San Francisco County
Biographies
JAMES LORING BARKER
JAMES LORING
BARKER, importer of iron pipe and plumbers’ supplies at 407 Eighth street,
Oakland, California, was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, June 12, 1841, a
son of George and Lydia (Pollard) Barker.
The subject of this sketch is a descendant in the seventh generation
from the first American progenitor, Robert Barker, being a grandson of Loring, who was a son of Ebenezer, a son of Josiah, a son
of Ebenezer, a son of Francis, a son of Robert of Duxbury, which was set apart
from Plymouth in 1637. The first mention
of Robert Barker in the records of Plymouth
colony is under date of January 20,
1632, and tradition claims for him and a brother a date only four
years earlier. The mention in 1632 seems
to imply that he was serving an apprenticeship to the trade of carpenter which
was to expire April 1, 1637. He is next mentioned as having bought, on January 12, 1641, in company of
others, “for three-score pounds, 100 acres lying at the North river.” In 1645 he was constable and surveyor of
highways. At Mansfield,
June 6, 1654, he was
admitted a freeman, and was surveyor of highways in Duxbury. His will, dated February 18, 1689-’90,
disposed of much land, and show that he was then a widower, while the inventory
of his personal estate, taken March 15, 1691-’92, indicates that he was then
recently deceased. The “Barker mansion,”
built by him in that part of Duxbury now known as Pembroke, is still in
possession of one of his descendants.
Francis,
the second son of Robert of Duxbury, date of birth unknown, was married January 5, 1674-’75, to Mary Lincoln, who was born in Hingham, April 10, 1648. He was a selectman
of Duxbury in 1685, and representative in the general court in 1686; was a
Lieutenant and later a Captain of the Duxbury Military Company. In February, 1713-’14, he divided his
property among his living children, and styles himself “of Pembroke,” which had
been set off from Duxbury in 1711.
Ebenezer, one of the younger of his ten
children, was married at Scituate,
November 1, 1710, to
Deborah Randall, born August 23, 1693,
a daughter of Isaac and Deborah (Buck) Randall, of that town. His will, signed march 18, 1756, “Ebenezer
Barker, of Pembroke, housewright,” was proved May 3,
following. Josiah, son of Ebenezer,
married Sarah Macomber, who was born in Marshfield,
October 27, 1713, a daughter
of Thomas and Joanna (Tinkham) Macomber. The youngest of their seven children was born
February 6, 1754; and
Josiah’s will, dated April 10, 1774,
was proved July 4, 1774.
Ebenezer, son of
Josiah, born August 3, was married April
2, 1761, to Priscilla Loring, born in Plympton August
17, 1737, a daughter of Captain John and Ruth (Sturtevant) Loring, of that place.
Ebenezer Barker was a Lieutenant of the company raised to garrison the fort
erecte4d at the Gurnett
in 1776. He served in 1776-’77-’78, and
perhaps until his death, of chills and fever, July 10, 1781.
Loring,
son of Ebenezer, born in Marshfield
early in August 1765, married a Miss Ross about 1790. He was employed many years in the Charlestown
navy yard, where his brother, Josiah (see Appleton’s
Cyclopedia of American Biography), was naval constructor from 1810 to
1843. Loring
Barker died April 9, 1848. Of his children, Mrs. Edes
and Mrs. Goodrich of Charlestown,
and Mrs. Rice of Concord, died in
1890, aged respectively ninety-eight, eighty-seven and ninety-five.
George, a son of Loring, born about 1805, was married about 1830 to Lydia P.
Pollard, a native of Charlestown,
was later a well-known sea captain, and was a part owner of the ship Sea King,
on which he was lost on a voyage from San Francisco
to Liverpool with a cargo of wheat, on September 12, 1862. Mrs. Barker, a few years older than he,
survived him four years. Their children
now living are: George Frederic, born July
14, 1835, an author of international reputation, Professor of
Physics in the University of Pennsylvania
at Philadelphia since 1873 and also
associated with the renowned Thomas A. Edison as expert electrician (see
Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography); James Loring,
now of Oakland; Margaret Frances, born in 1844, now the wife of Robert D.
Kelley, journalist of Fremont, Nebraska.
The subject of this
sketch, Mr. J. L. Barker, was educated in the public schools of his native
city, and at about eighteen entered on a mercantile career, by serving an
apprenticeship to the hardware business in Boston. Coming to San Francisco
in 1862, he continued in the same line as salesman for two firms in that city,
--in all ten years. In 1872 he commenced
business on his own account as manufacturer’s agent and importer of iron pipe
and plumbers’ supplies in San Francisco,
continuing successfully eight years, when he sold out. He had meanwhile acquired large landed
interests in Berkeley, Alameda county, and in 1880 engaged in the real-estate business,
chiefly in the line of development of his own property. Since that date he has built nearly a hundred
neat, modern and well-appointed cottages of one and two stories, which he has
sold to a desirable class of residents.
His tract at North Berkeley, known as the Golden
Gate Homestead, is delightfully located at an elevation of 225 feet above the
bay. While still continuing his building
operations in Berkeley, he resumed
business in his own line at 407 Eighth street, Oakland,
December 1, 1890, being the
direct representative of certain large Eastern manufacturers of plumbing and
gas-fitting materials, which enables him successfully to compete with San
Francisco dealers in supplying the trade on his side.
Mr. Barker was the
prime mover in inducing the Central Pacific Railroad Company to Berkeley,
and it was largely due to his persistent efforts that the right of way and the
necessary subscriptions for that improvement were secured, investing three
months’ time and a considerable amount of money in bringing the enterprise to a
successful issue. He has felt great
confidence in the future of Oakland
and its suburbs, believing that this city is destined to be a great commercial
center, supplying the cities and towns of the interior through regularly
established jobbing houses.
Mr. Barker was married in San
Francisco, April
21, 1868, to Miss Mary C. Rasché, born in
Germantown, near Philadelphia,
May 3, 1843, a daughter of
Frederick and Charlotte Rasché, natives of Hanover,
Germany, but residents of
the Untied States since about 1835, and married in New
York. The
father died in San Francisco in
1863, past middle life, the mother surviving until 1884, being seventy-four
years old at her death. The children of
Mr. and Mrs. J. L. Barker are: Lydia Gertrude, born January 12, 1869; Georgiana Loring,
November 7, 1870, still
prosecuting her studies in the University
of California; Frederic Pollard, August 28, 1873, a clerk with his
father since June 1, 1890;
and Loring James, born March 2, 1880.
Transcribed
by Cathi Skyles.
Source: "The Bay of San Francisco," Vol. 2,
pages 322-324, Lewis Publishing Co, 1892.
© 2005 Cathi Skyles.
California Biography Project
San Francisco County
California Statewide
Golden Nugget Library