Perhaps post this under William Walker on CAN-ONT-York@rootsweb as there may be a Wm. Walker reading there who may know a link to your William Walker. I think of Agents as also Salesmen. Catt On Thu 30/12/10 6:47 AM , Deborah Crawford deborahc8@gmail.com sent: Good question - "Agent" does seem to be a rather generic term, used to describe anyone selling farming implements, an agent of a railroad, an advertising agent.......and maybe even a secret agent! Since the subject of this post wasn't named Maxwell Smart, we may be safe in assuming he wasn't a spy. Unfortunately, there's not much of a clue from the wording of the transaction. William WALKER (agent) and his wife Louise , James H. CARD (travelling salesman) and Dave F. JAMIESON (wife Agnes), mechanic - all of Barrie - purchased a piece of property from Joseph Napoleon LEFAIVE (LEFEBVRE), butcher and his wife Bertha - on the 11th Concession of Tiny Township. Date of the record detailing the transaction was 21 July 1922. So perhaps if someone has a directory of Barrie for that year, there may be a clue as to what type of agent our Mr. Walker was. I think we'll find he was an advertising agent as I suspect William J. WALKER of Barrie and William M. WALKER of Barrie are the same person - Mr. Hewson sometimes was quite artistic in his letters, and it isn't always easy to read individual ones, such as the "J" or the "M". Combine that with the fact that these documents are pretty old, it's easy for me to inadvertently read it incorrectly. If a Walker descendant out there recognizes this man, I'll make a point of adding a note to the transcription. I realized yesterday that I left off a page, jumping from blacksmith implement agent to contractor. So for today, here are the other "b" and "c" entries: Builder Alfred DESROCHERS December 1921 Builder and Contractor Wenceslas BLANCHARD December 1922 Business Manager Ernest Arthur COPELAND March 1922 Business Owner George DONALDSON July 1921, Elijah LEFAIVE July 1921 and April 1922 (both Penetang Bottling) Butcher and Meat Purveyor Napoleon LEFEBVRE numerous entries October 1921 - August 1922; Michael Joseph McMURRAY February and August 1922; Harvey W. SMITH October 1921, February 1922 Carpenter: Joseph DESROCHES October 1921, John Joseph HURLEY June 1922, Ambrose LABATTE May 1921, Alfred LAURIAULT (Windsor) August 1921, Frank PAYETTE October 1922; John J. ROEBUCK (Midland) May 1921 Carpenter and Builder John L. HURLEY November 1922 Carriage Factory Hand Fabien FOURNIER september 1921 Constable John WATSON February 1922, April 1922, May 1922 (note - Mr. Watson was the town constable for many years , his constable's ledger is another treasure trove of information - but that's another post for another time) And finally - those noted as Esquire. There are many so I won't type the > dates - they're all between 1921 and 1922 - George Edward COPELAND, Patrick > CREAU (Toronto), Robert ELLIOTT, John Brown JENNINGS (former mayor of > Penetanguishene), George KITCHING, Napoleon PAYETTE, Daniel QUINLAN > (Barrie), John ROBB, George STOTT, Charles Ernest WRIGHT, and James WYNNE. That's it for this morning. Thanks for the reply Malcolm. Afraid we're > > probably no further ahead in our definition of "agent".......but maybe > > someone out there will recognize the fellow and provide another clue.