Inventory of the Jacob Barker Papers, 1813-1863

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Manuscripts Department

The Huntington Library

1151 Oxford Road

San Marino, California 91108

Phone: (626) 405-2203

Fax: (626) 449-5720

Email: lgarcia@huntington.org

URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554

Inventory of the Jacob Barker Papers, 1813-1863

The Huntington Library

San Marino, California

Contact Information

Manuscripts Department
The Huntington Library
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2203
Fax: (626) 449-5720
Email: lgarcia@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org/huntingtonlibrary.aspx?id=554

Processed by:: The Huntington Library staff

Descriptive Summary

Title: Jacob Barker Papers,

Date (inclusive): 1813-1863

Creator: Barker, Jacob, 1779-1871

Extent: 163 pieces

Repository: The Huntington Library

San Marino, California 91108

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Provenance

This collection was purchased by the library from C. W. Unger, dealer, of Pottsville, Pennsylvania, in 1926. Nothing is known of provenance or immediate source.

Access

Collection is open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information please go to following URL .

Publication Rights

In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission from the office of the Library Director. In most instances, permission is given by the Huntington as owner of the physical property rights only, and researchers must also obtain permission from the holder of the literary rights. In some instances, the Huntington owns the literary rights, as well as the physical property rights. Researchers may contact the appropriate curator for further information.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Jacob Barker Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Biography

Jacob Barker (1779-1871), American Financier, was born in Maine of Quaker parentage. While he was still a youth, Barker embarked upon what was to be a tempestuous business career; his enterprises ran the gamut in shipping, oil, the press, banking, insurance, and the stock market. He was one of the founders of Tammany Hall, and a recognized political power in his party.

Probably Barker's chief claim to fame was the service he performed for the government in raising a war-loan of five million, in 1814. This was accomplished at the cost of his own bankruptcy, and he is often referred to as the Robert Morris of the War of 1812. Subsequent claims against the government, in an attempt to recover personal losses, extended over a period of forty years.

Having made and lost a series of fortunes, Jacob Barker died in Philadelphia, at the great age of ninety two years.

Subject matter

A. Jacob Barker's share in relation to the War Loans of 1814.
B. Barker's claim against the U. S. Government growing out of the same.

Persons represented by three or more pieces

Anderson, Joseph.... 3 pieces
Barker, Jacob.... 36 pieces
Campbell, George Washington. 18 pieces
Hazard, Thomas R.... 3 pieces
Homans, Benjamin 4 pieces
McEwen, Hale, & Davidson 14 pieces
Prime, Ward, & Sands 3 pieces
Smith, R. D. 23 pieces

Interesting or important items

Jacob Barker to Joseph Anderson, Comptroller of the Treasury Department. New York, Dec. 15, 1815.

.....I exhausted all my resources in furnishing funds to the government when it was in distress, so much so that I had not a single thousand dollars at command to support my family, and if I had possessed the Indies, the whole would have been devoted to the use of my Country...

Ward, Halleck, & Little, assignees of Jacob Barker. Petition to the U. S. Congress. Washington, July 4, 1861.

Bibliographical note

For the most part these papers are unpublished, but some have been printed in American State Papers (Financial) and in the House of Representatives, Report C. C. no. 258.

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