"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon."  Chicago:
Chapman Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1004.
 
W. W. WALKER

     At the present day it means but a short, pleasant trip to pass from the
extreme northeastern part of the United States to its opposite on the Pacific
coast, with the thousands of miles marked by straight, true lines, over a
peaceful, pastoral country, in elegant coaches, and ready service at every
stopping place. But in the days gone by a journey from Maine to Oregon meant
many months of danger from the depredations of the Indians who harassed the
trail of the emigrant train, and hardships and trials and troubles without
number.
     From Maine to Oregon William W. Walker has come, making the journey,
however, in not a few months, but in many years, as his life has been full of
the adventures incident to the history of a man who was thrown upon his own
resources in the early days of our country. Born in Washington county, Me.,
April 14, 1836, he was the son of John S. and Ellen (O'Neil) Walker, natives
respectively of Oldtown, Penobscot county, Me., and County Cork, Ireland. When a
young man the father had joined a party of men going to Canada, near Quebec,
there to work in a logging camp, in which employment he remained for some years.
It was while thus engaged he met and married Ellen O'Neil. He then brought his
family back to Washington county, where he engaged in the saw-mill business,
continuing in this occupation up to the present time.
     The early education of William W. Walker was necessarily rather limited, as
school facilities were very meager, but he put in the years in the common
schools of Maine, and after he left home at the age of nineteen, years, he took
up a work in which discipline is not the least requisite for its success. He
shipped from Millbridge, a city on the coast of Maine, in a square-rigged brig,
under two masters, its trade being that of a coaster. For nine years he remained
in this business, acting as mate after two years service. Later, he was captain
of the brig, the May Hand, on a voyage from New York to Africa, going as far
south as the equator, a trip which was full of adventure and varied experience,
as well as success financially. In 1858 he went to California, locating in San
Francisco, where he remained for two months, but with the restless spirit
incited by a sea-faring life, he was soon off again, having shipped for the
Fraser river in British Columbia. For some time after that he was engaged in
boating on the waters of Puget Sound, going to Portland in 1860, where he
remained for one year steamboating on the Columbia river. With wide experience
in the waters of the world he now sought a knowledge of the bowels of the earth,
giving up the roving life of a seaman for the alluring prospects of a miner. At
Pierce City, Idaho, he first took up this employment, working with notable
perseverance until March, 1870, when he returned to Portland. In the varied
positions in which he found himself in his adventurous life he had acquired a
knowledge of some trades which proved to be exceedingly useful to him as a
landsman, now putting into practice one of them, that of a carpenter, working
for two years at this before he decided to change his residence.  In 1872 he
came to Yamhill county, inclined now to settle down for life and choosing the
tilling of the soil as the most congenial labor, being that at which he had
first turned a hand, in the long-past days of his boy-hood in the old Pine Tree
state. After a year and a half spent in employment under R. R. Thompson, he
engaged in farming for himself, locating in 1876 on his present property, and
now owns one hundred and thirty-three acres, fifty of which is in active
cultivation, being utilized for general farming.
     Mr. Walker securely anchored himself to the land by his marriage with Miss
Lucretia Perkins, in 1873. She is a native of North Yamhill, Ore., born in 1848.
In their pleasant home there are five children now to make bright the quiet
years that might otherwise become monotonous to the seaman whose life has been
so filled with exciting changes----Jennie M., G. L., W. O., F. N., and John
P.----F. N. being the only one who is not a member of the household, his
employment being in Washington. In his political convictions, Mr. Walker is a
Democrat, serving as road supervisor and school director through the influence
of this party. In his fraternal relations he is identified with the Masons,
being a member of Lodge No. 3 of La Fayette, and also of Lodge No. 29, I. 0. 0.
F.

     
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in June 2010 by Diana Smith.  Submitter
has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.