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The first extant record of John Barker in New England was on 5 November 1638, when the Plymouth General Court session records that he was "graunted fourty acres of upland, lying by Joseph Rogers, and to be layd forth by Mr. Collyer & Jonathan Brewster, as shalbe thought most convenyent."1 Also, "John Barker hath covenanted to keepe the ferry on Joanes River, and is to have two pence a peece for carrying a pson on untill there be a bridg erected on the sd river. And if he make causes on eich side for passage to the boats, and do not hold the same so long as may recompence his labour & charg thereof, that then the countrey to allow him what shalbe thought fitt to countervaile his charges when hee leaves it, and is to beginn the xiith of Novembr, & so to continue as foresd." The Jones River flows into the Atlantic Ocean in what was then the town of Duxbury. The ferry is said to have been where Main Street (Rt. 3A) crosses the river in what is now the town of Kingston. Causeways had been built on either side to cross the marshes. Given this, John presumably had experience with boats and dealing with tidewater, suggesting he immigrated from a port town, probably in England. This is further inferred by his brother Robert having the ferry crossing the North River between Marshfield and Scituate, which will be mentioned further below. On 7 October 1639, taxes were to be raised in Plymouth and Duxbury for the cost of the Jones River bridge.2 No record was found of when the bridge was built, but the agreement with John and the proposed tax shows it was it was imminent.
     Several documents show John was a bricklayer. On 10 January 1638/9, there was an agreement to transfer the apprenticeship of William Barden/Burden from Thomas Boardman, a carpenter, to John Barker to learn bricklaying.3 A 1650 deed give John the same occupation.4 We can only speculate about why a ferry would be of interest to him.
     Probably sometime in the summer of 1639, John owed money to Thomas Watson of Duxbury, who had left the colony and appointed a power of attorney to collect this and other debts of unspecified types.5 This is the last record found that likely puts John in Duxbury. It may have been when the Jones River bridge was finished that John moved to Marshfield, perhaps in 1640. He, his brother Robert, Thomas Howell and Ralph Chapman bought one hundred acres of land on 12 January 1641/2 in the northern part of Duxbury that would become Marshfield. It was bordered by the North and South Rivers and included the North River ferry. Like the Jones River ferry site, the North River site is now crossed by Rt. 3A. Thomas Howell was also a bricklayer6 Robert Barker evidently operated the ferry by himself, at least in the eyes of the Colony. A court records says Robert had been "bound to attend and mayntaine the ferry at New Harbor in Marshfeild [now] the aforesaid Raph Chapman doth take upon him and bynd himself his heires execurs or Assignes to attend this ferry and wholly to discharg Robte Barker and all men els of it.7 This agreement was made in January 1645/6. There is a later reference to Roger Chapman being paid "for ferrying" on 4 October 1655.8 There must be records missing or not published, since Robert gave up the ferry to George Moore in 1644.9 This may have been temporary.
     When the colony-wide list of males who were "able to bear arms" was made in 1643, John and Robert were included in Marshfield.10 In the court records for 1 November 1642, John Shawe, on behalf of Richard Derby, won a £6 judgement against John Barker.11 The cause of the suit isn't given. A cryptic entry in the court records for 7 March 1642/3 says "it is ordered by the Court, that Mr Wilim Vassell shalbe allowed to take for setting over the North River man & beasts as much as is to be payd at the old ferry place on the North River." This is followed by "John Barker, of the North River, is fyned for his misdemeanr v s[illings]. Robte Barker, of the same, for his misdemeanr, is fynd x s."12 It might be a stretch to suggest the Barkers temporarily lost proprietorship of the ferry due to these "misdemeanors." The reference to fees comparable to the "old ferry place" likely means Vassall's place was an alternative elsewhere along the river.
     On 27 September 1643, John appears on a list of Marshfield heads of household to be divided into groups with a designated leader in times of attack.13 Probably in January 1644, John is on a list of people owed money from the town of Marshfield.14 He was to be paid for "makeing the chimny seller." Others on the list were paid for building materials and carpentry work. The town had recently been incorporated, so this may have been for the meeting house. While the foundation of the chimney was surely made of stone rather than brick, John evidently provided his masonry skills. At a town meeting on 24 January 1643/4, he was paid more for "chimnies and seller" and nails.15 In the same year he was elected a constable for the north end of Marshfield.16 On 16 October 1645, John was among the men who lived in the north of Marshfield who didn't attend a town meeting to decide what houses would serve as refuges during a Native American attack.17 Houses were chosen for the south side, but so many men were missing from the north that no decision was made. They were fined eighteen pence.
