The Barker family of Troy, New York, is of English ancestry, the present being the third generation in the United States on the paternal side. The maternal lines they trace back to the landing of the Pilgrims and the "Mayflower." Their line connects with several of the oldest New England families — the Molines, Aldens, Daytons, Gallups, Averys and others. The English line is traced three generations in England to the first authentic date and record.
(I) Francis Barker, of Halthaw, Yorkshire, England, married, March 11, 1777, Elizabeth Fieldhouse, after the banns had been duly published by the rector of the parish church, Rev. J. Stittingfleet, on the four preceding Sabbaths.
(II) Francis (2), son of Francis (1) and Elizabeth (Fieldhouse) Barker, was born at Halthaw, England, January 21, 1778, died at Scalter, Lincolnshire, England, August 9, 1842. He was a gamekeeper on the estate of the Earl of Yarborough. His wife kept a small store in the village. He married Rebecca Whitlow, born in Lincolnshire, England, June 19, 1788, died August 5, 1844. Children: Francis, Rebecca, William, Elizabeth, Thomas and Mary.
(III) Thomas, son of Francis (2) and Rebecca (Whitlow) Barker, was born at Scalter, Lincolnshire, England, April 3, 1819, died at Watervliet, Albany county, New York, December 22, 1900. He was a blacksmith by trade. He emigrated to the United States in 1848 and settled at West Troy, New York (now city of Watervliet), where he lived and worked at his trade. He was a devout follower of John Wesley, and was an exhorter or local preacher. He was an original member of the Troy Praying Band, and for some time the leader. This was a church organization of note in Troy in that day. During the civil war he served on the Christian Commission and rendered such service as he was able. He married, at Martin, Gainsboro, Lincolnshire, England, October 2, 1841, Eliza Cook, born in that shire, September 11, 1819, died at Watervliet, New York. She was a milliner by trade and kept a shop in West Troy. She was a devoted Methodist, and was noted in the church for her sweet singing at the revival meetings and other services. Children:
- and 2. Twin daughters, died at birth;
- John, died in infancy;
- William (see forward).
(IV) William, only child to survive infancy of Thomas and Eliza (Cook) Barker, was born in Brigg, Lincolnshire, England, October 4, 1844. He was brought to the United States in 1848 by his parents, and in West Troy, New York, was educated and taught the blacksmith's trade by his father. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company H, One Hundred and Thirteenth New York Volunteer Infantry, afterward New York Heavy Artillery, again an infantry regiment, nicknamed "Hancock's Cavalry." He was mustered in August, 1862, promoted corporal, June 6, 1863, promoted sergeant, December 14, 1863, mustered out June 16, 1865, at the close of the war, at Fort Federal Hill, Baltimore, Maryland. He saw hard service with the Army of the Potomac, and engaged in many of the hard-fought battles which made that army famous. After the war, being still a young man, hardly out of his teens, he served an apprenticeship at collar cutting, and worked at that with several firms, finally becoming manager for Douglass Corning. This was the forerunner of several partnership agreements, D. Corning & Company, Corning & Barker, and on the death of Mr. Corning, Mr. Barker assumed the business under his own name and so continued until 1899. In that year, desiring to admit his son and some others to an interest in the business, a corporation was formed called the William Barker Company, of which he was the first president and so continues (1910). The company manufactures the Barker brand of collars and cuffs; their plant is located at Watervliet, New York. Mr. Barker has other business interests and connections. He is director of the Union National Bank, Troy, and of the National Bank of Watervliet, New York. He was a director of the Round Lake Camp Meeting Association, and of the American Bank and Trust Company, of Pasadena, California, as well as having an interest in other corporations in which he held no official connection. Although he has retired from the more arduous labors of business, he remains at the head of William Barker Company and retains all the interest of his younger days. He is a Republican in political sympathy, but never took active part in public affairs. He is a member of many of Troy's social and out-of-doors clubs, namely: The Troy, Colonial, Island Golf, Round Lake Golf and others.
