Sources

• Barker Family a website
• Biographical and genealogical history of the state of Delaware Volume 1 (Google eBook) by Runk, J.M. & Co. 1899. Not in copyright.
• Worfield on the Worfe, in and near Severn valley, a brief history (Google eBook) by Samuel Benjamin James. 1878. Out of copyright.
• Lineage of Robinson Potter Barker of Middletown, Newport County, Rhode Island

"The Barkers in Rhode Island descended from James Barker of Essex county, England. His son James and his daughter Christiana started to come to New England about 1636. James died on ship, and his son James a lad of 17, became the father of eight children, born in Middletown. He was a magistrate named in the 1663 charter, and charter, and was one of the deputy governors in 1679. He died in 1702."

Another of my sources says that James Barker born in 1617 of Shropshire was the first Barker ancestor to settle in Rhode Island.

Barker Surname

See "Barker".

Ancestry of the Barker Family of Rhode Island

This is an old English family. Those of its members in the United States who are of colonial ancestry may trace their lineage from four ancestors, all of whom left their English homes in the seventeenth century to try their fortunes in the splendid heritage then opening to the English race. They were:

• Delaware Barker ancestor -- Samuel Barker, born in 1648, settled in New Castle county, Del., in 1685
• Massachusetts Barker ancestors -- Robert Barker and his brother, John Barker (the latter sometimes erroneously called Francis), settled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1626, having doubtless came over with the Pilgrims in 1620
• Rhode Island Barker ancestor -- James Barker, of Shropshire, England, born in 1617, settled in Rhode Island in or about 1634, having come over on the ship Mary and John.

Samuel Barker was a lineal descendant of John Barker, of Shropshire, England, who married, in 1549, Elizabeth Hill, a sister of Sir Rowland Hill, the first Protestant Lord Mayor of London. The two Massachusetts Barkers, Robert and John, were doubtless descendants of the same ancient and honorable Barker family of Shropshire, from which it has been found that Samuel Barker, of Delaware, and James Barker, of Rhode Island, are descended. The Barkers were for many centuries almost exclusively connected with Shropshire, a county equalled by few others in England as to the number of its old historic families.

The Herald's Visitations of Salap commence the.pedigree of this family, whose name appears to have been originally Coverall or Calverhall, with Richard de Coverall, who married Margaret Pigot, and then pass over the intermediate generations to William Barker, also called Coverall, who married the heiress of the Goulstons of Goulston. The connecting links have been supplied from the Court Rolls of the Manors of Warfield and Claverley, and after about 1560 one begins to find parish church registers. In Domesday Book, Nigellus, a clerk, was lord of the manor of Calverhall or Coverhall, after which it passed into the king's hands, and he gave it to William de Dunstanville, who sublet it under the feudal system to these de Calverhalls.

In the reign of Edward II, the overlord of the manor was Bartholomew de Bcdlcsmere. In the civil wars then continually waged, he was attainted and hanged. The undertenants of his manor probably shared in his disgrace and fall, and two of them appear to have fled southward, for in 1327 two men calling themselves le Bercer and le Smythe are found at Hallon and Hilton in the parish of Warfield, where they probably followed the callings of shepherd and armorer respectively, and founded the two Warfield families of Barker and Smythe. Tradition averred that this Bercer was William de Calverhall; and his descendants, when after two hundred years they settled again the northern part of the county, at Claverley, Wolverton and Coleshurst, seem to have re-assumed the name of Coverall as an alias, so that they were known by both names. The name Barker is derived from the old Norman "bercer," which signified the elected herdsman of the village or manor.

Following is the genealogical record of the Barker family of Shropshire, England, from the year 1200 A. D. to the birth in February, 1648, of Samuel Barker, who in March, 1685, settled in New Castle county, Del. This was compiled from data collected through years of careful research by the Rev. William Gibbs Barker, of the Aston Manor branch of the family, who was born in 1811, and died in Philadelphia, 1897. He was evidently a man of high attainments and great intellectual ability.

Barker (Calverhall) Lineage

There are various branches of the British Barker family, including the

• Barkers of Colcharat, Hopton Castle and Fairfield
• Barkers of Aston Manor, Claverley, Shropshire
• Barkers of Coleshill, Warwickshire
• Barkers of Little Over and Vale Royal, Chester
• Barkers of Wolverton
• Barkers of Congreve

1. Randulph de Calverhall, tenant of the manor of Calverhall, County Salap, England, A. D. 1200.
2. William Fitz-Ralph de Calverhall, of Blancminster, tenant in fee of William de Dunstanville, A. D. 1219.
3. William de Calverhall, tenant, 12401250. Married Wenkiana.
4. William de Calverhall, tenant, 1284. Married Alina.
5. Richard de Calverhall, tenant, 1319. Married Margaret, daughter of Peter Pigot, of Willaston, County Salap.

Then follow several generations of the de Calverhalls, among them Roger de Calverhall, until the male line as tenants of the manor of Calverhall became extinct, and the estate descended to Agnes de Calverhall, daughter and heiress, who married Hugh Dod, of Edge, whose family possessed Calverhall Manor until 1850.

But we find in 1327 William le Bercer, at Itallan, in Warfield, County Salap. His son Roger le Barker, of Hallon, married Alice, who survived him. He died in 1368, possessed of large estates in Hallon. Roger le Barker left two sons:

1. William, of Hallon, married Margery, daughter of William Whorwood, died in 1411
2. Robert, of Hallon, whose descendants long lived there

William Barker's son, Henry Barker, of Hallon, married Margery, daughter and heiress of Stephen Lovestick, of Hallan, who survived her husband. Henry Barker obtained land at Hallon from William Whorwood, and died in 1438. He left a son, William Barker, of Hallon, gentleman, who enjoyed great estates there, married Ann, daughter of John Colynson Roulowe, of Rowley, in Warfield, and died in 1480. This William Barker left two sons:

1. George Barker, of Hallon, who married Ellen Cumber, of Kinver, County Staff, and had a daughter, Ann Barker, who was the heiress of the Hallon estate; which estate passed by several heiresses to the Davenport family, which still holds it;
2. John, who married Elizabeth, daughter and co-heiress of William Grene, of Aston Manor, in Claverley, Salap, and died at Aston in 1507, leaving a son, John Barker, of Aston, who married Margaret , and died in 1531; she outlived him, and died in 1538.

Humphrey Barker, son of John and Margaret ( ) Barker, had two sons:

1. Thomas Barker (alias Coverall)
2. William Barker (alias Coverall), who married first Margaret, daughter and heiress of John Goulston, of Goulston Cheswardine; she was buried at Claverley, November 26, 1576; and second, Frances, relict of William Whitmore, of Aston; she died in 1538, before her husband, who was buried at Claverley, October 30, 1590.

The children of William and Margaret (Goulston) Barker were as follows:

1. John, married first to Joyce, daughter of Edward Burton, and second, in 1549, to Elizabeth Hill, sister to Sir Rowland Hill, first Protestant Lord Mayor of London, from which latter marriage the Barkers of Wolverton are descended.
2. William, of Colcharat, County Salap, who married Joan, daughter of William Horne, and from whom the Barkers of Colcharat, Hopton Castle and Fairfield are descended.
3. Randulph, who for killing a man fled out of Shropshire, and from whom the Barkers of Little Over and Vale Royal, Chester, are descended.
4. Richard

Richard Barker, of Aston Hall, fourth son of William and Margaret (Goulston) Barker, took the oath of allegiance to James I. He was"buried at Claverley, February 12, 1609. His first marriage was with Joyce, daughter of Richard Colclough, and they had children:

1. William, died young, in 1569
2. John
3. Frances, died in 1576
4. Joan, born in 1572, died young

Mistress Joyce (Colclough) Barker died, and was buried in Claverley, June 25, 1572. Richard Barker then married Mary, daughter of Thomas Grainger; she died, it appears, without issue, and was buried at Claverley, October 9, 1576. The third marriage of Richard Barker was with Agnes Hatton, of Heathton, November 24, 1578. Their children were:

1. Richard
2. Elizabeth, born in 1582, died young
3. Joan, born in 1584
4. Philip, born in 1590, died young
5. Jane, born in 1591, died young
6. Thomas, born in 1595

Mistress Agnes (Hatton) Barker survived her husband eight years, died, and was buried at Claverley, April 30, , 1617. Thomas Barker, as the youngest son, inherited Aston Manor. He married in 1621, Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Smythe, of Hilton; Thomas Barker died in 1644, and his wife in 1672; they were the ancestors of the Barkers of Aston Manor. Aston Hall remained in the possession of the Barker family for about three hundred years. It came to John Barker, who died in 1509, with his wife, Elizabeth Grene, the heiress of Aston, and it remained with his descendants until 1748, when Matthias Barker, the heir, sold it. It afterwards passed into the hands of the Bracebridges, and is the original of Irving's Bracebridge Hall.

John Barker, second son of Richard and Joyce (Colclough) Barker, was baptized October 21, 1570. He was church warden at Claverley church in 1620, and was buried there May 11, 1638. He married in 1610 Eleanor, daughter of Nicholas Fregleton; she was baptized at Claverley in 1588, married August 8, 1610, and was buried at Claverley, May 1, 1646. Their son, John Barker, of Aston, was baptized at Claverly, July 11,1611, married Mary , who survived him, and was buried at Claverley, July 28, 1682. They had children:

1. Mary, born in 1636
2. John, of Nether Hoo, was born in 1641, married in 1700 to Elizabeth Woolryche, and from them are descended the Barkers of Congreve.
3. Frances, born in 1643, died in 1644
4. Margerv, born in 1644

Richard Barker, who died in 1609, had by his wife, Agnes Hatton, a son, Richard Barker, who was baptized October 20, 1579, and buried April 25, 1636. He married Dorothy Whorwood; their children were:

1. Frances, born and died in 1611
2. Ambrose, baptized August 20,1612, has no known descendants
3. John Barker, baptized April 21, 1616
4. Richard Barker, born in 1625

John Barker, the third of the above named children of Richard and Dorothy (Whorwood) Barker, had several children, as follows:

1. Samuel, baptized at Claverley church, Shropshire, England, February 22, 1648, emigrated, it appears, to "New England," Delaware, bought two hundred aeres of land on Red Clay Creek, New Castle county, built himself a residence thereon, married and left numerous descendants, died in 1720, and was buried in Old Swedes' churchyard, Wilmington, Del., July 25, 1720 (see church records)
2. Anne, born in 1651, died in 1713
3. Sarah, born in 1653
4. Joseph, born in 1656, from whom the Barkers of Coleshill, Warwickshire, England, are descended
5. Jeremiah, born in 1660, has no known descendants

The Aston branch of the family is now (July, 1898) represented by the following living members: Rev. Joseph Henry Barker, born in 1809, residing at Herford, England; Delavere Barker, born in 1816, living at Dieppe, France; Captain William Cecil Barker, British Navy, born in 1839; Arthur Rowland Barker, architect, Winchfield, England, born in 1842, and his sons, Rev. Arthur Leigh Barker, born in 1870, Raymond Turner Barker, architect, born in 1872, Claude Edward Barker, born in 1874, and Cecil Vernon Barker, born in 1876. The last named family are descendants of Rev. William Gibbs Barker, and have full records of the Aston and other branches of the family.