     On 28 October 1645, Roger Cook and William Latham brought John and Anna to court for Anna's accidentally burning their house. They asked for £20 in damages, but the court could't come to a verdict, so John offered to pay 20 shillings.18 John Phillips apparently bought Thomas Howell's share of the fifty-acre purchase, and he agreed with John Barker to certain boundaries that included "John Barker's brook."19 This agreement apparently left Robert and John short of some land, and Robert deeded part of his own land to make up for it on 22 June 1648.20
     John was chosen to be a tax assessor for Marshfield on 18 February 1646/7.21 He appears for various reasons in the minutes of the 7 June 1648 session of the Plymouth court. He was indebted to Thomas Howell £1, 5 shillings, and after Howell's death, the court allowed his estate 16 shillings of that debt and court costs.22 Differences depending between William Sherman and John Barker about the bounds of thayer lands, the Cort doe apoint and requeste Captaine Myles Standish and Mr. Aldin, and to bee acompanied with Joshua Prat, to set at rights sutch differences as are betwext them. John served on the "grand inquest" of the court on 4 October 1648.23 He was "propounded" for freemanship at the 5 June 1651 session of the court, with his wife's brother John Williams Jr. and her stepfather Abraham Blush.24 This was reiterated at the court on 3 June 1652.25 It isn't apparent why, and no mention is made of John becoming a freeman.
     Probably close to one hundred acre tract they bought was an "island" or "neck of land" in a marsh "beyond" the South River that John bought from the estate of partner Thomas Howell on 9 June 1650. The land was composed of upland meadow and marsh. The boundary descriptions are vague. To the east was the "hummocks" where William Bassett lived. The "hummocks" may have been the long, thin island that's now called "Humarock," but historically knows as the Hummocks. To the north was one of William Bassett's trees. To the west was the head of a cove. No south bounds are given. Locating this land is complicated by extensive changes due to erosion. If "Hummocks" referred to what is now Humarock, this land was somewhere west of Humarock, which is areas of marsh and meadow broken up by the South River and various channels. The reference to a tree owned by William Bassett being the north bounds is confusing. It suggests the land was somehow connected to the "hummocks." Judging land areas by modern maps is pointless. A map made in 1857 show significant changes due to erosion within just the last two hundred years. However, this must have been part of Howell's share of land bought in 1642.
     Considering that the fifty acres bought in 1642 included the ferry and land bordering on the South River, this must have been the northeast corner of Marshfield. "South River" may have been a catch-all description for not only the river, but also the marshes that lie to the west of it. "Barker's Brook" is surely not the same as "Barker's River," which runs into the North River in what is now the town of Pembroke. It's too far away. Barker's Brook may now be Macomber's Creek, which flows through upland from the Marshfield Hills area through the North and South River Estuary.
     John was cited for not going to the town meetings of 8 November and 23 August 1652.26 He probably died in December 1653. On the 14th of that month, an inquest concluded that John, as well as John Browning, "came by theire death by the casualty of the sea, and by noe otherway." This was reported at the 3 May 1653 session of the court.27 John's brother was among the men who were appointed to investigate their deaths. Silas Deane, in his History of Scituate, Massachusetts, says John Barker drowned at the North River ferry, which he operated, but he was assuming this.28 No evidence was found to place where they died, nor any to show he was involved in ferrying after the 1639 reference. The North River ferry was far enough inland on the river to not fit the description of "the sea."
     John Barker, Robert Barker and Abraham Blush are on a list of those taking the Oath of Fidelity in Duxbury in 1657.29 Robert and Abraham were in Duxbury at the time but John Barker Sr. was in Marshfield. He doesn't appear on the Marshfield list. John Barker Jr. was evidently a minor of about six years (see note ), so why this name is on this list is a mystery.
     Administration of John's estate was given to his widow Anna and his nephew John Williams Jr. on 9 June 1653.30 Anna likely married Abraham Blush after this, and he replaced Williams as co-administrator. Anna was to see that "daughters, Anna, Debora, and Mary" were given "the summe of ten pounds apeece, to bee paied unto them when they are of the age of twenty one yeares, and as any of them shall come to bee of the said age, that then the said ten pounds shalbee delivered unto them in good and currant pay, or six monthes after the day of theire marriage." No record was found of the share that must have been given to John Barker Jr.
     The female heirs of John and Anna acknowledged receipt of their legaces from John's estate by way of their stepfather Abraham Blush: William Burden, husband of Debrah Barker, on 1 March 1660/1; John Pratt, husband of Anna Barker, on 27 October 1666; and Thomas Pratt, husband of Mary Barker, on 2 November 1668.31

