WALKER, Roswell

WALKER, SILVER, GRIFFIN, HALL, BURR, WELLS, MITCHELL, AYERS, GRAHAM, MATHEWS

Posted By: Chantel Schmitt (email)
Date: 5/6/2012 at 14:50:16

Roswell Walker (1806-1877)

Roswell Walker, an orphan from Vermont, lived his early childhood among friends in Chateaugay, New York, until the 1820s when he began farming. He married Minerva Silver in 1831 and moved with his family to Rockford in 1860. His eldest son, William Riley, born January 16, 1833, preceded his father to Rockford in 1858 and purchased a farm in section 36 from William H. Griffin for $200. Roswell's other children were Hannah, the eldest; Mary Ann, who married Jabez Hall, Emmiline, Charles and Helen, who married Orrin Burr at Rockford. Emmiline married Joel Wells, who died in 1855 leaving one daughter, Emma Adel, later the wife of Z. T. Mitchell. William Walker married Hannah Ayers on November 9, 1854, and to them twelve children were born: Alma, Charles H., Hulda, William J., Angie, Oscar, Walter (died in infancy), Orrin, Addie, Lura, Ruby and Harvey (the latter two died in infancy). Roswell died March 12, 1877, his wife less than a month later.

William built his home along the south bank of the Shell Rock north of Rockford and in December of 1863 enlisted in the Iowa Third Battery Light Artillery. He was the first post commander of the Grand Army of the Republic in Rockford, and after a modestly successful farming career he retired in Rockford. He died in 1903.

His eldest son, Charles Horace, was born December 1, 1859, at Rockford, and he spent his early manhood working for J. T. Graham in the milling business in Rockford and Mazeppa, Minnesota. In 1882 he married Mary Ermina Mathews, on August 18, at Mazeppa, and returned to Rockford to become foreman of the railroad roundhouse. He took up farming south-east of Rockford from 1897 until 1912, when he operated the light plant in the Graham Mill until 1915. He was manager of the creamery that year and was also president of the Farmers' Exchange Company. He died in 1919 leaving nine children: Lloyd, Percy, Tess, Hazel, Grace, William Winthrop, Margaret, Ivan (killed in World War II) and Max.

Vala, Michael F. The Story of Rockford, 312-313. M.F. Vala Publishing, Dubuque, IA. 1970.

ORIGINAL CITATION:
History of Floyd County, 1917, 605; Information supplied by Philip Walker, Dows, Iowa.