James L. Barker

James L. Barker (1880-1955?) was a historian who lived and worked for most of his life in Utah. He received his early education in the Weber County School District and the University of Utah (B.A., 1901). After his return from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1904 he began an extensive study of foreign languages in Europe. In 1906 he married Kate Montgomery. After his return to the United States, he was hired as Principal of Weber Academy and later as Chair of Brigham Young University's fledgling language department. In 1919 he was appointed head of the University of Utah's Modern Language Department, a position he held for almost three decades. He is the author of the book "Aposasy from the Divine Church" which is a scholarly account of what he viewed as the decline and fall of the Christian Church not too many years after the times of the early Apostles. His book cites extensively from early historical sources, not all of which are documented because of his death before the publication of the book. The point-of-view is that of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but it is not an official church publication. The book was published by Kate Montgomery Barker in 1959, then went out-of-print for a number of years, was re-published in 1985, and is again out-of-print.

Mission President

In the late 1940s, Barker served as president of the French Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The mission included all of France as well as French-sepaking Switzerland and the Walloon region of Belgium.

However, Barker was not content to limit his mission to this area when people in other adjacent nations were totally beyond the influence of Mormonism. He sent missionaries into Italy to try and contact any church members there.

In September 1947, Barker and his wife Kate accompanied Archibald F. Bennett and James M. Black on their three-week trip to the Piedmont Region of northern Italy in which they microfilmed records for the Genealogical Society of Utah.