He married, at West Troy, Albany county, New York, June 23, 1868, Mary Emeline Dayton, born in West Troy, December 15, 1844, daughter of Nathan Crary and Margaret (MacGillway) Dayton (see "Mayflower" line forward). The family residences have been at West Troy, Troy, Round Lake, New York, and Pasadena, California. The latter residence is used a great deal by Mrs. Barker, who finds in that genial climate relief from bodily ailments that afflict her. Children:
- Edwin Dayton, died at age of nine years.
- William, see forward.
- Frank Halliday, died aged five years.
- Charles Moore, died aged three years.
- Douglass Corning, died in infancy.
- Irving Haynes, born at West Troy, May 31, 1882.
- Mary Dayton, born March 23, 1886.
Four sons died in December, 1879, two on one day, during an epidemic of scarlet fever.
(V) William (2), son of William (1) and Mary E. (Dayton) Barker, was born in West Troy, Albany county, New York, August 1, 1873. He escaped the epidemic that carried off four of the brothers. He was an attendant at the private school of Miss Harris; later at Troy Academy and Albany Academy. He left school at the holiday recess, 1889, to go to work, starting as an apprentice in the cutting room of his father's factory the first Monday in January, 1890. He rose through successive grades to be a member of the William Barker Company. He is a member of the Troy Citizens Corps, Pafraets Dael Club, Colonial Club, Chamber of Commerce, Albany Academy Alumni Association, Island Golf Club, Lametide Fish and Game Club, Beck Literary Society, and others. He is secretary of the Society Sons of the Revolution, and greatly interested in the compiling and preservation of family records and genealogies. It is from his perfectly kept and arranged records that the material for this family line is obtained. He married, October 12, 1899, Florence Herring, born in Harrington Park, Bergen county, New Jersey, and educated at the Englewood and Paterson, New Jersey, high schools. Child:
- William, born in Troy, New York, March 25, 1908.
Mr. Barker resides in Troy, New York.
("Mayflower" line of Mary E. Dayton, wife of William Barker)
The Dayton family of England can be traced to Robert de Deighton, and the year 1305. In America the family begins with Ralph Dayton and the year 1636. He was born in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, London, England, 1598; married there Agnes, daughter of Henry Pool, and by her had two sons, Robert and Samuel. After the death of his wife he emigrated to New England (Boston), where he arrived in 1636. In 1639 he was of New Haven, Connecticut, where he is mentioned at length in the early records, church and town. He was one of the original settlers at Easthampton, Long Island, where his deed to land is the earliest on record except perhaps the Indian deed. He was constable and a man of importance. He married (second) in New Haven it is believed, Dorothy Brewster, by whom he had a son, Brewster Dayton. He married (third) Mary, widow of John Haynes, in June, 1656. He died at Easthampton in 1658.
(II) Robert, eldest son of Ralph and his first wife, Agnes (Pool) Dayton, was born in London, England, in 1630, died at Easthampton, Long Island, April 16, 1712. He married, 1652, Elizabeth, daughter of John (2) and granddaughter of John (1) and Annie Woodruff, the first settlers. Children: Elizabeth, Samuel (see forward), Beriah.
(III) Samuel, eldest son of Robert and Elizabeth (Woodruff) Dayton, was born in Easthampton, Long Island, in 1665, died there January 30, 1746. He married Dorothy ————, who died March 22, 1750, aged eighty-six years. Children: Robert, Daniel, Joanna, Nathan, Jonathan, Samuel and Elizabeth.
(IV) Nathan, son of Samuel and Dorothy Dayton, was born at Easthampton, Long Island, 1702, died there October 3, 1763. He married, November 11, 1725, Amy Stratton, born 1698, died September 25, 1749. Children: Samuel, Nathan, Nathan, Amy, Elizabeth, Abraham, Joana, Abraham, Jonathan.
(V) Captain Nathan (2), son of Nathan (1) and Amy (Stratton) Dayton, was baptized at Easthampton, Long Island, 1728, died there 1773. He married, January 27, 1751, Phebe Mulford. Children: Nathan, Jonathan, Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary, Abraham, Elias, Joana, Amy and Phoebe.
