Page:Sketches of representative women of New England.djvu/431

318 student at Smith, and is now studying for her second degree at Columbia. She is at the head of the science department of the Veltin School for Girls in New York City.

ENNIE 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.