“William P. Walker, Judge of Probate, the best type of what we call a gentleman of the old school I have ever seen; handsome, courtly, well-dressed, a very distinguished looking man,” said the Hon. Joseph Tucker in 1903. Judge William Perrin Walker (1778-1858) succeeded his father as Judge of Probate, serving in the County Court House that would become the Lenox Library.
Judge Walker and his wife Lucy raised 9 children in a house on the street that would bear his name. His daughter Cornelia married Joseph Hand Scranton, one of the founders of Scranton, PA. The Scranton Mansion was donated to Scranton University from the Scranton family in 1981, when the Scranton estate was divided up after the death of Governor William Scranton, a great-grandson of Judge Walker. Walker family artifacts, including an oil painting (now at the Lenox Historical Society) of W.P. Walker’s father, the first Judge Walker, were dispersed at that time, but this painting was sold to a private collector, until its eventual purchase from a local donor to the Lenox Library.
The painting will be unveiled in the Legacy Room.