Maybe the reason I know nothing about this man is that no one has ever looked for him, or at least, not successfully. I just spent some time looking on my usual databases and very little is showing for him, and that is undocumented. However, we know the man existed and is in the Beeks family line, so let's get written down what is known about him. He is an ancestor and deserves to be honored as such, even though his life is well hidden at present.
John is believed to have been born about 1619, somewhere in Kent, England, and his father is noted as "Thos." We don't know when he came to America, but it was apparently without his father. We do know that he married Patience Wooten, possibly the daughter of Thomas Wooten or Wotton). This couple is often said to be the parents of Joseph Walter, but he was born in 1629 so if the birthdates for John and Patience are correct, he was not their biological child. Their only known child is Safronia or Safronie, born in 1643 somewhere in Connecticut, presumably. I show that the couple married in 1640, so Safronia may not have been their first, nor their only, child.
I haven't been able to find a single reference to either person in any on line document, although admittedly I've only looked for an hour or so. The only additional information I have is that both persons are believed to have died about 1710, and John, at least, is believed to be buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Marlborough, Connecticut. However, I find this questionable because Marlborough wasn't formed until 1803, and the only Walnut Grove cemetery I can locate is in Meriden, Ct and wasn't founded until about 1840. So perhaps this couple was never in Connecticut at all. Their daughter, Safronia, married to Jeffrey Jones, died in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Perhaps the Walters were also there.
This is as much as I know about John, and it's certainly frustrating. I would like to give him parents, a home, a career, and a little bit of a life. Please, if someone knows more about John, please email me: happygenealogydancingATgmailDOTcom. Thanks!
The line of descent is
John Walter-Patience Wooten
Safronia Walter-Jeffrey Jones
Mary Jones-Samuel Fitzrandolph
Prudence Fitzrandolph-Shubael Smith
Mary Smith-Jonathan Dunham
Samuel Dunham-Hannah Ruble
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight (President Obama's ancestors)
Samuel Goodnight Dunham-Eliza Matilda Reese
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants
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