Wintersmith Books



James Barker of Shoeshine, England, was born in 1617/18. He settled in Rhode Island in or about 1634, having come over on the ship Mary and John.  He married Grace Kilbourne (1613-1665) At some point he moved his family to NY State by 1641. He died in 1678. He was a descendant of the ancient and honorable Barker family of Shropshire, England. This is an old English family. Those of its members in the United States who are of colonial ancestry may trace their lineage from four ancestors, all of whom left their English homes in the seventeenth century to try their fortunes in the splendid heritage then opening to the English race.

James Barker was born in 1641 in Suffolk County, NY.  On January 5, 1675, he married Mercy Jones (Massachusetts Town and vital records) who was born May 4, 1647, daughter of Griffith Jones (1614-Feb. 19,1676 in Springfield, MA) and Sarah.  They lived in Springfield, MA by 1676.  James Barker was a proprietor of Suffield, CT, and had some land there. Mercy died May 27, 1717 in Springfield, Massachusetts at the age of 70. Their children were Samuel, Oliver (died in Suffield), Abiel and Joseph.  Among the names of the first grantees and proprietors of Suffield, CT in 1682 (one hundred in number), many of whom were from Springfield and Windsor is James Barker:

Joseph Barker was born on November 7, 1676, in Springfield, MA, (VR), nine months after his father’s death. On January 31, 1712 (age 36), in Springfield, he married Elizabeth Lee (born in1678-). He died in 1737 (ancestry family tree).

Their children were:

Elkahnah (1715-1715)

Elizabeth (1716-1719)

Joseph (1718- )

Elizabeth (1721- )

James (1723- )

Sarah (1725- )

Oliver (1730- ) named for his Uncle who died in 1727 in Suffield.

Mary (1734-1799)

.

Oliver Barker was born on September 12, 1730 in Springfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. On April 13, 1757, he married Ruth Smith in Suffield, CT. She was the daughter of William Smith of Walsenburg (part of the town of Essex).

Their children were: (from ancestry.com)

Ruth b. Sept. 16, 1757 (died young)

Anna, born Feb. 16, 1759 in Suffield, CT

Elizabeth born August 19, 1760 in Hartford, CT

Oliver December 2, 1760 1760 in Suffield, CT

Reuben December 17, 1764

Ruth 1766-1862

Birth:  December 2, 1760 (2 Dec 1760) – Hartford records for state.
Death:  July 26, 1849 (26 Jul 1849) - Minerva, Essex, New York, United States
Marriage:  23 Mar 1785 - Suffield Depot, Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Spouse:  Ruth Barnard.

OLIVER BARKER was born on December 2, 1760 in Suffield Depot, Hartford, CT. as American colonists created the foundation of a burgeoning new country. On March 23, 1785, he married Ruth Barnard (1766-1851).  Picture is of early Suffield.

By 1790, Oliver moved his family to Essex County, NY. Their children were

Ezrah Barker, born January 19, 1785 in Suffield, CT. died 1855

Oliver Barker Jr.  born 1787-90 in Suffield, CT (known as Nehemiah O. Barker)

Sarah Barker, born 1789, who married Aaron Hayes. D. 1852

David (1790-1875) in Essex, NY

James (1794-1875) Essex, NY

Dorcas (1796-1866) Essex, NY

Henry Barker, born 1802 in Essex, Essex, NY In 1805 Essex was formed from the town of Willsborough. He married Jane who was born about 1816. She died in January of 1870 in Willsborough, Essex, NY.  By 1820 they lived in Watertown, which is near Lake Ontario.

In the 1790 census of Benson, Vermont, actually taken in 1791, there is one Oliver Barker Listed, along with Heman Wallace (probably Herman) and William Winters. Did Oliver Barker live there in 1790-91 when New York gave up its claim to Vermont? Benson, VT is very close to Crown Point, Essex, NY.

By 1800, Oliver and his family lived in Willsborough, Crown Point, Essex, NY (Genealogical Register). He was a navigator on Lake Champlain. (See article in italics at the end of the chapter).

In 1810, Oliver was in Chesterfield, Essex, NY with 14 people in the household. (Census)

He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War. He served in the 121 Regiment (Stewart’s New York, Militia, as a private in the war of 1812 from 1812-1815. He was a NY pensioner in 1840. Ruth applied for his pension in 1850. (Widows pension Application File, M804, Archive Roll 143In 1840 Oliver lived in Essex County, New York (census) He was 78 years old.

Oliver died on July 26, 1849 in Minerva, Essex Co., NY and was buried in the Essex Cemetery in Essex, NY. Below is a picture of his gravestone.Oliver, 1761 in Suffield, CT, died between Jun 1, 1849 and June 1, 1850 in Minerva, Essex, NY. Mortality lists were from June 1 of one year to June 1 of the next.

Ruth died in 1851 in Minerva, Essex Co., NY

Information from the “Find-a-Grave” Index on the web

Gravestone of Oliver Barker

Both Henry Barker and Oliver (Nehemiah Oliver) were boatmen on Lake Champlain. (see below in italics)

NEHEMIAH O. BARKER was born about 1787-90 in Suffield, CT (1850 census of Lewis, Essex, NY says Vermont). By 1790 his parents removed to Essex County, New York State and lived in Russell, DeKalb, Hermon, Lewis and Rossie. Nehemiah Barker served in the War of 1812 from 1812 – 1815. **

In May of 1813 he married Polly Hatch, born March 1794-6 in Cooperstown, NY, daughter of David Hatch (son of Samuel and Naomi) and Anna Tanner (Thomas Tanner of Cornwall). They settled in Lewis, Essex County, NY. They had ten children including Ann Eliza Barker who marked Benjamin J. Bull in 1836 and their first child was Ellen (Sarah Ellen Jane Bull) who married Amos Winters.

