Philip Walker, Sr., was born in Weymouth, Dorset, England, ca.1625. He was about fifteen years old when he emigrated to Plymouth Colony with his mother in ca. 1640.[1] According to an 1861 biography of Philip Walker, Sr., Philip and his mother ("Widow Walker") were "associated with an adventurous company, most of whom went out from Weymouth [England] into the wilderness, a company marked for its religious character, (being a majority of the church at W[eymouth].,) the highly educated and scholarly Rev. Samuel Newman being in some respects the Leader of the enterprise."[2] This early religious influence in Walker's life is perhaps noteworthy, since Walker would become a deacon in the Congregational Church several decades later.
Philip Walker, Sr., was the son of "Widow Walker" (b:ca.1596) and an unknown Englishman. There is no record of the identity of Walker's father, who may have died in England before Walker emigrated to America. Walker was one of three children of Widow Walker; his siblings were Sarah Walker (1618-1676) and James Walker (b:1619-20).
Walker was married once, to Jane Metcalf (1632-1702) of Norwich, Norfolk, England. They were married ca.1650, and had ten children. Walker's eldest child, Experience, was born ca. 1650, and his youngest child, Ebenezer, was born 1676. Only six of Walker's children are known to have survived to adulthood.
Two of Walker's children died particularly bizarre deaths. Elizabeth (1661-1664) accidentally drowned in "the river" on her way to school. Michael fell through the floor of his father's saw mill, "upon the water wheel, or just by it, when it was going, and was carried away with the stream under the ice."
According to various sources, Philip Walker, Sr., was either a farmer or a weaver.[3] Because of the lack of documentary records, we cannot say with absolute certainty exactly how Walker made his living.
Walker stands out as unique among his peers because of his religious leadership and literary hobby. He was a deacon in the Congregational Church (hence the title, "Deacon"), and in 1663 "was appointed one of a Committee, to buy or build a parsonage, or 'house of ministry.'"[4]
Walker was also an amateur poet, who "wrote poetry on historic themes."[5] King Philip's War (1675-1676) was the most notable subject he took up, inspiring his epic poem, Captan Perse & his coragios Company, about Captain Pierce's Battle and defeat of 26 March 1676. It is easy to understand why Walker was so moved by this brutal conflict, since it was this war in which he fought, in which his cousin was killed, and in which his home was probably one of the forty Rehoboth residences burned by the Indians.[6]
Philip Walker, Sr., was one of the wealthiest men in Rehoboth. When he died, his estate was appraised at £631.83, with his landholdings totaling nearly 500 acres. According to his estate inventory, Walker owned forty livestock, a £200 homestead (including a house and barn), and land as far away as Swansea. He was also the co-owner of a corn mill and a saw mill, his share in both appraised at £80. Incidentally, Walker's son, Michael, died by falling through the floor of this saw mill, near the water wheel, and drowning in the stream below.
Walker's homestead was located "on Watchemoket Neck, south of the Great Plain, at what is now [in 1861] the Kinnicut Place, on the road from Providence, R. I., to Barrington; about 1 mile from India Bridge, and in Rehoboth, now Seekonk, an attractive and fertile spot, overlooking the Providence river."[7] Walker's house, unfinished at the time of his death, but completed by his heirs, still stands today, according to one of his descendants.[8] It is supposedly located on the corner of Massasoit Avenue and North Broadway, in East Providence, R.I. (formerly Rehoboth).
Philip Walker, Sr., was relatively active in civic affairs, holding all of the major public offices. He was a freeman (1658+), Surveyor of the Highways (1657), Constable (1658), deputy (1669), and regular juror (1655-1678). Walker was appointed by the court to settle the estate of Richard Bullocke in 1670, and was chosen in 1669 to serve on a Rehoboth committee, "to meet a Committee of the new town of Swansey, to settle a controversy, (probably about boundaries)."[9]
We must also consider Walker's dual role as a church deacon, which implied both religious and municipal leadership. As Demos notes, religion "surrounded and suffused all aspects of experience," and church and state "were everywhere intertwined."[10]
Chronology & References1655 June 8. Philip Walker, Sr., stood "propounded to take up [his] freedom," and also served on the "Grand Enquest". [PCR 3:77-78]
1657 June 3. Philip Walker, Sr., and Obadia Bowen elected Surveyors of the Highways for Rehoboth. [PCR 3:114-116]
1658 March 1. Report of the coroner's inquest, impaneled to investigate the death of Nathaniel West of Rhode Island. Philip Walker, Sr., was Constable of Rehoboth at the time, and served on this jury. They concluded that West accidentally drowned, by falling through ice while on his way to Providence town. [PCR 3:155-158]
1658 June 1. Philip Walker, Sr., admitted as a freeman, and elected Constable of Rehoboth. [PCR 3:134-137]
