Zechariah Walker Reverend

   Other names for Zechariah were Zacharias Walker and Zachary Walker.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Dates & Events. ⁷⁶
He was the first minister before 20 Jan 1699/1700 Woodbury, Litchfield County, Connecticut

• Dates & Events. ⁵⁰⁴
Zechariah Walker is considered to be one of the first settlers of Woodbury, Connecticut. The town of Woodbury, in Litchfield County, was established in 1673.

• Dates & Events. ⁵⁴³
Reverend Zechariah Walker, eldest son of Robert Walker, was born in 1700. He was regularly ordained clergyman of the Presbyterian church, stationed in Jamaica, Long Island, 1663-1668; was ordained paster of the Second church in Stratford, Connecticut, 5 May 1670; removed with his family to Woodbury, 27 Jun 1678; and there resided until his death. His wife Susannah died 26 Apr 1710. Children, Zechariah the second, Abigail, baptized 22 May 1670. and Elizabeth, born 1 Mar 1675.

~Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania, Vol. III, pg. 1492

• Dates & Events. ⁵⁰⁵
"The personal history of Mr. Walker, which has reached us, is very brief. He was the son of Robert Walker, of Boston, where he was born in 1637. He was educated at Harvard College, but did not graduate. He preached as licentiate at Jamaica, Long Island, from 1663 to 1668, when he removed to Stratford, and preached in the same capacity to the members of the second church in Stratford, till its regular organization, and his own installation over it as pastor, 5 May 1670. After the troubles growing out of King Philip's war were ended, he removed with his family to Woodbury, and there spent the remainder of his days, which terminated on the 20th day of January, 1699-1700, in the sixty-third year of his age.

He was aa man of solid attainments, as indeed he must be, to pass the rigid examination given him and other candidates for the ministry in those days. They were examined not only in the "three learned languages," Latin, Greek and Hebrew, but in respect to doctrinal points of theology, cases of conscience and their ability to defend the tenets of Christianity against infidels and gainsayers, as well as their own experimental knowledge of religion. He was a pungent and powerful preacher, greatly beloved by the people of his charge. He conducted the affairs of his church with commendable discretion, and both it and the infant town flourished during his administration. The number of persons admitted to membership in his church during his ministry was one hundred and eight, a part of whom had been received on the half-way covenant plan in the first instance, but nearly all the living members at his death were in full communion. Three hundred and seventy-persons, infant and adult, were by him baptized. Deacon John Minor and Deacon Samuel Miles were appointed deacons at the organization of the church, and two others were subsequently chosen, on the death of resignation of the former, viz., Matthew Sherman, in 1682, and John Sherman, in 1685. Thus the infant church had secured a firm foundation, notwithstanding all the trials and hardships that beset its earlier years.

After a life of usefulness, the revered Walker, "ye faithfull, worthy, beloved Minister of the Gospell, and much lamented Pastor of ye CB of Christ," "was gathered to his fathers," and his remains repose in the Southern part of the ancient burying-ground."

~History of Ancient Woodbury, Connecticut, pgs. 134-135

• Background Information. ⁵⁸⁷ History of Stratford, Connecticut : 1639-1939, page 501 :
The Walker family contributed valuable service in Colonial and Revolutionary times, and figured prominently in Stratford's History. Among the first to arrived in Stratford were Jacob Joseph Walker, Reverend Zachariah Walker, sons of Robert Walker who came from Manchester, Lancashire County, England to Boston in 1632. He was one of the founders of the "Old South Church." He and his wife Sarah, had thirteen children.

The entry of Reverend Zechariah Walker's land is dated 2 Aug 1668. In accordance with a previous town vote, passed 18 Dec 1668, providing for a division of the parsonage lands if a second minister should be engaged in Stratford Church; he was granted the west half of the "parsonage lot: situated on the south side of Academy Hill. In a dead dated 30 Jan 1677."

Zechariah married Mary Prudden, daughter of Peter Prudden Reverend and Johanna Boyse, about 1669. (Mary Prudden was born on 4 Dec 1641 in Milford, New Haven, Connecticut ^72,74 and was christened on 4 Dec 1641 in First Congregational Society, Milford.)