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Sources, Links, and Files for the |
Barker Family of KY, Knox/Gibson County, IN & TX
[The following is taken from a family memoir, written by Wilson Hopkins
Barker in October 1901, while staying at the home of his son, B.F. Barker,
Hood County, TX. Donna Kaminsky]
by Wilson H. Barker
October 15, 1901
Birth and Native State:
I was born in Princeton, Gibson County, Indiana, February 19, 1819. My father's name was William Barker; my mother's maiden name was Abiah Hopkins. They married in Kentucky about the beginning of the last century.
Immigration:
About the same time my father and three of his brothers and two of his full sisters and one half-brother and one half-sister immigrated to Indiana, Gibson County. His brothers names, John, Elias, and Jesse; his sisters, Mary who married Joseph Skidmore who subsequently moved to White County, Indiana; and Mrs. Grishem, her given name I have forgotten; his half brother, James Stewart; his half sister, Polly, married William Hanks, a Primative Baptist preacher. About the same time two of my mother's brothers moved to Indiana in Warrick County, their names Frank and Henry Hopkins. She had a cousin in William Hopkins, who came with them. He died soon after. His widow married Charles Juco.
Family Record:
John Barker, the oldest, I know but little about his family. He moved to the lead mines in Missouri as far back as I can remember. He had three sons, William, Allen, and Jackson who came back to Indiana. Uncle John froze to death in Missouri.
Elias Barker married Miss Polly Fitzgerald. They had five sons, James, John, Jesse, Stewart, and William. I remember but two daughters - their names forgotten. The oldest married Long John Woods as he was called. The other married Will Lagrange. Financially Uncle Elias was just a good liver. He died in Gibson County at a ripe old age.
Aunt Polly Stewart and William moved to Illinois about 1841 and settled on the Little Wabash where they were in 1846. William was cross-eyed; James had but one eye. John moved to Texas in 1844 or 5 and he saw a moccasin track, it was said, and he loaded his wagon and went back to his old neighborhood where he was last heard from, an influential citizen and successful farmer. He said he left Texas to save his wife and children from the scalping knife of the Indians.
William, John Barker's son, moved to Texas from Missouri in 1848 and was drowned in Little River.
Jesse Barker, the youngest of the four brothers, married Miss Elizabeth Kee, by which was born four sons, and as many or more daughters. The boys were William, Stewart, Jackson, and Hiram; the youngest, was in Mount Vernon on the Ohio River, county forgotten, and a banker and rich when I last heard from him. The other two boys I know nothing about. Uncle Jesse lived 12 miles S.W. of Princeton, Gibson County, Indiana. He was a successful farmer and a lover of fine stock of all kinds, and did much in improving the same in that country. He and wife died on the place where I first knew them at a ripe old age. I will say here that Aunt Betsy as we called her had a brother, William Kee, who was employed in building the first steam mill at Princeton when he lost his balance and fell from the top of the building and broke his back from which he recovered but he could never walk. He learned the shoemaker's trade.
At the beginning of my sketch, I spoke of William Barker, my father, his marriage, etc. He and my mother had twelve children, nine girls and three boys.
Girls names:
Eliza [m. 1) Isaac Banta, 2) McDaniel]
Pamelia [m. Grant Clutter]
Annie [m. 1) Samuel Hart, 2) Ira Baldwin]
Manerva
Silistina
Abiah [m. 1) William Dyer, 2) ?Philip Jackson]
Paline [Paline m. John Embree]
Elizabeth [sickly all her life and died in TX with consumption]
Mary [Polly m. James Crowder in TX]
Sons:
Wilson Hopkins [m. 1) Mariah Mills, 2) Eliza Jane Brumley]
William Washington [m. Almire Harlo]
Henry Clay
They were all born and raised in Gibson County, Indiana except the three younger, Washington, Mary and Henry, they attained their majority in Texas.
Mary Barker, my father's sister, married Joseph Skidmore. They moved from Kentucky to Indiana before I could remember and settled in White County. They had 22 children...One son, named William, lived in Warrick County. They had a daughter her name, I have forgotten, she married Moses McKinney...
My father had another sister, name forgotten. She married Thomas Grishem in Kentucky and moved to Warrick County, Indiana in about 1836 or 7. They had a large family, mostly girls; names forgotten, except 3 boys, James, Thomas and David.
James Stewart, my father's half-brother, had 5 boys and 2 girls
-- William, John, James, Harrison and Robert; the girls names forgotten.
One married Jacob Johnson, the other a Mr. Simpson. William
sold goods and shipped produce at Mt. Vernon, on the Ohio, Indiana. He
was a cripple.
Transcribed, Contributed and Copyright © 1998 by Donna Kaminsky <RLK1714@aol.com>
See below for supporting records. More information about this family will be welcomed!
Supporting Marriage Records:
Mary Sarah Barker m. Joseph Skidmore, 6 Apr 1795, Madison
County, KY
Elias Barker m. Mary Polly Fitsjarel, 25 July 1798, Madison
County, KY
Jesse Barker m. Betsy Key, 20 Mar 1812, Gibson County,
IN
Eliza Barker m. Isaac Banta, 22 Sep 1822, Warrick County,
IN
Lucinda Barker m. John Woods, 26 May 1825, Gibson County,
IN
Pamelia Barker m. Grant Clutter, 16 Sep 1826, Warrick
County, IN
Annie Margaret Barker m. Samuel Hart, 19 Aug 1827, Gibson
County, IN
Virginia Barker m. William Lagrange, 20 Jan 1831, Gibson
County, IN
Mary (Polly) Barker m. Jas Crowder, 3 Jan 1842, Lamar
County, TX
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