1663 November 2. Philip Walker, Sr., appointed "one of a Committee, to buy or build a parsonage, or 'house of ministry.' " [Walker, J. B. R. 1861]
1664 February/March. Death of Elizabeth Walker, daughter of Philip Walker, Sr. The coroner's inquest was originally impaneled 7 March 1664. [PCR 4:81-84]
1664 August 7. Report of the coroner's inquest, impaneled to investigate the death of Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Walker, Sr. According to their verdict, she, "being sent to school," accidentally drowned in a river. She was supposedly two and a half years old. [PCR 4:81-84]
1668 June 3. Philip Walker, Sr., served on jury in case of Nathaniel Soule, who "for telling of a pernicious lie" was fined ten shillings. [PCR 4:179-187]
1669 May 14. Philip Walker, Sr., chosen to serve on a Rehoboth committee, "to meet a Committee of the new town of Swansey, to settle a controversy, (probably about boundaries)." [Walker, J. B. R. 1861]
1669 June 1. Philip Walker, Sr., named as a deputy at the Court of Election. [PCR 5:17]
1670 July 5. Philip Walker, Sr., involved in settling the estate of Richard Bullocke, deceased. He helped "settle all matters between the widow Bullocke and her son in law, Samuel Bullocke." His three partners: Captain Willett, Ensign Smith, and Lieutenant Hunt. [PCR 5:42-45]
1673 November 20. Philip Walker, Sr., and Anthony Perrey took inventory of and appraised the estate of Roger Annadowne. Annadowne owed Walker £2. [Plymouth Colony Wills]
1674 November 10. Burial of Experience Walker, daughter of Philip Walker, Sr.. [PCR 8:54]
1675-1676. King Philip's War
1676 October 27. Philip Walker, Sr., and Daniel Smith took inventory of and appraised the estate of Sampson Mason of Rehoboth. [Plymouth Colony Wills]
1676 November 15. Birth of Ebinezer Walker, son of Philip Walker, Sr.. [PCR 8:62]
1677 February 16. Burial of Michael Walker, likely son of Philip Walker, Sr.. [PCR 8:67]
1677 February 16. Report of the coroner's inquest, impaneled to investigate the death of Michael Walker, likely the son of Philip Walker, Sr. According to their verdict Michael "came accidentally to his end by his falling through the floor of the saw mill upon the water wheel, or just by it, when it was going, and was carried away with the stream under the ice." [PCR 5:203-209]
1678 June 5. Philip Walker, Sr., served on the "Grand Enquest". [PCR 5:255-256]
1679 August. Death of Philip Walker, Sr.. Walker left no will at the time of his death.
1679 August 21. Burial of Philip Walker, Sr.. [PCR 8:87]
1679 October 10. Inventory taken of the estate of Philip Walker, Sr., by Daniel Smith, Anthony Perrey, John Pecke, and Nicholas Pecke. [Plymouth Colony Wills, Vol. 4, Part 1, Folios 34-36]
1679 October 29. Inventory of the estate of Philip Walker, Sr., probated, "on the oaths of James Walker and Samuel Walker." [Plymouth Colony Wills, Vol. 4, Part 1, Folios 34-36]
1679 November 1. Court proceedings regarding disposal of estate of Philip Walker, Sr.. His widow was named administratrix, with six other overseers: Daniel Smith, Lieutenant Hunt, Ensign Nicholas Pecke, Abraham Perram, Thomas Read, and Samuel Walker. Also, "Phillip Walker, Junior, hath chosen Mr. Daniel Smith to be his guardian, and the Court approves thereof." [PCR 6:27-28]
Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories, Vols. I-VII, 1670-1685. Unpublished compilation, ed. Patricia E. Scott Deetz. Department of Anthropology, University of Virginia, 1999.
Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England [PCR]. 1855-61. Ed. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff and David Pulsifer. New York: AMS Press, 1968.
Walker, Philip. Captan Perse & his coragios Company. Ed. Diane Bornstein. American Antiquarian Society. 83 (1973): 67-102. [cross-listed below by editor]
Bateman, Philip Walker. Genealogy Report: Descendants of Widow Walker. 10 December 1999.
Bornstein, Diane, ed. Captan Perse & his coragios Company. By Philip Walker. American Antiquarian Society. 83 (1973): 67-102. [cross-listed above by poem's author]
Demos, John. A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 12-13.
Walker, J. B. R., A. M. Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony… Northampton: Metcalf & Company, Printers, 1861.
2. Walker, J. B. R., A. M. Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony… Northampton: Metcalf & Company, Printers, 1861.
3. See these three sources: (1) Bateman, Philip Walker. Genealogy Report: Descendants of Widow Walker. 10 December 1999
4. Walker, J. B. R., A. M. Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony… Northampton: Metcalf & Company, Printers, 1861.
5. Bateman, Philip Walker. Genealogy Report: Descendants of Widow Walker. 10 December 1999
6. Bornstein, Diane. "Captan Perse & his coragios Company: Philip Walker." American Antiquarian Society 83 (1973): 67-102.
7. Walker, J. B. R., A. M. Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony… Northampton: Metcalf & Company, Printers, 1861.
8. PCR 6:27-28; Bateman, Philip Walker. Genealogy Report: Descendants of Widow Walker. 10 December 1999
9. Walker, J. B. R., A. M. Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony… Northampton: Metcalf & Company, Printers, 1861.
10. Demos, John. A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 12-13.