Jacob Barker

He was born on December 17, 1779, in Swan's Island, Maine, of Quaker parentage. He was the son of Robert Barker and Sarah (née Folger) Gardner, who was born on Nantucket. His mother was a widow of Hezekiah Gardner, with whom she had a son, Gideon Gardner, who served as a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. His parents married in April 1763.

He also went by JB.

Barker was an extended relation of Benjamin Franklin through his mother, who was a cousin of Franklin's mother, Abiah Folger Franklin, and grandfather Peter Folger.

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,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}} 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.{{cite news|title=ABRAHAM BARKER.; Tribute to a Remarkable Man, the Son of a Remarkable Father.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F02E1DC113EE733A25753C1A9629C946797D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=31 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=10 April 1906}}{{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/99-01-02-4825 |title=To James Madison from Jacob Barker, 26 December 1815 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=December 26, 1815 |website=National Archives Founders Online |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration}}{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mjm018038/ |title=Jacob Barker to James Madison, December 26, 1815 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=December 26, 1815 |series=U.S. LOC Manuscript Division |publisher=United States Library of Congress}}

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.{{cite book|last1=Hough|first1=Edward|title=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|date=1858|publisher=Weed, Parsons and Co.|url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkcivillis00houggoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkcivillis00houggoog/page/n148 122]|access-date=31 October 2017|language=en}}

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.

On August 23, 1814, First Lady Dolley Madison fulfilled U.S. President James Madison appeal to abandon the White House after rooftop observations confirming the British red coats approaching the horizon of the Executive Mansion.{{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-08-02-0135 |title=From James Madison to Dolley Madison, 23 August 1814 |last=Madison |first=James |date=August 23, 1814 |website=National Archives Founders Online |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration}} Dolley Madison directed Paul Jennings, gardener John McGraw, and John Sioussat to remove the Gilbert Stuart oil painting of Colonial America's First President George Washington from the East Room.{{harvnb|Barker|1855|pages=[https://archive.org/details/incidentsinlifeo00bark/page/110 110–112]|loc=Record of Mrs. Madison}}{{cite web |url=https://www.nyhistory.org/sites/default/files/newfiles/cwh-curriculum/Module%201/Resources/Resource%206%20Saving%20Washington.pdf |title=Dolley Madison's Extract - Tuesday, August 23, 1814 |trans-title=Resource 6: Saving Washington |website=NYHistory.org |publisher=New-York Historical Society}}{{cite web |url=https://www.whitehousehistory.org/saving-the-washington-portrait |title=Saving the Washington Portrait |website=WhiteHouseHistory.org |publisher=White House Historical Association}}

File:L'enfant plan of Washington, D.C..jpg

After the removal of the iconic portrait from the White House event and reception room, the frameless life-size canvas painting was furnished to Jacob Barker and Robert Gilbert Livingston De Peyster for safe passage during the progression of the War of 1812. Mr. Barker and Mr. De Peyster routed the iconic portrait through Montgomery County while consistently distant to the boundary markers of the District of Columbia.{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-40066708/ |last=Baker |first=Marcus |title=The Boundary Monuments of the District of Columbia |year=1897 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Records of the Columbia Historical Society}}{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/jstor-40066956/ |title=A Ramble along the Boundary Stones of the District of Columbia with a Camera |last=Woodward |first=Fred E. |year=1907 |website=Internet Archive |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Records of the Columbia Historical Society}} As the daylight hours retreated and a vortex storm approached Washington City, Mr. Barker and Mr. De Peyster sought refuge for the night at a farmhouse near Tiber Creek which was a tributary of the Potomac River.{{harvnb|Barker|1855|pages=[https://archive.org/details/incidentsinlifeo00bark/page/109 109–110]}}{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfTiberCreekWashingtonD.c/ |title=A History of Tiber Creek, Washington, D.C. |last=Owens |first=H. Malcolm |date=April 23, 1937 |website=Internet Archive |publisher=University of Maryland Libraries}} The George Washington painting remained at the farmhouse as Mr. Barker and Mr. De Peyster proceeded their northern journey towards New York while eluding the British Royal Army and Naval commands who occupied the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay territories.{{harvnb|Barker|1855|pages=[https://archive.org/details/incidentsinlifeo00bark/page/116 116–118]|loc=Explanation of Saving the Portrait}}

