1818-1908
Adoniram Judson Walker
Tinsmith/Pastor/Inventor VT/MA
The story of Rev. Adoniram Judson Walker is sketchy though we know he pastored in Massachusetts at Ervings Grant and Warwick Baptist Churches 1880-1883 then took on the Savoy congregation 1884-1887. His life can best be summarized through this obituary, one of the few sources about this faithful pastor.
Rev. Adoniram Judson Walker, 90, died Sunday morning at 2 o’clock at the R. A. Pullis home on the Windsor road, where he had been spending the past eight months…. He has been a resident of Dalton for 20 years, coming here from Savoy where he was pastor of the Baptist church for several years. An interesting incident happened when Mr. Walker was taken to the Pullis home, when in cleaning out a work box which had been in his possession for many years and which was formerly the property of his daughter who was dead, two bank books were found showing deposits of $150 in a bank in Vermont. The amounts were found correct and with the interest made a total of $380 which came as a very acceptable surprise to the aged man.
Mr. Walker was in early life a tinsmith by trade. He later prepared for the ministry and following in the footsteps of his father, was ordained as a Baptist minister. He has served as pastor in a number of churches in the New England states, the larger portion of this time being served in the state of Vermont. He was of a mechanical turn of mind and was the inventor of a number of devices among them being an improved car coupler and a safety carriage axle.
He was married in Vermont and his wife and two daughters died a number of years ago. The funeral will be held tomorrow after none at 2 o’clock at the Congregational chapel… The body will be taken to Newfane, Vt., for burial.[1]
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[1] “Rev. A. J. Walker Dead,” The Berkshire Evening Eagle (Pittsfield, Massachusetts), Sat., January 11, 1908, p. 11.