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

Early life[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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[edit]

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

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• 
  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 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 (Public domain ed.).
  


• 
   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "^{article name needed}". New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
  

External links[edit]

• 
  Photograph of Barker at the Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection