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Barker, Jacob, -1871

Financier; born on Swan Island, Kennebec co., Me., Dec. 7, 1779; was of a Quaker family, and related by blood to the mother of Dr. Franklin. He began trade in New York when quite

Jacob Barker.

young, and at twenty-one he owned four ships and a brig, and was largely engaged in commercial transactions. As a State Senator, and while sitting in the Court [282] of Errors, he gave an opinion in an insurance case in opposition to Judge Kent, and was sustained by the court. During the War of 1812 his ships were all captured. Being in Washington, D. C., during its sack by the British (August, 1814), he assisted Mrs. Madison in saving Stuart's portrait of Washington, then hanging in the President's house, which was set on fire a few hours later. Barker was a banker, a dealer in stocks, and a general and shrewd financier for many years. He finally established himself in New Orleans in 1834, where he was admitted to the bar as a lawyer, and soon became a political and business leader there. He made and lost several fortunes during his long life. The Civil War wrought his financial ruin, and late in 1867 he was again in bankruptcy, at the age of eighty-eight years. He died in Philadelphia, Dec. 26, 1871.

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