USA > Maine > Somerset County > Embden > Embden town of yore : olden times and families there and in adjacent towns > Part 25
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These New Portland pioneers were to the west and south of Seven Mile Brook. Farther down in Anson on Lot 5 with Ken- nehec River frontage, John Walker (1759-1831), brother of Joseph and of Mrs. Parker, had acquired a farm. One of his
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AT WOOLWICH TODAY. (TOP) LOOKING EAST FROM HOUSE SITE OF CAPT. SOLOMON WALKER, FATHER OF MOST SOMERSET COUN- TY WALKERS. (CENTER) MONTSWEAG STREAM EAST OF STATE ROAD. CAPT. SOLOMON'S TOLMAN SWEET APPLE TREE. (BOTTOM) SITE OF HIS GARDEN.
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sons was Capt. John Walker, Jr., (1793-1868) who settled early in northeast Embden and was long a prominent townsman. The other son of John, Sr., was Cushman Walker who went to Aroostook County. Martin W. Frederic of Madison, who passed on during 1928 when 90 years old, was a grandson of John Walker, Sr., by one of the several daughters of the pioneer family. Still farther south Stephen Walker (1748-1820) brother of Joseph, John and Mrs. Parker, was a first settler in Madison. Orlando Walker (1848-1927) of Anson, Hanson Walker of Madison, and the Joseph Smith family just south of North Anson, are among Stephen's numerous descend- ants. Among those of immediate Embden interest in Stephen's family during earlier days were his sons, Nathaniel (1791) who lived in Embden, and Alfred Walker. The latter married Abigail Rowe of Embden in 1800, was a foremost townsman in New Portland near Seven Mile Brook and later on in Anson. He owned land in Embden. Alfred's son, George Washington Walker (1808-1897), father of Orlando and Elmore Walker, married an Embden woman - Ruth (1814-1894), daughter of Timothy Cleveland.
The marriages of these Walker pioneers reinforced neighbor- hood ties and co-operated toward a livelihood and happiness. Their social family circle was large. For years there was much family visiting between Embden, Anson, Madison and New Portland.
The Walkers came originally from Berwick (what is today South Berwick) and the Goulds from Eliot, a town adjacent. Samuel Gould, who went to New Portland had married at Woolwich, Lydia Walker (1775-1861), daughter of Andrew Walker and a sister of New Portland Solomon. Samuel's brother, Benjamin Gould, Sr., (1769) settled in New Portland and, after a few years, in Embden by the Barron cross road, almost next door to his sister, Mrs. Joseph Walker. Benjamin Gould married Olive Walker, daughter of Stephen, at Madison.
Solomon, of New Portland, the nephew but of about the same age as his Walker uncles, just mentioned, married Tabitha Ann Card, of an old Woolwich family. It was also a long lived
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family and Tabitha Walker dwelt in the spacious New Portland hill homestead till she died in 1845. A goodly group of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren contributed to the serenity of her declining years.
John Walker of Anson, married Nancy Dawes (1764-1839). Nancy, with three sisters and two brothers, was of an old colonial family, sprung from the same stock as William Dawes who, along with Paul Revere, rode at night to warn Middlesex farmers that British Redcoats were about to march on Lexing- ton. Of these sisters Rhoda became the wife of Nathaniel Getchell; Sally, the wife of Francis Burns; and Rispah, the wife of Rev. Isaac Albee. All settled within a half hour's walk of Joseph Walker and, with one exception, in Embden.
Stephen Walker married Sebel Williams, (1748-1834) of the interesting Woolwich family originally from Easton, Mass. Through the distaff line it traced linage to the Mayflower. Sebel's relatives and descendants through the years have been many among residents of Madison, Anson, New Portland, Solon and Embden.
