Biographical Sketch of Capt. Matthew BARKER (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, page 480. "CAPT. MATTHEW BARKER, a highly respected citizen and a prosperous farmer of East Whiteland township, is a son of John and Martha (Buchanan) Barker, and was born in Honeybrook township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, Feb- ruary 20, 1806. He attended the schools of his neighborhood and then learned the trade of tanner at Honeybrook. he did journey work for sev- eral years, after which he formed a partnership with his cousin, John Buchanan, and they conducted a successful tanning business for seventeen years. In the meantime, in 1836, he purchased a farm of sixty-one acres more. Since retiring from the tanning business he has given his time and attention chiefly to the management of his farm, which is well improved and also provided with two separate houses and barns. He has resided con- tinuously since 1850 in the house which he now occupies, which was former- ly owned by Dr. Stephen Harris. "His father, John Barker, was a native of Chester county, and spent most of his life at Ringwood forge, where he died in the year 1812. He was a carpenter by trade, and married Martha Buchanan, who was a daughter of Matthew Buchanan, and died in 1839. To their union were born five chil- dren: Henry, Capt. Matthew, John, Joseph, and Mary. They are all dead except Capt. Matthew Barker. "When Lee invaded Pennsylvania in 1863, Captain Barker raised Co. I of the 1st Pennsylvania militia, and commanded it until it was discharged after the Confederates were driven across the Potomac by General Meade. In pol- itics he is a republican. He served his township as a justice of the peace, and in 1873 was elected as a county commissioner for a term of three years, which expired in 1877. "On February 6, 1834, Captain Barker married Jane W. Kennedy, who was a daughter of Alexander Kennedy, and died November 16, 1863, aged fifty- three years. They had five children, three sons and two daughters: Matthew, of Colorado, who served as a Union soldier for three years, and was wounded at the battle of South Mountain; William, married Tennie Esther, who is now dead; Alexander K., who married Louie Pierce, and is a resident of East Whiteland township; Margaretta, wife of John Fetters, a farmer of the same township; and Mary Jane, who married Dr. Benson, of Baltimore, Maryland."