoln. There were born to them five children, of whom two (boys) died in infancy, and three are living : Har- riet Peirce, wife of J. R. Dunbar, judge of the superior court, George Lincoln, prac- ticing physician (neurologist), of Boston, and Mary Alice Walton.
WARD, JULIUS HAMMOND, the son of Hammond and Laurinda (Lathe) Ward, was born on the 12th of October, 1837, in Charlton, Worcester county, the birth- place also of both of his parents.
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