On the eve to the Burning of Washington, Charles Carroll of Bellevue aided Dolley Madison's expeditious departure from the White House to the Dumbarton House occurring August 23, 1814. In 1843, Daniel Carroll, son of Charles Carroll of Bellevue, questioned the accuracy of statements published in the New York Evening Express and New York Herald concerning Charles Carroll's participation in the dismantling and removal of Lansdowne portrait from the White House East Room.{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Letter_from_Dolley_Madison_to_Robert_G_L_De_Peyster_February_11_1848 |title=Letter from Dolley Madison to Robert G. L. De Peyster (February 11, 1848) |last=Madison |first=D.P. |date=February 11, 1848 |website=EncyclopediaVirginia.org |publisher=Virginia Foundation for the Humanities}}{{harvnb|Barker|1855|loc=Letter to Daniel J. Carroll – New Orleans, February 8, 1843 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/incidentsinlifeo00bark/page/112 112–116]}}

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 (cousin to Barker's wife, Elizabeth) to secure the release of free African-Americans who were being illegally detained in Louisiana under the assumption they were escaped slaves.[http://www.uri.edu/library/special_collections/exhibits/hazard/Rowland%20G%20Hazard.html Rowland Gibson Hazard, Rhode Island Manufacturer, Politician, and Philosopher], University of Rhode Island Library, Special Collections and University Archives, 2007 The jailed sailors were held without the opportunity to testify to their status as free men, or to contact those who would testify on their behalf, and would ultimately be sold at auction. Barker and Hazard were initially barred from the New Orleans jail, but obtained court orders. They succeeded in securing the freedom of a few men and persuading a New Orleans grand jury to report on the matter, but were unable to create any systemic change.Polgar, P.J., 2023. Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction.

He was a majority stockholder in the first version of the St. Charles Hotel.{{sfn|Barker|1855|p=[https://archive.org/details/incidentsinlife01barkgoog/page/n238 223]}} 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.{{cite news|title=Assault on Jacob Barker in New-Orleans.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9E00E3DB1730EE34BC4953DFB3668383679FDE&legacy=true|access-date=31 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=1 May 1868}}

Barker published The Rebellion: Its Consequences and the Congressional Committee, Denominated the Reconstruction Committee, with their Action (1866).{{harvnb|Barker|1855}}

File:Jacob Barker - DPLA - 9ef1add895bef5beeb7a578e02f03fb2 (page 1).jpg

On August 27, 1801, Barker was married to Elizabeth Hazard. She was the daughter of Thomas Hazard Jr., a descendant of Thomas Hazard, one of the nine founding settlers of Newport, and Anna (née Rodman) Hazard.{{cite book|last1=Robinson|first1=Caroline Elizabeth|title=The Hazard Family of Rhode Island, 1635-1894: Being a Genealogy and History of the Descendants of Thomas Hazard ...|date=1896|page=197|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ips-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA197|access-date=31 October 2017|language=en}} Together, they were the parents of twelve children, including:{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Charles Henry|title=Genealogy of the Rodman Family, 1620 to 1886|date=1886|publisher=Allen, Lane & Scott|pages=71–72|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uJRPAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA72|access-date=31 October 2017|language=en}}