The three Walker brothers were veterans of the Revolution. So were most of their in-laws who migrated to Somerset. Stephen Walker was a member of the Penobscot Expedition in 1779. He served with Capt. Benjamin Lemont, who raised his company from Georgetown, where the Captain lived, and adjacent towns on the Kennebec. He enlisted June 26, 1779, and was discharged September 24, following. Dr. Edward Sav- age of Embden, served on this same expedition but was in Capt. Timothy Heald's Company. Both were in Col. Samuel McCobb's regiment.
Joseph Walker, as a boy of sixteen was several months on the Brigantine "Rising Empire," Richard Whellen, Captain, that took a British ship captive in the summer of 1776. "Rising Empire" was one of five brigantines, authorized in February, 1776, by the Massachusetts General Court at Boston.
John Walker of Anson was three years in the Eighth Massachusetts, a Revolutionary line regiment under Col. Michael Jackson. This regiment wintered at Valley Forge and
GREAT-GRANDSONS IN THREE LINES FROM CAPT. SOLOMON WALK- ER. (TOP) ERASTUS AND SARAH (PARKHURST) WALKER OF EMBDEN. SOLOMON AND MARGARET (BERRY) WALKER OF EMB- DEN. GEORGE W. AND RUTH (CLEVELAND) WALKER OF ANSON.
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participated in numerous battles till near the end of the conflict. It was the regiment of several Woolwich young men, neighbors of John Walker in subsequent years. Gen. Ebenezer Learned commanded the brigade, which included the 2nd, 8th and 9th Massachusetts line regiments. It was a notably effective military unit of the war.
Capt. Josiah Parker of The Falls, brother-in-law of these three Walkers, was from Groton, Mass., close by Chelmsford where in earlier times, before going to Newington, N. H. and Berwick, Me., the Walker family had resided. He had three years service in the 4th Massachusetts line regiment, Henry Jackson, Colonel.
John Walker and an older brother, Solomon, Jr., who passed his life at Woolwich, likewise saw service late in the Revolution- ary War in a company commanded by their father, Capt. Solomon Walker (1722-1789). This Capt. Solomon was a military man of note in Lincoln county, an inn keeper on Montsweag stream in 1770, a saw mill owner, and in 1777, a member of the "Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety." Born at South Berwick, Maine, (then Berwick) he grew up there as a young man during the period of fierce Indian warfare. He was on this frontier, when there were no houses between the Great Works River, on the banks of which he lived, and Canada. He was identified with the century old lumbering operations there, which in the late 1600's and much of the 1700's were extensive for that day. The lumber products "of 18 saws," shipped from nearby Kittery to the West Indies and elsewhere, were famous.
In 1745, when this Solomon was 23 years old, living near Great Works with his young wife and son, Andrew - from whose son, Solomon 3rd., most New Portland Walkers and some Embden Walkers are descended - Gov. Shirley of Massachusetts, advised that the fort of Louisburg, on Cape Breton Island, be attacked. William Pepperell of Kittery championed the enter- prise with a contribution of 5,000 pounds sterling. He was commissioned in command of the expedition. Berwick went to his support with enthusiasm and Gen. Pepperell - some
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years later Sir William Pepperell - wrote February 21, of that year to Maj. Hill: "Yesterday I heard that Capt. Busted had enlisted 50 brave soldiers at Berwick. This news was like cordial to me." Solomon Walker was one of Berwick's. brave fifty.
His military example to his sons and kinsmen during the Revolution - when he had moved from Berwick to Woolwich - was incessant. He had three enlistments during that period as captain of a company. One tour of duty was at Fishkill under Gen. Peleg Wadsworth.
Abraham Walker (1754), another of Capt. Solomon's sons, who settled at Alna close by Wiscasset, was in the Revolution- ary Army at Cambridge, after which he enlisted with Rhode Island line troops. One of his buddies was Daniel Salley who lived awhile in Embden.
Capt. Solomon's youngest son, Joseph, and in some part, his oldest son, Andrew, as well as John Walker, Sr., through his son Capt. John Walker, Jr., are of chief Embden consequence to succeeding generations. Joseph's three sons and three daugh- ters, who married and settled nearby, made a formidable com- munity on adjoining farms close by Seven Mile Brook. Intimately associated with them were their Gould first cousins -- Benjamin, Jr., William, Nathaniel (who married Sophronia Getchell) and others - a quarter of a mile to the east. These Gould children of Benjamin and Olive (Walker) Gould were more than first cousins, for Olive was likewise a niece of their father, Joseph. There were also Gould first cousins on New Portland hill, the children of Samuel and Lydia (Walker) Gould. The cousinship there was accentuated also, because Lydia, the daughter of Andrew Walker, was a niece of Joseph. Capt. John, Jr., was likewise kin of the Embden and New Port- land Goulds because of the marriages of his cousins Olive and Lydia.
Husbands and wives of the group, however, were of no blood relation to this point, as any one who traces the kinship step by step can determine. It emphasized strongly, none the less, the affectionate ties which bound the Walkers and Goulds of Emb-
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den and New Portland. Then came Elisha Walker (1787-1879), eldest son of Joseph and Elizabeth and on October 25, 1812, led Sophia Walker (1794-1865) of New Portland, to the altar. Sophia was a daughter of Solomon 3rd and grand-daughter of Andrew. Those, who like genealogical problems, may dwell, if they wish, upon the fact that the children of Elisha and Sophia are great-grandchildren of Capt. Solomon of Woolwich, through the latter's youngest son, Joseph; and great-great-grand- children of the same Capt. Solomon through the latter's oldest son, Andrew. The town records at Woolwich say that Andrew was 19 years older than Joseph.
Elisha Walker led an active life in his neighborhood. His father-in-law and first cousin purchased in 1817 for $300 a 100- acre lot of proprietor Cornelius Soule. Several years prior to this Elisha and his bride had moved there, erected their cabin and carved out a fertile homestead. Before many years he was developing the saw mill property at the foot of Big Embden pond, quite an enterprise for that period. He erected a house near the outlet, before he got a satisfactory lease from Daniel Goodwin, then owner. They had a quarrel, a result of which was that Elisha summoned his neighbors one day in hot haste and moved the house away before Goodwin "got the law on him." Elisha and Daniel completed a binding lease of the saw- mill privilege and appurtenances on June 30, 1832. Elisha Walker was Embden's tax collector in 1814. He ventured also in timberlands on the west side of the big pond, helped organ- ize the seventh school district, urged the construction of high- ways, and was otherwise active in improving the community.
For awhile in his later years Elisha resided at Anson with his youngest son, John Walker, father of the present day Cyrus Walker. The late Fred A. Dinsmore of Anson village, remem- bered "Uncle 'Lish." "They were building a house and barn on 100 acres of land that John Walker had purchased," wrote Mr. Dinsmore. "The harn was to be moved about 80 rods. 'Uncle Lish' was boss. I was there. The barn was put on two trees for runners and they hitched a mill chain on each runner. As I remem' er there were 10 or more yokes of oxen on the scene.
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"When these were hooked on and 'Lisha sung out 'All ready' the goad sticks flew and the barn moved. They would stop, rest and move again till the barn got there. I don't know whether there are oxen enough left in the entire county now to move a barn."
Elisha was a man of quick temper. The late Leonard Walker of North Anson, his nephew, used to relate this anecdote of him : "Uncle Elisha's son, William Walker, whom the boys called 'Bill' attended school near the Barron corner and was punished by the master for some misdeamor. The punishment aroused Elisha's ire to such a degree that he hastened to the schoolhouse and tore down the chimney. As it was in the dead of winter and very cold, school had to be suspended for some time until the difficulty could be adjusted and a new chimney erected."
This writer, his great-grandson, remembers going to his funeral in January, 1879, when a very small boy, on the rear seat of a pung. A large company of relatives and neighbors attended. "Uncle" 'Lish was laid away by the side of his wife on a sunny slope in New Portland. His homestead on the hill- top passed to a son, Eli C. (1818-1902), and later to Eli's grand- nephew, Wilbert Walker, now in California.
From Elisha and his brother, Joseph, Jr. (1792-1878). (Deacon Joseph) have come, with an exception or two, the many Walkers of West Embden during the last century. They reared large families from generation to generation, a major percentage of them sons, even as from the days of old Capt. Solomon. But the Walker daughters are by no means without representation in the names of their husbands.
Deacon Joseph was decidedly a man of parts. Like his older brother, Elisha, he was born at Woolwich, and in December 1813, married Lovina Albee (1794-1881). She was a wonderful woman whose kindly ministrations are still remembered. Rev. Isaac and Rispah (Dawes) Albee were her parents. They were residents in the neighborhood. The Deacon bought a farm, just north of his father, Joseph, and just south of brother Elisha, and installed his young wife there in a log cabin. A few years
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later he built a frame house, now the ell of a brick house erected in 1843.
By that time brick houses had become a local feature. Deacon Joseph made his own bricks behind his barn from clay that ox teams, driven by his sons, hauled to him from the banks of the mill stream two miles away. He probably laid them in the house himself, because old Simeon Cragin and Jonathan Cleveland, up the road, both bricklayers, were then dead. Although Deacon Joseph's sons are no more and his grand- children have established their homes elsewhere, the brick house still stands. Guy Stapleford occupies it now.
Deacon Joseph busied himself with other tasks. He bought more and more land from Dolly Soule, widow of one of Emb- den's proprietors, till his holdings sufficed as acreage for his sons. Leonard H. Walker (1827-1919) came into the brick mansion as did his son, Frank, now of North Anson, after him. Over on the road from North Anson to Embden Pond, there was a house and lot, part of No. 105, where a son, Samuel A. (1819- 1909), dwelt for many years. Just above Samuel's place an- other son, Calvin F. Walker (1836-1919), who died at Delphi, Tenn., lived and reared his family. Calvin was constable and collector for Embden in 1873 and town clerk and first selectman in 1882-3-6. Leonard was town treasurer in 1871-2-3 and town clerk and first selectman in 1874.
Lovina (1824-1906), Deacon Joseph's oldest daughter, married Alexander Fassett in 1847 and lived at a place by the Brook road which was known as the Elijah Robbins farm. He toted provisions from Augusta and Skowhegan with a four- horse team in days before the railroads. A tragic story in that connection has been told and retold by many an Embden fire- side although now well forgotten. Coming up from Skowhegan to Madison with his heavily laden team on May 22, 1855, Fassett was warned not to pass over the old bridge there as it was con- sidered unsafe. But he had made up his mind to cross and would not heed the warning. When he was about half way over, the bridge gave way. Fassett and his pole horses were plunged into the Kennebec River and onto the ragged ledges beneath.
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One of Alexander Fassett's daughters, Mrs. Mae Irish, lived until her death in 1927, at Auburn. She is survived by four sons and seven grandchildren at Auburn and Turner. Rispah A. (1822-1911) and Mary C. (1831-1907), two other of the Deacon's daughters, married respectively James F. Luce (1824- 1864) of Embden, and Moses Bunker of Anson. Luce was killed in the Civil War but has grandchildren living at New- port, Maine. One of Moses Bunker's daughters, Hattie, is the wife of W. A. Hager, known for many years as an established merchant at Waterville.
Samuel Walker (1800-1883), brother of Elisha and Deacon Joseph, was not long an Embden resident. He acquired the pioneer homestead over the Anson line after his father's death in 1818 and took care of "Aunt" Betsey, his widowed mother. He sold the farm Feb. 8, 1838, to Given Campbell of Strong but reserved a small corner on which he had erected a cottage and there "Aunt" Betsey resided till her death in 1855. Samuel was active in affairs of the Brook meeting house. Most of the ancient landmarks at that place have disappeared forever. One that remains of Samuel Walker is an old well he dug by his mother's cottage, a few steps south of the highway and west of the old church structure.
