52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015: SAMUEL WALKER

With the start of the new year comes the start of another edition of Amy Johnson Crow's
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. I'm still concentrating on my paternal grandmother
Cora Barker's side of thefamily tree because frankly, there's so much I don't know about
the various lines that make up that side of the family. I'll start with the Walkers first in this
post.

My 8x great grandfather Samuel Walker was one of the first settlers of Woburn, Ma., having
arrived from England with his father. There seems to be a question on just who his father
was, though. Some genealogists believe it was one Augustine Walker of Charlestown, Ma.,
while others favor Captain Richard Walker of Lynn .  The authors of The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the Grant of Its Territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the Year 1860 (Google eBook) (Samuel Sweall, Charles Chauncy Sewall & Samuel Thompson) follow the second theory:


Samuel Walker, Senr., of Woburn, presumed above to have been the son of Capt. Richard Walker of Lynn, was born in England; accompanied his father to New England, 1630; and after residing with him a while at Lynn, he removed with his brother Richard to Reading, originally Lynn Village; and thence he subsequently appears, for some reasons, to have removed once more, and to have permanently established himself in Woburn, the adjoining town. He is first mentioned as an inhabitant of Woburn in its Records, at the annual election of town officers, February 25th, 1661-2, when he was appointed a Surveyor of Highways for that year. By occupation, he was a maltster; and was approved by the Selectmen, 1675, in order to obtaining a license for keeping tavern, being the first person known to have followed that business in Woburn. He appears to have been much respected in his day; being chosen Selectman in 1668, and appointed by the town the year before on a very important Committee for taking " a List of the persons and estates of the right Proprietors ", among whom, it had been voted to divide a large portion of the common lands of the town. He died November 6th, 1684; when, agreeably to a testimony given by him in Court, and referred to above, he must have been in the 69th or 70th year of his age

His children (the given name of his wife is unknown) were Samuel, Jr., Israel, and probably John, Sens., of Woburn; Hannah wife of James, son of Simon Thompson of Woburn; and Joseph Walker of Billerica.-p170

The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the Grant of Its Territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the Year 1860 (Google eBook). Samuel Sweall, Charles Chauncy Sewall & Samuel Thompson  (Wiggin and Lunt,  Boston, Ma., 1868)

Among those who Samuel Walker served with in Woburn town government were my
Dad's paternal ancestors Daniel Pierce and Francis Kendall, as well another Barker maternal
ancestor John Wyman.