Shaver, F. A., Arthur P. Rose, R. F. Steele, and A. E. Adams, compilers. "An Illustrated History of Central Oregon." ("Embracing Wasco, Sherman, Gilliam, Wheeler, Crook, Lake, & Klamath Counties") Spokane, WA: Western Historical Publishing Co., 1905. p. 589. S. B. BARKER has won distinction in several lines of enterprise. Without doubt, Mr. Barker is one of the real builders of Gilliam county, is to be numbered with the earliest pioneers and is today one of its most substantial and respected citizens. He was born in Athens, Maine, on October 8, 1863. Charles F. Barker, his father, was born in Conville, Maine, on May 1, 1829. He was a prominent farmer near Athens and also a lumber dealer. He married Hannah Bradbury, who was born in Athens, on October 4, 1837. They are both living there now. Our subject completed his educational training in the Somerset academy at Athens and remained at home until October 18, 1886, when he put into execution a plan he had long cherished, that of seeing the west. Oregon attracted him and to Oregon he came. From the many fertile places in the state, he selected what is now Gilliam county and began herding sheep for wages. He gathered five hundred dollars together and bought sheep with it and continued herding and increasing his flock by investing his wages as fast as he earned them. Soon he was enabled to go into business for himself and he has steadily followed the same until the present time. He now has twelve thousand head of these valuable animals and about nine thousand acres of land. All these princely holdings have been gained by him since coming to this county. It demonstrates the fact that Mr. Barker is one of the most skillful, enterprising and sagacious business men in this part of the state. In 1892, he started a small mercantile establishment in Condon. It was an unpretentious start in a little wooden building but as the years went by he increased his business until finally, in 1903, he built a magnificent brick structure well fitted for the mercantile business and stocked it with as fine a collection of goods as can be found in this part of the state. He has a fine line of general merchandise, has gained a patronage that is very gratifying and is one of the leading merchants of central Oregon. He personally supervises his business as well as his stock interests and the same wisdom that gave him success in the former has made him exceedingly prosperous in this. He is the oldest merchant in Condon. While he has been gaming this magnificent fortune in the business world, Mr. Barker has not forgotten his obligations to his fellow men and to his country. He has won the respect and the confidence of everybody who knows him, by his upright bearing and by his manliness and by his unswerving integrity. He has always been first and foremost in every enterprise to build up the country and to advance the interests of civilization. On July 23, 1895, Mr. Barker married Miss Anna L. Clarke, who was born at Charleston, Vermont, on October 4, 1871. She came to Oregon about the same time as her husband, with her parents and located at Lone Rock. She taught school in this county and in the graded school for several years and is a cultivated, refined and well educated lady. Her father, B. D. Clarke, was born in Chelsea, Vermont, on July 24, and brought his family to Gilliam county in 1887 and died on January 1, 1897. He had married Miss Laura Kendall, who was born in Georgeville, Quebec, in September, 1850, and died January 10, 1897. To Mr. and Mrs. Barker the following named children have been born: Carroll, on June 20, 1896; Verna, on March 11, 1898: Kenneth, on November 20, 1903. Mr. Barker is a member of the Masonic fraternity and also of the K. P. He is a stanch and well informed Republican and takes a lively interest in the campaigns. For six years he was treasurer of this county. Mrs. Barker is a member of the Congregational church. She and her husband are among the leading people of this part of the state and have always exerted an influence for good and for progress, while their lives have been such that they enjoy an unsullied reputation and are the center of a large circle of admiring friends. ******************* Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2011 by Diana Smith. Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned above.