admin WILLIAM H. WALKER. By the death of William H. Walker Buffalo lost one of her foremost citizens. A representative man of business, his pursuits were directed along the kindred lines of commerce and finance and he won success in both. He was one of Buffalo’s staunch, conservative men of affairs. He was a practical philanthropist, a friend of education and culture and a pillar of religion and charity.
William Henry Walker was born in Utica, N. Y., August 20, 1826, and was a son of Stephen Walker, a well-known builder in that city. The elder Walker came with his family to Buffalo in 1832. He was educated in the public schools, Buffalo Academy, and the Albany Law School. When eighteen years old he entered the employ of Orrin P. Ramsdell, one of the pioneer wholesale shoe dealers of Buffalo, as a clerk, and was admitted to partnership in 1856. In 1876 the firm was dissolved and Mr. Walker continued the business alone. Under his management the enterprise prospered greatly, and the house which he established has become one of the largest and most reliable in Western New York, its trade extending throughout New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and into the far Western States. He was also First Vice President of the Fidelity Trust Company. He was active in religious, philanthropic and educational matters and aided such causes in a substantial way by gifts and energetic support. He was a deeply religious man, and a member of St. Paul’s Church. He served as Warden and member of the Junior Vestry of St. Paul’s, and when the church was destroyed by fire in 1888 he was among the foremost in furthering the restoration of the edifice. He was a member of the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Western New York, from 1866 to the time of his death. He was a Trustee of Hobart College; an active member of the Merchants’ Exchange, of which lie also served as Vice-President; a member and former President of the Buffalo Clearing House Association; a Director and a leading supporter of the Young Men’s Christian Association; Vice-President of the Buffalo General Hospital, of which at the time of his death he was Acting President; a life member of the Buffalo Historical Society, and a member of the Buffalo Club.
October 21, 1869, Mr. Walker married Miss Edith Kimberley, a daughter of the late John L. Kimberley of Buffalo. Mrs. Walker was a woman of noble qualities of mind and heart. The death of Mrs. Walker occurred on the 6th of December, 1893. The children of the marriage are: John Kimberley and William H. Walker, and a daughter, Evelyn Walker.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I