Crawford Co., AR - Biographies - Martin Barker

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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Martin Barker, farmer and stock raiser, was born in LaFayette County, 
Mo., in 1832, and is a son of John and Sarah (McFarland) Barker, who 
were born near Lexington, Ky., and East Tennessee, respectively, about 
1810. When young they accompanied their parents to LaFayette County, 
Mo., where they were married. They lived in Platt, LaFayette, Johnson 
and Barry Counties, Mo., until about 1845, and then removed, to Texas. 
The father died two years later when returning to Missouri, after 
which the family came to Crawford County, where the mother died. She 
was a devout member of the Presbyterian Church. Thomas Barker, the 
grandfather, and his wife, were of Dutch descent, and died in Texas 
and Missouri, respectively. Martin Barker is the eldest of three sons 
and four daughters born to his parents, and thus upon the death of his 
father the main support of the family fell upon him. He received but a 
meager education during his youth, and lived at home until twenty-one, 
when he was married [p.1123] to Mary Ann, daughter of Joshua and 
Lucretia Hargrove, natives of Georgia. Mrs. Barker was born in 
Tennessee, and in 1850 came to this county, where her mother died. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Barker six children have been born, of whom two sons and 
three daughters survive. With the exception of 1859, which was spent 
in Texas, Mr. Barker has resided in different portions of Crawford 
County, although he has lived upon his present farm since 1868, which, 
when he first located upon it, was in the midst of the forest. He now 
has seventy-five acres of cleared land and owns in all 220 acres. In 
politics he was formerly a Whig and since the war he has been a 
Republican.