1.   Jane born Nov. 8, 1814 in DeKalb. In 1836 she married Amos Keth; In 1867 in Canton, NY she married Richard Allen.  A death record in Lansing, Michigan shows that on December 10 of 1894, aged 80, she died of accidental burns. The record says she is widowed and names Nehemiah as her father.

2.   Clarissa b. Feb.  1816 in DeKalb, m. Orley Gibbons, d. 1854

3.   Ann Eliza 1818 in DeKalb

4.   Timothy H.  b. May 8, 1820 in DeKalb. M. Caroline Freeman

5.   Chesley 1822

6.   Millie 1824, m. Lorenzo Harris. Ch: Willy and Mary

7.   Priscilla, born in 1826, married Calvin Knox of Russell in 1852. They had two children, Helen and Jestine (or Justin).

8.   Jestine 1828.  Married Presby Lowell, ch.: Harris and Lorenzo.

9.   William 1830 married Mary Freeman. Ch; Bertie, Willie, Mary, Fred

10.                Charles 1832, d. 1864, Andersonville, Macon, Georgia.

The 1820 Census of DeKalb, St. Lawrence, NY, shows Nehemiah O. Barker. With total of 5 persons.

The 1830 census shows Nehemiah in Morristown, St. Lawrence, NY, with total of 12 persons.

The 1840 census of Lewis, Essex, NY shows Nehemiah O. with total of 8 persons, 1 m under 5 (Charles?), 1 5-10 (William?), 2 15-20 (Chesley and Millie? Is Millie a girl or boy?), 1 50-60 (Nehemiah). Females 2 10-15 (Priscilla and Jestine), 1 40-50) Polly. *

1850 census of Lewis shows Nehemiah, 63, a farmer, Polly, 56, Priscilla 22 (m. in 1852), William 17 and Charles, 10 in Lewis, Essex, NY, and Julia Allen Barker, age 13. (born 1847) (was this Jane Barker Keth Allen’s daughter? (Jane would have been 33, but in 1847 still married to Amos Keth. Perhaps Julia was her daughter and went with the name Allen)

The 1860 census of Russell, St. Lawrence Co., NY shows Nehemiah Barker age 70, birth year 1790, born New York (or Connecticut). He is listed as a farm laborer, and Polly as a “Domestic”.

Polly is 63, Charles E. is 20, Julia Allen is 23 (related), Priscilla Knox is 30, her husband Galvin Knox is 31. They have children Helen age 1 and Justin E.   age 1 ½

Polly Hatch Barker  died in 1862 in Russell and Nehemiah died in 1863

Ann Eliza Barker was born in January of 1818 in DeKalb, St. Lawrence County, NY. She married Benjamin J. Bull (see BULL)

Henry and N. Oliver were “pilots” (boatmen) on Lake Champlain

Lake Champlain boating commerce.

The opening of the Champlain Canal fundamentally affected the economic development of the Champlain Valley. Extractive industries experienced a surge of activity as entrepreneurs hastened to take advantage of the new unrestricted domestic market for their products. Agricultural surpluses could be shipped quickly and inexpensively to urban centers along the Eastern Seaboard. The Champlain Canal also provided residents of Vermont and northeastern New York with manufactured goods and raw materials that had previously cost a great deal to ship overland or import from Canada. The year 1823 marked the end of the Champlain Valley's relative isolation from the outside world and its entry into the national economy. The opening of the canal created a demand not only for canal boats, but also for vessels to transport cargoes between Whitehall and other ports on the lake. Lake sloops and schooners initially met this demand, as cargoes were transferred from standard canal boats to conventional sailing lake craft at each end of the Champlain Canal. The capacity and number of sloops and schooners increased dramatically after the opening of the canal, and small-scale shipbuilding operations were set up at many of the smaller lakeside towns. The number and types of vessels that passed over Lake Champlain’s waters greatly increased after 1823. The canal's shallow channels, low bridges, and narrow locks were too restrictive for nearly all of the existing lake merchant craft, so large numbers of long, narrow, shallow-draft boats were constructed for canal service. Three types of canal vessels were employed during the early years of the canal: standard canal boats, sailing canal boats, and packets. All of these craft were towed through the canal by teams of mules or horses. By 1833, there were 232 cargo- and passenger-carrying canal boats registered at towns along Lake Champlain and the canal. Shipyards that specialized in the building of standard canal boats and packets appeared in the southern portion of Lake Champlain and at towns along the Champlain Canal. Shipbuilders at the northern end of the lake occasionally constructed sloop- or schooner-rigged canal boats that could sail up to Whitehall, unstep their masts, raise a centerboard or leeboards, and pass through the canal.

                                                         - Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, Era of Waterborne Commerce

Citing this Record

"United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHY4-Y59: 15 August 2017), Nehemiah O Barker, Lewis, Essex, New York, United States; citing p. 76, NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 282; FHL microfilm 17,187.

**Citing this Record