Walter Gardner Barker

Page 125

On the 20th of August, 1840, Mr. Barker was united in marriage to Miss Helen White, of Champlain, New York, a daughter of Elial and Mary B. (Lewis) White, who were natives of Massachusetts, the former born at Medway, December 21, 1794, and the latter at Amherst, February 9, 1799. The marriage ceremony of her grandparents was celebrated by the Rev. Daniel Morton, the father of Vice President Levi P. Morton. The death of Mr. Barker occurred October 26, 1894. He was succeeded in business by his son Walter, who became the president of the Commercial National Bank, and he is also survived by a daughter, Mrs. Ellen B.McRoberts, and her two sons, Walter and W. G. McRoberts, and a grandson, Jesse, who was the son of Mr. Barker's youngest daughter and was left motherless during his infancy, at which time he was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Barker. Three years after the demise of her husband Mrs. Helen (White) Barker passed away. They had figured prominently in the social life of the city, where Mr. Barker made his home for fifty-six years. He had watched the development of Peoria from a small town to a city of metropolitan proportions and had proven a most important factor in this work of transformation. In all that he undertook, whether of a public or private nature, whether in business or in office, he put forth earnest, persistent effort, realizing that the source of power is within the individual and that not upon any environment or circumstance does progress depend. Whatever the quiet forces and influences at work in his life to shape his destiny, it was evident at the outset of his business career that he understood clearly the fact that energy and unfaltering purpose constitute the surest basis upon which to build success. He was a well balanced man mentally and physically, possessed sufficient courage to venture where favoring opportunity presented and his judgment and even-paced energy carried him forward to the goal of prosperity.

Bibliographic information:

• Peoria city and county, Illinois; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement
• by Rice, James Montgomery, 1842-1912; Clarke (S.J.) Publishing Company
• Publication date 1912
• Publisher Chicago, S. J. Clarke
• Contributor University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
• Volume 2
• Pages 932
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• https://archive.org/details/peoriacitycountyi02rice/page/125/mode/1up

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95519529/walter-gardner-barker

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/9K62-SZ6