BIOGRAPHY: Florentine H. BARKER, Cambria County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Lynne Canterbury and Diann Olsen. Portions of this book were transcribed by Clark Creery, Martha Humenik, Betty Mirovich and Sharon Ringler. USGENWEB ARCHIVES (tm) NOTICE All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information are included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ ____________________________________________________________ From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 435-6 ____________________________________________________________ FLORENTINE H. BARKER, County Treasurer of Cambria county, Pennsylvania, is a son of Hon. Abraham A. Barker, whose sketch and ancestral record appear above. He was born February 8, 1847, in Lovell, Oxford county, Maine. His education was obtained in the common schools of New England, came with his father and the family to Cambria county in 1855 and has ever since been prominently identified with its history. He remained with his father in the shook, lumbering and merchandize business until the latter went out of business in 1880, when the firm became Barker Bros., with which firm he has been identified ever since. Believing implicitly in the principles of the Republican party, he has always voted with it where there was a party issue at stake. Not only has he voted with it, but has exerted his influence in behalf of its success and taken a prominent part in its councils and conventions. He has held various local offices, among them that of burgess of Ebensburg, and, in 1893, was elected to the office of county treasurer of Cambria county, a position which his well- known business ability rendered him eminently qualified to fill. In addition to the above, he was in 1896 made one of the national delegates at large from Pennsylvania to the Republican National convention at St. Louis in the memorable campaign of McKinley and Hobart. In the fraternal world, Mr. Barker stands deservedly high, and is a member of a number of prominent societies whose objects are to promote a feeling of brotherhood among men. He belongs to Summit Lodge, No. 312, F. and A.M., of Ebensburg; Portage Chapter, No. 195, R.A.M., of Johnstown; Kedron Commandery, No. 18, I.O.O.F., of Ebensburg, and John M. Jones Post, G.A.R., at Ebensburg. He entered the Civil War in 1864, in Company C of the Two Hundred and Ninth regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteer infantry, as a corporal, and served to the close of the war. February 8, 1870, he married Maggie A., daughter of George C. K. Zahm, of Ebensburg, and to this union has been born one son, Oliver G. A., who graduated from Lafayette College, in the class of 1895, and is now a student of medicine in the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia.