Henry Walker (abt. 1610 - 1693)

Born about 1610 in England [uncertain]

Husband of Mary (Unknown) Walker — married 26 Sep 1662 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Died 29 Aug 1693 at about age 83 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts Bay

Biography

The date/place of birth and parents of Henry Walker are unknown. He is first found as a resident of Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1644, before removing to Gloucester.^[1]

Henry married Mary --- Robinson Brown on 26 Sep 1662 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.^[1][2][3][4]

Henry had owned land in Gloucester before 1650, and at his marriage in 1662, he resided on the west side of the Annisquam River where a creek bore his name. He served as a selectman in Gloucester in 1667 and for several subsequent years.^[1][4]

Henry Walker died on 29 Aug 1693 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.^[2][5] His will, dated 29 Aug 1690, covered an estate that totaled over £922, leaving legacies to his wife Mary's children, Abraham Robinson & Mary Haskell,^[4] with the remainder going to Nathaniel Coit, with whom Henry had been making his home.^[1] Probate was opened on 20 Oct 1693 in Essex County, Massachusetts.^[6]

See Babson, History, p. 175:

• "Henry Walker is mentioned as an owner of land before 1650. He married, Sept. 26, 1662, Widow Mary Brown, who first appeared here as the wife of Abraham Robinson. He had his residence on the west side of Annisquam River, where a creek still perpetuates the name. He was selectman in 1667 and several subsequent years. He died Aug. 29, 1693: his wife died April 17, 1690. His estate, the largest that had then been accumulated in town, was appraised £922.10s., consisting chiefly of land. Having no children, he left legacies to the descendants of his wife by her two previous husbands ..."^[7]

Also Babson, p. 135:

• Abraham Robinson "left a widow Mary, who married William Brown, July 15, 1646; and, again becoming a widow in 1662, married Henry Walker in the same year, and died April 17, 1690."^[7]

Again Babson, p. 65:

• "William Brown was among the earliest settlers ... He married Mary, widow of Abraham Robinson, in 1646; and died May 3, 1662, leaving a daughter Mary, born in 1649, who married William Haskell. His widow married, for her third husband, Henry Walker. His estate, which was considerable for the time and place (£223. 7s.) was mostly left to his son-in-law, Abraham Robinson."^[7]

Abraham Robinson II was raised by his stepfather William Brown - Babson, p. 135-6:

• [Abraham, son of Abraham Robinson] "on coming to maturity, received several lots of land bequeathed him by his step-father Brown ... " [, at the age of eleven years] "was living with his paternal grandmother, and her husband, Henry Walker, who left him, by will, a legacy of twenty pounds. In the vicinity of this early home, which was surrounded for many miles by a dense forest, he probably acquired the passion for hunting; which in manhood often led him several days at a time upon distant excursions, from which he always returned with abundant proof of his courage and skill"^[7]

Butterick, p. 522:

• "Abraham Robinson II was born before 1646, his father's death; his mother married William Brown that year and upon his death, married, for the third time, Henry Walker, in 1662, when Abraham Robinson was at least sixteen-so Walker can hardly be said to have raised him. The marriage of Henry Walker's step-daughter to William Haskell, son of William Haskell."^[8]

Babson, p. 100:

• "William married Mary Walker, July 3, 1667; who died Nov. 12, 1715, aged sixty-six. She was the daughter of William Brown; but she took the name of her step-father, Henry Walker."^[7]

Babson, p. 209:

• "thirty-one lots laid out on the west side of the Cut in 1688 to settlers, including five Haskells and Henry Walker."^[7]

A careful reading of Essex county probate records available at American Ancestors will prove beyond any doubt that the Henry Walker's wife Marry married three times to 1) Abraham Robinson Sr 2) William Brown and 3) Henry Walker and will also prove that her daughter Mary (Brown) Haskell was half-sister to her son Abraham Robinson, Jr. Babson does a fairly good job at outlining the probate records but the information is scattered over many pages (See page numbers below).^[7] Butterick is more concise.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} Ferris, Mary Walton, “Dawes-Gates Ancestral Lines: A Memorial Volume Containing the American Ancestry of Rufus R. Dawes.” Accessed at HathiTrust, page 120-121.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "Vital Records of Gloucester, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849." Online database accessed 27 Jul 2018. Marriages p.559 "Walker, Henery, and Mary Browne wid., Sept. 26, 1662."; Deaths p.315 "Walker, Henry, Aug. 29, 1693."
3. ↑ Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England (Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1862). Vol.3, page 549.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Sumner, Edith Bartlett. "Descendants of Thomas Farr of Harpswell, Maine and Ninety Allied Families." Los Angeles, CA: Lithographed from compiler's typescript by American Offset Printers, 1989. Page 43.
5. ↑ "Massachusetts Deaths and Burials, 1795-1910," database, FamilySearch: 10 Feb 2018, Henry Walker, 29 Aug 1693; citing Gloucester, Essex, MA, reference v 1 p 147; FHL microfilm 864,859.
6. ↑ "Essex, Massachusetts Probate Records, 1648-1840," Ancestry.com, Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 1997, Provo, UT, USA. Probate date 20 Oct 1693, File #28778.
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6} Babson, John J., "History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport," (Gloucester, Peter Smith Publisher, Inc. 1972 (reprinted from original, published in 1860)) p.35, p.65, p.100, p.134-6, p.175.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Butterick, George F., "A Guide to The Maximus Poems of Charles Olson." (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1978) p.521-522. Accessed at GoogleBooks.