James William Barker

Background

He was born on December 5, 1815, at White Plains, New York.

Career

He began his business career as a clerk with an extensive mercantile concern in New York City, where he later entered into business for himself, his energy and good management soon making him wealthy. In 1860 he founded a large dry-goods house in Pittsburgh, one of the first in that city to confine its business exclusively to cloths. He was prostrated by a sunstroke in 1867, and impaired health thereafter obliged him to relinquish active business connections, although the two years of his life that remained found him the president of the Eclectic Life Insurance Company of New York.

In 1854 he was the Know-Nothing party's candidate for mayor of New York City, but was defeated in a closely contested election by Fernando Wood. He always claimed that his defeat was due to an article in the Tribune, which claimed that he had set fire to his store for the purpose of cheating the insurance companies. He brought a libel suit against the Tribune, but the case was finally compromised.

Meantime he was a dominant factor in the founding of the "Order of the Star Spangled Banner, " a secret organization having for its object the prevention of the political ascendancy of the foreign-born inhabitants of the United States. He became the head of the New York grand council and in 1853 was its principal officer. The resolutions adopted upon his death by the directors of the Eclectic Insurance Company (New York Times, June 29, 1869) declared "he left behind an honorable memory for uprightness of character, public spirit, munificence to the poor, liberality to religious enterprises, and diligence in business. " He was known for the invariable courtesy of his deportment, and his efficiency and manliness in every place of trust. In heated political campaigns the New York newspapers of his day were not so reliable, and in the eyes of his friends there were no grounds whatsoever for the Tribune's charge against him. It was Barker's hatred of litigation and controversy, as well as publicity, that booked largely in the subsequent settlement of the suit. He died while on a visit to Rahway, New Jersey, and was given a public funeral in New York.

Achievements

• His chief claim to fame was his activity in New York and national politics.

Religion

He was prostrated by a sunstroke in 1867, and impaired health thereafter obliged him to relinquish active business connections, although the two years of his life that remained found him the president of the Eclectic Life Insurance Company of New York.

Politics

He was an earnest and zealous Whig until the dissolution of that party. Then he became a member of Know-Nothing party. In 1856, upon the virtual dissolution of the Know-Nothing party and the reemergence of the anti-slavery agitation (through the repeal of the Missouri Compromise two years before), Barker resumed his political activities, this time as a Republican, and he was a worker in the campaign for Lincoln's election in 1860.