AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT
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Direct descendant is highlighted in red
| Gideon Walker |
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see FAMILY TREE | ||
| Born: 20 Nov 1738 Attleboro, Bristol, MA
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| Married: 20 Feb 1762 Coventry, Kent, RI | Information from: "Vital Record of Rhode Island 1636-1850 pg 54" | |||
| Died: 02 Nov 1793 Whiting, Addison, VT |
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| Buried: Whiting, Addison, VT |
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FATHER
MOTHER
WIFE
CHILDREN
1. Mary Walker b. 20 May 1764 Coventry, Rhode Island
d. 09 Jul 1764 Coventry, Rhode Island
2. Jesse Walker b. 21 Jul 1767 Coventry, Rhode Island
3. Rachel Walker b. 04 Aug 1769 Coventry, Rhode Island
4. Levi Walker b. 22 May 1772 Sudbury, Rutland, VT
5. Amos Elmore Walker b. 25 May 1775 Whiting, Addison, VT
6. James Otis Walker b. 06 Aug 1778
7. Gideon Walker b. 11 Jan 1781
8. Samuel Beach Walker b. 17 Dec 1788 Whiting, Addison, VT
Gideon's brother, Daniel Walker, was married to Mary Young, an English woman, and sided with the British during the Revolution. In Claredon, Vermont, the Committee of Safety, of which his brother Gideon Walker was a member, notified Daniel, that because of his support of the Crown, if he was found off his farm, he would be declared an outlaw. Daniel, with five other Tory men, started for Canada immediately, his family soon followed him to Ernestown, Lennox & Addington Co., Ontario before 1795. Possibly Gideon's father also went to Canada.
From: The Story of My Ancestors in America by Rev. Edwin Sawyer Walker, 1895
Gideon Walker, was a
"Minuteman" during the American Revolution. On the 6th of July, 1777, the fort at Ticonderoga fell to the British and a
"hasty retreat was made by the Americans across Lake Champlain, through Vermont
to the southward. This retreat leaving the scattered settlements of Vermont
utterly defenseless, carried dismay throughout the frontier towns of the New
Hampshire Grants, and large numbers of the settlers were sent southward, to
remain until the impending danger should be passed.
Gideon Walker started his wife, with four children, on horseback, for Cheshire,
Massachusetts, where they found a refuge with a cousin, Lewis Walker. The
eldest of these children was Jesse, a lad ten years of age; the others were
Rachel, aged eight years; Levi, five years, and Amos two years respectively.
With these four children, the heroic woman, Rachel Walker, wended her way alone,
over the mountains to a place of safety, while her husband, a ready "Minuteman,"
with the quickly summoned forces of Warner, joined in the pursuit of the enemy,
on his way to Bennington."
From Early Families of Rutland, Vermont by Swan
"In April 1768 Gideon moved from Coventry, Rhode Island, o Clarendon, Vermont.
Thaddeus Curtis sold him his first land in Rutland in December 1770 and he
settled there soon after. His log house was on the site of the West Street
Cemetery. Historian James D. butler states Gideon had the first child born
in the East Parish. After the fall of Fort Ticonderoga in July 1777 he,
his wife, and four children fled on horseback to Cheshire, Massachusetts.
He was a Revolutionary soldier and soon after hostilities ceased he moved to
Whiting in 1784."
Chapter XXXVII History of the Town of Whiting Page 722
"In the spring of 1783 Gideon
and Jesse Walker, father and son, came to Whiting and purchased of Elihu
Marshall the improvements he had made on the banks of Otter Creek. Here they
planted grain, cut hay, etc., preparatory to removing their families hither,
which they did in the spring of 1784, from Rutland, using the ice of Otter Creek
as a highway until they reached "Brown's Camp" near Miller's bridge, in
Salisbury, which was on the old Military Road leading from Ticonderoga to
Charlestown, or Number Four, N. H. Jesse Walker used to relate that for a period
of three weeks he and his father subsisted entirely upon potatoes and English
turnips, seasoned with a small quantity of salt, and all that time labored
arduously in refitting the old Marshall log house for the reception of their
family; and that on their return to Rutland they passed through Pittsford, where
they procured a loaf of bread made of Indian meal and baked on a board before
the fire, which he claimed was the sweetest morsel that ever passed his lips.
Gideon Walker was a native of Rhode Island, born in 1736; he married Rachel
Foster in 1765, and, after residing in Rutland for a time, where he built the
first grist-mill in the town, came to Whiting, as we have stated; and a part of
the old farm is still in the possession of his grandson, Amos E. His six sons,
Jesse, Levi, Amos E., James O., Gideon, jr., and Samuel V., all settled on
adjoining farms. His daughter Rachel became the wife of Aaron Beach, brother of
Samuel Beach, and their child, Norah, was the first born in the township.
Gideon, jr., was massacred at the surrender of Fort Niagara, during the War of
1812. James O. built a tavern in 1800, which is still known as the old Walker
tavern stand, now owned by George S. Walker. Gideon, sr., served in the
Revolution, receiving his commission as ensign from Governor Chittenden in 1781.
When the British were going south toward Bennington, after the battle of
Hubbardton, they impressed him and his four oxen into service. Before they
reached Bennington he escaped, however; but his oxen "made beef for the
British." He was chosen moderator of the first proprietors' meeting held in the
town, which convened at his house. He took an active interest in public affairs,
and died in 1793. His representatives now living in the town are two, grandsons,
judge Abel and Amos E., and a great-grandson, George S. Walker. Judge Abel has
been county judge two years, represented the town in the Legislature during the
years 1839-40 and 1843 ; was a delegate to the convention to revise the
constitution of the State; has been a justice of the peace about forty years,
and has held all the offices in the gift of his townsmen. He has also done much
law business, and has quite a local reputation as a public speaker. Whitfield
Walker, a grandson of Jesse, was an able man, whose death in 1874, in his
eightieth year, was greatly lamented."
| January 11, 1782 Pay Roll of Capt. Sam'll Williams co., of Militia in Coll. Thomas Lee Regiment Commenced ye 21st of October, Last ending ye 2nd of November Following Gideon Walker, Ensign, 13 days. |
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