John Barker's estate inventory:32

cassock and breeches of cloth £1, 5 s
wearing apparel that he died in 5 s
3 handkerchiefs, a cap and a band 2 s
a powder horn and a smal vial 1 s, 6 d
a musket, sword and belt and bandalier £1, 4 s
a feather bed and bolster, 4 pillows and 2 coverlets £3
a straw bed and blanket 4 s
3 chisels, a box and a cradle 10 s
2 iron pots and 1 iron kettle and "a pothookes and hangers" £1, 8 s
3 brass kettles and a skillet 16 s
2 pewter dishes, 2 pint pots, a little bason and porrengers and 3 spoons 5 s
8 trays, 6 trenchers, 2 dishes, a little pail 9 s
5 tubs and a hogshead 6 s
2 old Bibles and other books 2 s
an old scythe and an old hatchet, 2 augers, 2 wedges, a smoothing iron and old iron things 12 s
a looking glass 2 s
thwart saw 3 s
a yard and a quarter of cotton cloth 6 s
a cart and wheels and a plow and share and 2 chains and a yolk 8 s
5 bushels of Indian corn 15 s
a spinning wheel 1 s, 6 d
hemp and hempseed 13 s
8 loads of hay £2
We do judge the wheat and barley in the straw that is unthreshed in the barn a the prize of £7
1 yolk of oxen £13, 10 s
2 cows
1 cow, 2 heifers, 1 steer at £4 a head £16
a heifer of year and vantage £2, 5 s
2 calves £2
2 swine £1, 4 s
for the table and form 1 s, 6 d
We do prize all his lands and meadows and houses and all appurtencances thereunto £60
for householdments belonging to his estate 1 s, 6 d

Total £131, 11 s

Children of John Barker and Anna Williams, birth order unknown:

i. Deborah, abt. 1638-42. She was paid her legacy by 1 Mar. 1660/1. She was married in Feb. 1660/1, so since she didn't have to wait 6 months for the legacy, she apparently was paid because she had turned 21. This puts her birth before 1 Mar 1638/9, but this would have made her in her late 40s when she had the last few of her children. However, the court may have waived the 6 month wait. She m. William Burden/Barden, Feb. 1660/1

ii. Anna, b. abt. 1645, m. John Pratt abt. 1663/4. Her irst child was born in November 1664. She was paid her legacy in October 1666. Since this can't have been at or near the time she married, she must have recently turned 21.

iii. Mary, b. abt. 1647. She m. Samuel Pratt perhaps about May 1668. Since she got her legacy in Nov. 1668, this may have been following a 6 month wait, but she probably turned 21 about the same time, given that she had her last child in 1691. As with her sister Deborah, the 6 month wait may have been waived, leaving various scenarios, but regardless, 1647 is the most plausible circa birth year. Her first child is estimated to have been born in 1668.

iv. John, b. abt. 1651. On 3 Oct. 1665, cousin John Williams Jr. was appointed his guardian, having reached the age of 14. See Mayflower Descendant, 4:108, 5:213. Even if John was the minimum age of 16 and was the John Barker who took the oath of fidelity in 1657, he would have been an adult in 1665.

1. Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England (hereafter PCR), vol. 1, Court Orders, 1633-1640 (Boston: 1855), 101.
2. PCR, 1:135.
3. PCR, 1:110.
4. PCR, 12:187.
5. Thomas Lechford, Edward E. Hale, Jr., ed., Note-book kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq. (Cambridge, MA: John Wilson & Son, 1885), 194.
6. See note 4.
7. PCR, 12:208
8. PCR, 3:94.
9. PRC, 1:92.
10. PCR, 1:196.
11. PCR, 2:50.
12. PCR, 2:54.
13. The Mayflower Descendant (hereafter MD), 61:29-30.
14. MD, 61:121.
15. MD, 61:123.
16. 18 July 1644, MD, 62:29-30.
17. MD, 62:33-4.
18. PCR, 2:41.
19. 19 June 1648, 12:163.
20. Plymouth Co., MA, deeds, 1:1.
21. MD, 62:142.
22. PCR, 2:127.
23. PCR, 2:124-126.
24. PCR, 2:161.
25. PCR, 3:8.
26. MD, 63:114, 115.
27. PCR, 3:28.
28. Samuel Deane, History of Scituate, Massachusetts: From Its First Settlement to 1831i> (Boston, MA: James Loring, 1831), 216.
29. PCR, 8:182.
30. PCR, 3:37.
31. Original volume reference: Plymouth Colony Wills and Inventories, 2:51; transcribed in MD, 17:111.
32. PCR, 1:119.