(VI) Nathan (3), son of Nathan (2) and Phoebe (Mulford) Dayton, was born at Easthampton, Long Island, about 1754, died in Rensselaerville, Albany county, New York, October 26, 1842. He left Long Island about 1800 and settled in Albany county, where he died. He served in the revolutionary war, enlisting in March or April, 1776, as private in Captain John Davis's company, Colonel Henry B. Livingston's regiment, New York militia, served nine months. He drew a revolutionary pension, and the papers, still preserved, show his service. He was a farmer of Albany county, New York.
Nathan Dayton married Mehitable Hutchinson, and they were the parents of twelve children. He married (second) Ruth, widow of Nathan Crary, of Mystic, Connecticut. Children: Nathan, Abraham, Hannah, Phoebe, Elias, Maria, Henry, Lewis M., Helen, Samuel H., Eliza C.
(VII) Samuel H., son of Nathan (3) and Mehitable (Hutchinson) Dayton, was born in Easthampton, Long Island, where he was baptized 1790; he died in Troy, New York, July, 1864. He was a farmer of Albany county; later removed to near Troy, Rensselaer county, New York, where he died. He served in the war of 1812. He married, in 1812, Sarah Searles Crary, born in Groton, Connecticut, May 25, 1793, died in Troy, New York, March 6, 1846, daughter of Nathan and Ruth (Searles) Crary. Her widowed mother became the second wife of Nathan Dayton. Children of Samuel H. and Sarah S. (Crary) Dayton: Harriet, Nathan C., Clarice, Emma P., Edwin C., Jesse C., George C., Helen, Eliza C., Mary A. It is through the Searles marriage that the line of descent to the "Mayflower" is traced.
(VIII) Nathan Crary, son of Samuel H. and Sarah S. (Crary) Dayton, was born in Rensselaerville, Albany county, New York, April 2, 1816, died at West Troy, same county, December 21, 1859. He was a farmer. He married, March, 1841, Margaret MacGilvray, born in Troy, New York, July 24, 1826, died in West Troy, February 11, 1878. Children: Mary Emmeline, Delia Searles, Emma Jane.
(IX) Mary Emmeline, daughter of Nathan Crary and Margaret (MacGilvray) Dayton, was born December 15, 1844. She married William Barker (see Barker IV).
(The Crary Line)
(I) The American ancestor was Peter Crary, born in Scotland, about 1640; settled at New London, Connecticut, 1663; married Christobel, daughter of John and Hannah (Lake) Gallup, and granddaughter of John and Christobel Gallup, of Massachusetts.
(II) Peter (2), son of Peter (1) and Christobel (Gallup) Crary, was born in Stonington, Connecticut, April 30, 1682; married, January 11, 1709-10, Ann Culver.
(III) Nathan, son of Peter (2) and Ann (Culver) Crary, was born in Groton, Connecticut, October 7, 1717. He was a soldier of the revolution. He was in Captain Cady's company, Colonel Chapman's regiment, August 2, 1778; discharged September 12, 1778. He married Ruth Searles (see Searles), born at Preston, Connecticut, in 1773. Children: Jesse, and Sarah Searles Crary, the latter of whom married Samuel H. Dayton (see Dayton VII).
(The Searles Line)
(I) The emigrant ancestor was Robert Searles, who died in Dorchester, Massachusetts, February 17, 1717. He married, in 1660, Deborah ————, who died March 2, 1714.
(II) Nathaniel, son of Robert and Deborah Searles, was born June 9, 1662, died 1749-50. He was of Little Compton, Rhode Island, about 1696, where he was the first school teacher in the town. He married, about 1694, Sarah Rogers, born in Duxbury, Massachusetts, May 4, 1677, died January 19, 1770, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Peabodie) Rogers. (It is through the Peabodie family the line continues to the "Mayflower.") John Rogers was a son of John and Ann (Churchman) Rogers, and grandson of Thomas Rogers, a "Mayflower" passenger.
(III) Nathaniel (2), son of Nathaniel (1) and Sarah (Rogers) Searles, was born April 26, 1703, died December 8, 1781. He married, January 18, 1722, Elizabeth Kunnicutt, born 1701, died December 11, 1781, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Luther) Kunnicutt, and granddaughter of Roger and Joana (Stephenson) Kunnicutt, who were married November, 1661.
