Walker Faunce Family Collection
DAL.MSS.154

Collection Overview
Title: Walker Faunce Family Collection
Dates: c. 1860-1989
Bulk Dates: 1880-1950
Creator: Walker Family
Call Number: DAL.MSS.154
Accession: 2023.015
Quantity: 2 boxes and 2 oversized boxes

Administrative Information
Access Restrictions: The collection is open to researchers
Acquisition Information: Donated by Penelope Walker, 2023
Finding Aid prepared by: Kirsten Thorn, Duxbury High School Intern, Fall 2023

Scope and Content:
This collection contains correspondence, photographs, receipts, ephemera, and published materials belonging to the Walker and Faunce families of Duxbury, MA, and Utah. There are a number of photographs of Duxbury scenes, as well as Real Photo Postcards of Duxbury homes. Of particular interest are the John Faunce letters and Faunce family photographs that detail life in Utah at the end of the 19th century. The daguerreotype of an exterior scene with mining equipment in Utah is particularly rare. Also included are holiday cards drawn by Duxbury artist Julia Smith, and yearly Christmas cards produced by the Walker Brothers Real Estate agency in Duxbury, MA.

Biographical Information:
John Faunce (1829-1907) was the son of George Faunce Sr. and Sally Mack. He was born on his family’s farm in South Duxbury, Massachusetts. In his early adulthood, he was a mariner, but he later moved west, where he became a miner. He eventually moved to Ophir City, Utah, where he set up a mining supply store during the mining boom. In 1884, he married Anna Evans (1858-1943). They had two children: Dolly Sallie Faunce (b. 1885) and John William Faunce (b. 1887). John Faunce was related to the Walker family through his cousin, Emily Wadsworth Walker.

George Faunce Jr. (1824-1909) was the son of George Faunce Sr. and Sally Mack. He was raised on the Faunce family’s farm in South Duxbury, Massachusetts, and continued farming the land after his father’s death. He was the older brother of John Faunce mentioned above. Many of the letters, documents, and receipts in the collection belonged to him. In his later years, he suffered from mental illness and was a patient at the Taunton Insane Asylum, where he died in 1909 at the age of 85.

Capt. Isaiah Walker Sr. (1805-1886) was the son of Levi Walker and Zeruiah Holmes. In 1827, he married Emily Wadsworth (1805-1888). She was the daughter of Samuel Wadsworth and Priscilla Faunce. The Walkers had seven children: Emily (b. 1829), Persis (b. 1830), Isaiah Jr. (b. 1832), Samuel (b. 1836), Sophia (b. 1838), Alpheus (b. 1841), and Bathsheba (b. 1841). In 1850, Walker was living in Pembroke, Massachusetts, and working as a blacksmith. He later became a farmer. He died in Pembroke in 1886 of heart disease at the age of 81.

Isaiah Walker Jr. (1832-1914) was the son of Capt. Isaiah Walker Sr. and Emily Wadsworth. He was born in Duxbury and raised in Pembroke, where his father was a blacksmith. Young Isaiah also learned the blacksmith’s trade and worked with his father for a time. In 1860, he married Hannah Baker (1843-1915). She was born in Nova Scotia, the daughter of John H. Baker and Catherine Barry. She came to the US with her mother as a child. Together, Isaiah Jr. and Hannah had seven children: Ada (b. 1861), Herbert (b. 1862), Isaiah C. (b. 1865), Lillias (b. 1867), Percy (b. 1874), Alpheus (b. 1880), and Edward (b. 1883). The Walkers lived on Tremont Street in Duxbury for many years. This collection includes legal documents and receipts attributed to Isaiah Walker Jr., as well as many documents and correspondence to his family members, particularly his wife and father.

Percy L. Walker (1874-1959) was the son of Isaiah Walker Jr. and Hannah Baker. He grew up in Duxbury on Tremont Street. In 1909, he married Grace Marion Delano of Duxbury, and together they had four children: Donald (b. 1912), Kenneth (b. 1913), Percy Jr. (b. 1918), and Clarence (b. 1923). Percy L.Walker owned a successful real estate office in Duxbury for many years. It was later inherited by his sons, Donald and Charles, and was renamed Walker Brothers (a Century 21 office). Percy L. Walker was involved in town politics and civic organizations. He was the President of the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society. Duxbury’s town pool is named for him.

Donald Delano Walker (1912-1989) was the son of Percy L. Walker and Grace Marion Delano. He attended Duxbury public schools and eventually joined his father’s real estate business, along with his brother, Percy Walker Jr. In 1943, he married Earline Virginia Swift in New York City. They had two children.

Clara J. Soule (1865-1928) was the daughter of Edwin A. Soule and Mary Faunce. She and her sister, Annie C. Soule, were nieces of John and George Faunce in this collection.

Ruth Hazard (1887-1966) was the niece of Hannah (Baker) Walker. Her many postcards are part of this collection. Ruth was the daughter of William L. Hazard and Mary E. Sampson. She lived in Melrose, Massachusetts.

Dr. Philip Robinson (c. 1867-1961) was a physician and photographer whose many pictures are featured in the collection. He was the son of Eliphalet and Martha Robinson and was born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. In 1894, he married Pauline F. Jones. Robinson lived his later life in Duxbury.

Julia Catherine Smith (1900-1994) was a professionally trained artist. She was born and raised in Duxbury, the daughter of Clarence Smith and Nora Cahill. As a young woman, she attended the Museum School of Art in Boston. Because the family did not have the funds to send her, a benefactor from Duxbury who recognized her talent paid her tuition. She was a member of the Duxbury Art Association. Some of her paintings are in the collection of the Duxbury Rural & Historical Society.

Organization:
Series I: Correspondence
Series II: Postcards
Series III: Photographs
Series IV: Legal/Receipts
Series V: Education
Series VI: Ephemera
Series VII: Published Material

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