Who’s Dana Walker?

Today I returned to my research on the family of Ezra and Caroline (Lanning) Tucker. To refresh my memory and to tighten the prose I started at the beginning.

After reading through the introductory material, I read through the documentation I had accomplished so far on each family member.

In the write-up on Ezra and Caroline’s grandchild, Jay Doolittle, I wrote that in 1900 Jay ran a grocery store in the small rural village of Covert, Seneca County, New York. Jay employed Dana Walker (b: March 1877) to drive the grocery wagon around the countryside. And that was it. On to the next descendant.

Today I realized that a number of times I have found a “servant” or “farm hand” living with my ancestors. I would note them in the household, but then dismiss them as far as any further research. Until today.

I wondered, who is Dana Walker? I spent a couple hours in an attempt to fill in his life.

From The Farmer Review of 16 March 1901 I found that Dana Walker and Miss Ada E. Hall, both of Farmer, were united in marriage Wednesday 13 March 1901 by the Rev. C.H. Moscript. I believe Ada (b: abt 1883) was the daughter of Porter and Claudia Hall of Seneca County, New York.

In 1904 Dana left Jay Doolittle’s grocery store, using his contacts through the grocery wagon to find work at the nearby Rappleye farm.

At some point Dana Walker returned to work in the grocery business because on 18 July 1913 the Interlaken Review reported that Dana resigned his position with the H.P. Minor store and traveled to Portland, Michigan to assist his recently widowed mother. 

Not so much information on the life of Dana Walker, but at least it is a start and I will keep an eye out for him if he intersects with my family line in the future.