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Jacob Barker

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Jacob Barker
Member of the New York State Senate for the Southern District
In office
July 1, 1815 – June 30, 1816
Preceded byElbert H. Jones
Succeeded byWalter Bowne
Personal details
Born(1779-12-17)December 17, 1779
Swan Island, Maine, U.S.
DiedDecember 26, 1871(1871-12-26) (aged 92)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
Spouse
Elizabeth Hazard
​
​
(m. 1801; died 1866)​
RelationsGideon Gardner (half-brother)
Samuel Gray Ward (son-in-law)
Wharton Barker (grandson)
Parent(s)Sarah Folger Gardner
Robert Barker
OccupationFinancier, lawyer, politician

Jacob Barker (December 17, 1779 – December 26, 1871) was an American financier and lawyer.[1]

Early life

He was born on December 17, 1779 in Swan Island, Maine, in 1779, of Quaker parentage.[2] He was the son of Robert Barker (1723–1780) and Sarah (née Folger) Gardner (1739–1833), who was born on Nantucket. His mother was a widow of Hezekiah Gardner, with whom she had a son, Gideon Gardner (1759–1832), who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. His parents married at Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1723.[2]

Barker was an extended relation of Benjamin Franklin through his mother, who was a cousin of Frankin's mother,[1] Abiah Folger Franklin (1667–1752), and grandfather Peter Folger.[2]

Career

He went to New York at the age of 16, engaged in trade, and soon amassed a considerable fortune. In May 1811, he hired Connecticut native Fitz-Greene Halleck,[3] who remained in his employ for twenty years. Early in the War of 1812 he was instrumental in securing a loan of $5,000,000 for the national government.[4]

In 1815, he founded the Exchange Bank of New York. He was a member of the New York State Senate in 1816, serving alongside Peter R. Livingston and Darius Crosby and representing the Southern District, which consisted of Dutchess, Kings, New York, Putnam, Queens, Richmond, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester counties.[5]

Subsequently, he became interested in many other large financial institutions in the city, including the Life and Fire Insurance Company, on the failure of which in 1826 he, with a number of others, was arrested on a charge of conspiracy to defraud. At first he acted as his own lawyer, however, eventually eminent attorneys Benjamin F. Butler and Thomas Addis Emmet (1764–1827) were counsels for his defense. The jury disagreed on the first trial and convicted Barker on the second trial; but an appeal was granted and the indictment was finally quashed.

New Orleans

He removed to New Orleans in 1834, became prominent in financial circles, was admitted to the bar, and practiced with success in insurance cases. In the 1840s he collaborated with Rowland G. Hazard to secure the release of free African-Americans who were being illegally detained in Louisiana under the assumption they were escaped slaves.[6] He was a majority stockholder in the first version of the St. Charles Hotel.[7] At the close of the American Civil War he was elected to the United States Senate, but as Louisiana had not been readmitted to the Union, he was not allowed to take his seat. In 1867, he was declared bankrupt, and in 1868, he was assaulted at his home in New Orleans.[8]

Barker published The Rebellion: Its Consequences and the Congressional Committee, Denominated the Reconstruction Committee, with their Action (1866).[2]

Personal life

On August 27, 1801, Barker was married to Elizabeth Hazard (1783–1866). She was the daughter of Thomas Hazard Jr. (1758–1828), a descendant of Thomas Hazard, one of the nine founding settlers of Newport, and Anna (née Rodman) Hazard (1762–1845).[9] Together, they were the parents of twelve children, including:[10]

  • Robert Barker (1802–1803), who died young.[9]
  • Robert Barker (1804–1830), who died at sea.[9]
  • Thomas Barker (1807–1876), who died unmarried.[9]
  • William Hazard Barker (1809–1879), who married Jeanette B. James[9][11]
  • Andrew Sigourney Barker (1811–1846), who died unmarried.[9]
  • Anna Hazard Barker (1813–1900), who married Samuel Gray Ward (1817–1907).[9][12]
  • Jacob Barker (1816–1842), who died unmarried.[9][10]
  • Elizabeth Hazard Barker (1817–1878), who married Baldwin Brower, then William T. Van Zandt, then John McCaulis.[9]
  • Sarah Barker (1819–1908), who married John Caile Harrison (1812–1859), then William Henry Hunt (1823–1884), who served as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy.[9]
  • Abraham Barker (1821–1906),[13] who married Sarah Wharton (1821–1866),[10] then Katharine Crane.[9]
  • Mary Barker (1823–1826), who also died young.[9]
  • John Wells Baker (1825–1825), who died young.[9]

Barker died on December 26, 1871 after spending the last few years of his life with his son in Philadelphia.[1] He was eulogized in The New York Times as follows:

His career was a very stormy one, the qualities of the man calling down upon him the envy and malice of inferior people with whom he was brought in contact. But as an example of rectitude and upright dealings, carried consistently through the most gigantic operations and disastrous losses, there is no brighter page in the merchant annals of our country than his business life.[1]

Descendants

Through his son Abraham, he was the grandfather of Wharton Barker (1846–1921), the Populist Party Presidential candidate in 1900.

References

  1. ^ a b c d "OBITUARY. Jacob Barker". The New York Times. 27 December 1871. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d Barker, Jacob (1855). Incidents in the Life of Jacob Barker, of New Orleans, Louisiana: With Historical Facts, His Financial Transactions with the Government and His Course on Important Political Questions, from 1800 to 1855. Washington. Retrieved 31 October 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Hallock, John W. M. The American Byron: Homosexuality and the Fall of Fitz-Greene Halleck. University of Wisconsin Press, 2000: 43. ISBN 0-299-16804-2
  4. ^ "ABRAHAM BARKER.; Tribute to a Remarkable Man, the Son of a Remarkable Father". The New York Times. 10 April 1906. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  5. ^ Hough, Edward (1858). The New York Civil List: Containing the names and origin of the civil divisions, and the names and dates of election or appointment of the principal state and county officers from the Revolution to the present time. Weed, Parsons and Co. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  6. ^ Rowland Gibson Hazard, Rhode Island Manufacturer, Politician, and Philosopher, University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections and University Archives, 2007
  7. ^ Barker 1855, p. 223. sfn error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFBarker1855 (help)
  8. ^ "Assault on Jacob Barker in New-Orleans". The New York Times. 1 May 1868. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Robinson, Caroline Elizabeth (1896). The Hazard Family of Rhode Island, 1635-1894: Being a Genealogy and History of the Descendants of Thomas Hazard ... p. 197. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  10. ^ a b c Jones, Charles Henry (1886). Genealogy of the Rodman Family, 1620 to 1886. Allen, Lane & Scott. pp. 71–72. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  11. ^ Harvard College (1780-) Class of 1863 (1888). Report of the Secretary. John Wilson and Son. p. 200. Retrieved 31 October 2017.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "DIED. Ward". The New York Times. 18 November 1907. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
  13. ^ "ABRAHAM BARKER KILLED.; Philadelphia's Oldest Banker Fell from Car and Fractured His Skull". The New York Times. 9 April 1906. Retrieved 31 October 2017.

Bibliography

Political offices
Preceded by Member of the New York State Senate
for the Southern Dist.
July 1, 1815 – June 30, 1816 		Succeeded by
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