Captain Timothy Walker

 Captain Timothy Walker Jr was born on May 22, 1751 in Rehoboth, MA to Colonel Timothy and Elizabeth (Carpenter) Walker. On June 2, 1774, he married Molly Wilmarth, daughter of Ephraim and Molly (Allen) Willmarth. Together they had seven children: Eunice, Timothy, Experience, Samuel, John, George, and Benjamin. Molly died on September 7, 1791 at the age of 33. On July 11, 1793, Timothy married Lucy Redway, daughter of Samuel and Abiah (Follett) Redway. Together they had seven children: Mary, Sally, Lucy, John, Arvella, Eunice, and William. 

Timothy Walker served in the American Revolutionary War with the rank of captain. He enlisted as a private in Captain Phanuel Bishop’s Company to answer the alarm of April 19, 1775. The colonists, known as Minute Men, marched from Rehoboth to Lexington and Concord, but were diverted to the first major military action of the Revolutionary War, the Siege of Boston at Dorchester Heights.

On December 8, 1776, Timothy reenlisted as a sergeant in Captain James Hill’s Company in Colonel Carpenter’s Regiment in response to the alarm on Bristol. This alarm was raised following a massive British naval invasion of Narragansett Bay. A fleet of 78 British ships carrying 7,000-8,000 troops entered Newport Bay. There was a rapid mobilization of nearby Massachusetts and Rhode Island militia to camp at Bristol and nearby Howland’s Ferry. Timothy was discharged on December 23, 1776 after serving for 16 days. 

Timothy Walker’s last tour of duty began on August 1, 1780 when he enlisted in Captain Nathaniel Ide’s Company in Colonel Thomas Carpenter’s Regiment in response to the alarm of July 31, 1780. This alarm refers to a critical moment in the Revolutionary War when Allied forces in Rhode Island braced for a major British attack that ultimately did not occur. Walker’s unit marched from Rehoboth, MA to Tiverton, RI. He served for nine days. Timothy returned to the Walker homestead in Rehoboth where he was a farmer. He lived in the house which is still standing at 432 Massasoit Ave. in Rumford, RI that was built by his grandfather Timothy. His father left the house to him in his will when he died in 1796. Timothy represented the town of Rehoboth in the legislature from 1810-1811. According to Memorial of the Walkers of the Old Plymouth Colony by J.B.R. Walker, as a practicing Baptist, he was an industrious, honest, and benevolent man. Timothy died in 1814 at the age of 63 in Sterling, Connecticut on a visit with his sister and she died shortly after of the same fever. The family homestead was then handed down to his five surviving daughters. He is buried in Newman Cemetery in Rumford, RI. His gravesite is marked with a slate stone.