Representative women of New England/Jennie P. Walker

by Mary H. Graves

JENNIE PATRICK WALKER who has for years enjoyed the enviable reputation of being the leading oratorio singer of the United States, is a native of Warren, Worcester County, Mass. Her birthplace was the old homestead which was purchased by Matthew Patrick, her great-grandfather, in 1740, and has been occupied by five successive generations. The Patrick family has ever taken active interest in the progress of the town of Warren (originally Western). The pioneer settler above named served as its Representative in the State Legislature in 1789, his son, Isaac Patrick, Mrs. Walker's grandfather, serving in 1826 and 1827. Her father, William Andrew Patrick, also held public offices of trust and responsibility. For thirty years choir-master and singing-teacher, he tried to establish a higher musical standard in the community. He died in 1892. Through her mother, Mrs. Jane Blodgett Patrick, daughter of Alden Blodgett, of Stafford, Conn., Mrs. Walker is a direct descendant of Thomas Blodgett, an early settler of Cambridge, Mass., and of John Alden, of the "Mayflower" and Plymouth Colony.

Sewall’s History of Woburn states that Thomas Blodgett with his wife and two sons, Daniel² and Samuel,² came in the "Increase" from London in 1635. Samuel² Blodgett a number of years later settled in Woburn. Sanmel, Jr.,³ son of Samuel,² married Huldah Simonds, and was the father of Sanmel,⁴ born, say the records, in 1683, and of Daniel,* born in 1685.

Daniel⁴ and Samuel⁴ Blodgett removed from Wobum to Stafford, Tolland County, Conn. "Samuel left a son Joshua, born in 1721, reared by his uncle Daniel" (History of Tolland County).

Joshua Blodgett married Hannah Alden, daughter of Daniel⁴ Alden (of Bridgewater, Mass., and Stafford, Conn.) and his wife, Abigail Shaw. Daniel* was of the fourth generation of Aldens in New England, being descended from John¹ Alden and his wife Priscilla through their son Joseph,² who married Mary Simmons, and Joseph,³ who married Hannah Dunham and was father of Daniel⁴ (Mitchell's Bridgewater).

Deacon Alden Blodgett, son of Joshua and Hannah, was born in Stafford in 1766, died in 1848. He was the father of a second Alden, doubtless the Alden Blodgett of Stafford, Conn., above named, Mrs. Walker's grandfather. The love and talent for music were native to Jennie Patrick. Her doctor uncle, Julius Blodgett, her mother's brother, said of her voice in infancy, "That is music, not merely a baby's cry"; and this remark was verified by the child's singing before she had learned to talk. After graduating from the high school in Warren at the age of sixteen, she came to Boston and became a pupil of Fanny Frazer Foster, taking her first position the following year at the Channing Church in Newton, where she remained for two and a half years. From the first her voice created a furor, and by conscientious work she made rapid progress. From Newton she went to Worcester to sing in the Church of the Unity, remaining until 1878, when she accepted a position at the Second Church in Boston. After eight years' successful work there she was for fifteen years a member of the choir of the Arlington Street Church, which for a number of years had the reputation of being the best in Boston.

Her great success as a choir singer was rivalled by that achieved by her in the fields of oratorio and concert, where the rare quality of her rich soprano voice created a large demand for her services. Mrs. Walker has studied only with teachers in the city of Boston, and is well known and beloved here and in the West and South, where she has often appeared. She has sung in concerts with such celebrities as Lilli Lehmann, Campanini, Dippel, Melba, Nordica, Emil Fischer, Gadski, Ben Davies, Edward Lloyd, Watkin Mills, and many other noted singers. She has sung for most of the leading oratorio associations of America and for the Cecilia and Apollo Clubs of Boston, also for the Handel and Haydn Society, of which for eight seasons she was solo soprano. JENNIE PATRICK WALKER She is a member of some of the leading musical clubs, and is deeply interested in the musical progress of Boston. Through all of her busy life she has conscientiously kept up her practice, with the result that her voice has lost none of the rich dramatic sweetness of earlier years, and has gained in power and tone color. Her work last season was received with warmest praise.

January 1, 1878, she was married to Mr. William Walker, a New Yorker by birth, at that time established in the printing business in Boston, and now of the well-known firm of Walker, Young & Co., printers.

For a number of years Mr. and Mrs. Walker have passed their summers at Crow Point, Hingham, Mass., and now they have taken up their abode in Hingham for the winter. Domestic in her tastes, Mrs. Walker thoroughly enjoys her home life with its daily round of duties and its quiet pleasures.