(IV) Constant, son of Nathaniel (2) and Elizabeth (Kunnicutt) Searles, was born at Little Compton, Rhode Island, June 17, 1728, died July 3, 1778. He married, and in 1773, moved to the Wyoming Valley, Pennsylvania. He served in Captain Samuel Ransom's independent company during the revolution, fought at Millstone River, Round Brook, Brandywine and Germantown, under Washington; went into camp at Valley Forge and suffered to the full extent the privations of the awful winter of 1777-78. In the spring of 1778 he returned to Wyoming and perished with his son-in-law, Captain Delhi Hewitt, in the Wyoming massacre. Ruth Searles, his daughter, with her sister Sarah, escaped the massacre, and with some of their cousins, the Gallups, made their way back to Connecticut. On the day of the massacre Ruth wore a string of gold beads around her neck, which an Indian snatched from her; the string broke, and some of the beads caught in her clothing. These beads are still preserved as relics of that dreadful day. Constant Searles married, May 16, 1751, in Stonington, Connecticut, Hannah Miner, daughter of Simon and Hannah (Wheeler) Miner, of the fifth generation on the paternal side from Thomas Miner and his wife, Grace (Palmer) Miner, the latter the daughter of Walter Palmer; died 1661. On the maternal side (Wheeler) she was of the fifth generation from Thomas and Mary Wheeler, who were married 1645. Through the Wheelers she traced descent to Benadau Gallup and his wife, Hester (Prentiss) Gallup, and to Robert Park and his wife, Martha (Chapin) Park, the American progenitors of their respective families.
(V) Ruth, daughter of Constant and Hannah (Miner) Searles, was born March 1, 1765, in Preston, Connecticut. After her escape from Wyoming and return to Connecticut, she taught school. She became the wife of Nathan Crary when she was twenty-one years of age and he seventy (see Crary III). After his death she went to Knox, Albany county, New York, and there married Nathan Dayton, whose first wife was her cousin. (See Dayton VI.)
(VI) Sarah Searles, daughter of Nathan and Ruth (Searles) Crary, married Samuel H. Dayton, grandfather of Mary Emmeline (Dayton) Barker.
Elizabeth Peabodie, mother of Sarah Rogers, born April 24, 1647, died 1707, was the daughter of William Peabodie, born 1620, died December 13, 1707. He married Elizabeth Alden, born 1623-24, died May 31, 1717. Elizabeth Alden was daughter of John Alden, born 1599, died September 12, 1687; married Priscilla Molines, daughter of William Molines, died February 21, 1621, and his wife Alice. William Molines was a passenger on the "Mayflower," as was his daughter Priscilla, later wife of John Alden, immortalized by the poet Longfellow in his poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish."
John Rogers (2), who married Elizabeth Peabodie, was a grandson of Thomas Rogers, who was the eighteenth signer of the "Mayflower Compact," and died during the "first sickness."
It is through Hannah Miner, wife of Constant Searles, the Wyoming "martyr," that descent is traced from the Barkers of Troy to Christopher Avery, born 1590, died 1670, founder of the Connecticut family of Avery. The names traced in this brief genealogy in all cases lead to the first settlers in America and there are many not mentioned. The Mulfords of Southampton, Long Island; Thompsons of Roxbury, Massachusetts; Palmers of Stonington, Connecticut; Wheelers of Stonington, Connecticut; Parks of Salem, Massachusetts; Lakes, Gallups, Woodruffs, and others, were all of English ancestry, and were among the very earliest settlers in America. The lines traced from Barker to the "Mayflower" are fully authenticated and no link is missing to complete the record from William Barker (2) to Thomas Rogers and John Alden and Priscilla Molines. Volumes could have been written concerning the pioneers of these families in settling early towns, in Massachusetts and Connecticut, of their prowess as Indian fighters in King Philip's war, the French and Indian wars, the revolution, the war of 1812, the Mexican war and the great civil war; of their services in colony and state as officials; of their piety and concern for the welfare of the church; of their part in establishing new industries and carrying them forward until the fame of New England as a manufacturing center was world-wide. Men high in the professions, in public life and in business bear these names which are now to be found in every part of the United States.