When about 40 years old Samuel Walker moved northward near the foot of Embden pond and cleared a farm (No. 112) which he sold some years later to his nephew, Solomon (1813- 1868), a son of Elisha. The old well he dug there also remains as a landmark. The farm became the homestead of Stillman A. Walker, the youngest son of Solomon. Samuel Walker married Irinda Cleveland (1807), daughter of Abel Cleveland. After he sold his farm to Solomon, Samuel Walker moved away to Brighton, then still farther into the wilderness, and died at Bingham. He is remembered for his devotion to little children, who in turn reciprocated his affection to a marked degree. He had nine sons and daughters, the eldest born in 1825 and the youngest in 1850. John C. (1825-1901), his eldest, married Lucinda Davis and dwelt at Brighton. Rosanna (1831) mar-
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ried Joseph Stevens of Solon, whose tailoring establishment was well known for years in the village. One son, Aldis (1836) of Athens, and one daughter, Nancy A. (1834), married into the York family and their descendants still live at Brighton and Solon. Aldis did much business at Athens as a builder. Sydney T. Walker of Pittsfield and Albert B. Walker of Newport are two of Samuel's several grandsons. Mrs. Laura Bernard of East Lynn and Mrs. Chester L. Taber of Whitman, Mass., belong to this Walker family branch. E. J. Walker of Corn- ville is a son of Aldis of Athens.
The Seven Mile Brook settlement in Embden had many noble women who lived in sacrifice and devotion. Her three daugh- ters, Nancy (1789-1886), Betsey (1794-1874) and Polly Walker (1806-1892) have shared in no small way the revered memory of "Aunt" Betty (Gould) Walker, who kept her Methodist faith in tiresome pilgrimages to North Anson. The first two of this splendid trio, like their brother, Deacon Joseph, married into the Albee family, notable for valiant service in the Revolution and for intellectual achievements. Nancy's husband was David Albee (1788-1825). He was a son of that Jonathan Albee, who was captured by Indians in 1775, and was about to be burned at the stake when Gen. Burgoyne purchased his life for a barrell of rum. Mrs. Celestia N. Paine of North Anson and Fairfield Williams of Madison now nearing his 90th. birthday are grandchildren of David and Nancy Albee. Mrs. Paine's father was Given Campbell.
David Albee was a soldier in the War of 1812 and died at Boston. His widow "Aunt" Nancy, lived in the same cottage that had been the home of her mother. With pluck and perseverance that won admiration in a wide circle she raised up their little family of three children. Both parents were born at Woolwich. Nancy Albee lived to be 97 years old. Her two sisters approached her longevity record.
Betsey Walker in 1819 became the wife of Samuel Albee, a nephew of David, who thus became also a brother-in-law. Samuel was a son of Rev. Isaac Albee, the Freewill Baptist preacher. Their family of several sons and daughters figured
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prominently in affairs during their generation. The late Geneva Albee Hilton (1859-1923), one of their grandchildren through Benjamin G. Albee (1822-1889), was a gifted writer and died
NANCY ALBEE
BETSEY ALBEE
POLLY GETCHELL
greatly lamented. Her uncompleted manuscript on the history of Anson and its pioneer families was bequeathed to the Maine Historical Society at Portland. It occupied her for many years and contains voluminous information of great local interest.
A lace cap, black or white, was decidedly the feminine fashion in the days of Betsey Walker Albee. In that connection her granddaughter, Mrs. Helen. A. Prince, writes: "My grand- mother used to wear a black cap and I remember she had a cap box like a small hat box, oval shape, perhaps 8 by 10 inches in size and covered with wall paper pasted on. She kept her best black lace cap in this box and always when she went out to spend the day on a visit to her relatives or to a quilting she took the box along and put on the cap after arriving at her destina- tion as the lacy affair would be crushed if worn under her bonnet."
Many Embden people yet in middle life remember vividly "Aunt" Polly Getchell who was the youngest of Joseph
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Walker's daughters. A little woman, erect, smartly attired in a small bonnet and neat black dress she travelled much about the neighborhood, evincing a cheerful interest in all local transac- tions. Amaziah (1803-1863), her husband, preceded her many years into the Great Beyond, but she continued to reside on the ancestral Getchell acres with her son Warren.
The marriage in 1812 of Elisha and Sophia which joined the New Portland Walkers through the line of Andrew, oldest son of Capt. Solomon, and the Embden Walkers through the line of Joseph, youngest son of Capt. Solomon, proved prolific. Except for the families from Deacon Joseph, all of whom have now migrated to other parts, seven sons of these two reunited Woolwich lines include most of the Walker name in Embden since 1860. But on the Kennebec side of the town was the family of Capt. John Walker. Elisha had but one daughter, Catherine (1830-1881), who married Hiram G. Merrick and had no children. She is buried at Georgetown, Colo., where her husband had an exciting car- eer in the 1860's as a mining man. The seven sons were Solomon, Abraham, Eli C., Cephas R., Eben J., William C., Joseph 2nd., and John, born in the order named.
Because of the favorite family names, popular in that generation, it came about there was a new Portland Eben and an Embden Eben which was also the case of the Johns, Solomons and Wil- liams. John Walker (1796- 1864) in New Portland, who was Sophia's brother, peopled -- New Portland hill with a AUGUSTA (WALKER) STANLEY splendid family. His Eben (1838-1902) lived on the pioneer homestead. Mrs. Vila True now of Farmington is a daughter
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and Charles B. Walker on the ancestral farm is a son. John's William was the father of State Senator William L. Walker of Malbon Mills, of Mrs. F. E. Stanley (Augusta M. Walker) (1848-1927) of Newton, Mass., wife of the automobile inventor and manufacturer, and of Helen and Emma Walker, both teach- ers and former students of Anson Academy. John's Solomon (1827) moved away to Haverhill, Mass. This John Walker's son, John (1825), lived at North Village where he was sometimes called "Long John." A son of that "Long John," also a John, who is a business man at Somerville, Mass., survives him.
Embden John Walker (1835-1914) was the youngest of Elisha's seven. He lived at Embden and then in Anson Valley. Eben (1822-1863), William (1825-1894) and Joseph, 2nd, (1828), were soldiers in the Civil War. Eben, who lived awhile at Skowhegan, died in Carver's Hospital at Washington. One of his sons, Adelbert W. Walker (1852-1926), was in business at Medford, Mass. Embden William was a surveyor, lived at Levant and at Athens but died at Lowell, Mass. One of his sons is Arthur Walker of Lewiston. Joseph Walker, 2nd, set- tled near Phillipsburg, Penn., where he operated in lumber. He introduced wagon sleds into Embden from the Keystone state. On a visit home he had these sleds built for his brother Eli and other relatives. Cephas R. (1820-1901) made a fortune in Aus- tralian gold fields but never married. Eli Walker after living years on the place his father established went to Colorado with his daughter Cora (1862-1920). Mrs. George Paradice of Cas- per, Wyo., is a granddaughter and Mrs. O. A. Westgaard of Los Angeles is a great-granddaughter of Eli. Abraham (1815) who lived in northwest Embden had no sons. His line, like that of his brother Eli, is now extant only through the distaff side. Through them Abraham has many descendants as two of his daughters married into the Copp family.
Solomon (1813-1868), who married Margaret A. Berry (1817- 1904) was oldest of the seven sons. He died at 55 but left an interesting family on his hilltop. His oldest son was George B. Walker (1839-1877), a prosperous farmer in his day on the
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Seven Mile Brook road and a selectman of Embden in 1872 and 1873. George's son, Fred S. Walker, is a well established business man at Springfield, Mass. A daughter, Mrs. H. C. Duston, lives at Auburn and another daughter, Georgia (1870-1928), was the widow of a Lewiston physician.
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