• Robert Barker (1802–1803), who died young.
• Robert Barker (1804–1830), who died at sea.
• Thomas Barker (1807–1876), who died unmarried.
• William Hazard Barker (1809–1879), who married Jeanette B. James{{cite book|last1=Harvard College (1780-) Class of 1863|title=Report of the Secretary|date=1888|publisher=John Wilson and Son|page=200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-4hAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA200|access-date=31 October 2017|language=en}}
• Andrew Sigourney Barker (1811–1846), who died unmarried.
• Anna Hazard Barker (1813–1900), who married Samuel Gray Ward (1817–1907).{{cite news|title=DIED. Ward|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9B05E0DD1F3EE233A2575BC1A9679D946697D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=31 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=18 November 1907}}
• Jacob Barker (1816–1842), who died unmarried.
• Elizabeth Hazard Barker (1817–1878), who married Baldwin Brower, then William T. Van Zandt, then John McCaulis.
• 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.
• Abraham Barker (1821–1906),{{cite news|title=ABRAHAM BARKER KILLED.; Philadelphia's Oldest Banker Fell from Car and Fractured His Skull.|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F05E3DC113EE733A2575AC0A9629C946797D6CF&legacy=true|access-date=31 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=9 April 1906}} who married Sarah Wharton (1821–1866), then Katharine Crane.
• Mary Barker (1823–1826), who also died young.
• John Wells Baker (1825–1825), who died young.

Barker died on December 26, 1871, after spending the last few years of his life with his son in Philadelphia.{{cite news|title=OBITUARY. Jacob Barker|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0CE5D61639EF34BC4F51DFB467838A669FDE&legacy=true|access-date=31 October 2017|work=The New York Times|date=27 December 1871}} 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.

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

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-03-02-0423 |title=To James Madison from Jacob Barker, 1 July 1811 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=July 1, 1811 |website=National Archives Founders Online |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mjm016246/ |title=Jacob Barker to James Madison, July 1, 1811 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=July 1, 1811 |series=U.S. LOC Manuscript Division |publisher=United States Library of Congress}}
• {{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-04-02-0211 |title=To James Madison from Jacob Barker, 24 February 1812 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=February 24, 1812 |website=National Archives Founders Online |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mjm016487/ |title=Jacob Barker to James Madison, February 24, 1812 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=February 24, 1812 |series=U.S. LOC Manuscript Division |publisher=United States Library of Congress}}
• {{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-04-02-0401 |title=To James Madison from Jacob Barker, 12 May 1812 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=May 12, 1812 |website=National Archives Founders Online |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mjm016231/ |title=Jacob Barker to James Madison, May 12, 1812 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=May 12, 1812 |series=U.S. LOC Manuscript Division |publisher=United States Library of Congress}}
• {{cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/03-06-02-0495 |title=To James Madison from Jacob Barker, 13 August 1813 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=August 13, 1813 |website=National Archives Founders Online |publisher=U.S. National Archives and Records Administration}}
• {{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/mjm017047/ |title=Jacob Barker to James Madison, August 13, 1813 |last=Barker |first=Jacob |date=August 13, 1813 |series=U.S. LOC Manuscript Division |publisher=United States Library of Congress}}
• {{Source-attribution| {{cite book|last=Barker|first=Jacob|title=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|url=https://archive.org/details/incidentsinlife01barkgoog|edition=Public domain|year=1855|oclc=665224729}} }}
• {{New International Encyclopedia|wstitle=Barker, Jacob}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.lincolncollection.org/collection/all/item/?view=text&pagesize=36&item=41473 Photograph of Barker] at the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection

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{{succession box

| before = Elbert H. Jones

| title = Member of the New York State Senate
for the Southern District

| years = July 1, 1815 – June 30, 1816

| after = Walter Bowne

}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Jacob}}

Category:1779 births

Category:1871 deaths

Category:American people of the War of 1812

Category:American bankers

Category:Politicians from New York City

Category:People from Hancock County, Maine

Category:Politicians from New Orleans

Category:New York (state) state senators

Category:Lawyers from New Orleans

Category:Businesspeople from New Orleans

Category:Lawyers from New York City

Category:Historians from New York (state)

Category:Historians from Louisiana

Category:19th-century members of the New York State Legislature