Captain Chauncey Barker in the War of 1812

            It is a bit of a paradox.  While the United States has been involved in many armed conflicts, her citizens think of the Civil War first.  That is understandable.  For the impact it had on our history and culture, and for the way that it started controversies that linger to this day, the 1861-1865 conflict rightly holds a special place.

            All of our country’s wars were important to their participants.  The War of 1812 did not make nearly the memories for our country as other conflicts.  I think it is even safe to say that we did not exactly “win” the war, although we held our own against a giant superpower.  The war ended on a strong note at New Orleans, and the winners of individual battles and the diplomats made career use of the War for a generation to come.  It was also the last war to be fought in Ohio, save a few skirmishes in 1864.

            In Westerville’s Pioneer Cemetery are twelve graves whose occupants are marked as veterans of the War of 1812.  Six of those veterans, or half the graves, are marked as being members of “Capt. Chancey Barker’s Co.”  Where is Captain Barker buried?  For that matter, who was Chauncey Barker, and why was he in command of a unit that had so many Westerville residents.

            We can answer these questions partially.  Barker was born in 1781 in Branford, Connecticut, a town on Long Island Sound.[i]  He next appears in the records as being married to Philamela Sage, November 18, 1807.  By then, Barker was living in Worthington (OH); his marriage was solemnized by James Kilbourne (of Worthington-Kilbourne High School fame).  And while we are dropping names, the marriage was inscribed in the records by Lucas Sullivant, founder of Columbus.[ii]

            Barker was the owner of 177 acres of land in Franklin County’s Sharon Township.[iii]  With that much acreage, he was likely a farmer when not a soldier.  Or was planning to be?  Northern Franklin County was hardly developed in any way we would recognize.  If Barker was a farmer, he was a pioneer farmer, girdling trees and plowing around stumps, and relying on wild game for much of his sustenance

               When war came to Ohio in 1812, Barker volunteered, and was appointed Captain, serving in “Unit [Regiment?] 3 (Root's), Ohio Militia.[iv]  He and his company are listed in the Roster of Ohio Soldiers in the War of 1812 (1916), enlisting about 47 of his friends and neighbors including men from Westerville.[v]  Compared to later wars, they served what may seem to us as ridiculously short enlistments.  Barker and his men “Served from August 24, until September 15, 1812. Part served from May 4, until May 27, 1813.” Records are unavailable, but an educated guess would be that they served Ohio in the aftermath of William Hull’s surrender of Detroit on August 16, 1812.  The “part” service likely was as backup for the first siege of Fort Meigs, which ended May 7, 1813.

  About 1830, Captain Barker pulled up stakes and moved to northern Ohio.  He settled in the Lorain County hamlet of Huntington.  He lived there the rest of his life, dying in 1857.  He chose to have his tombstone inscribed “Capt. Chaucey Barker,” still proud of his service in 1812.  The stone also shows a Masonic emblem; presumably he was active in the Masonic brotherhood.[vi]

It is true that Captain Barker was not a resident of Westerville. At the time of the war, he  was a neighbor, living in Worthington.  But Westerville, at the time nothing but a few log cabins scattered around Blendon Township, certainly knew Captain Barker.  I think that qualifies him for our Field of Heroes.

Capt Chauncey Barker (1780-1857) - Photo from Find a Grave

[i] The spelling on Barker’s first name varies.  https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?q.anyDate.from=1858&q.anyPlace=ohio&q.givenName=Chancy%20&q.surname=Barker

[ii] https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939K-L1PK-3?i=47&cc=1614804&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AXD5H-XK3

 [iii] https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9PP8-XCC?cc=1473259&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A7S9L-V2N2

[iv] https://www.fold3.com/memorial/630865563/chancy-barker

[v] https://resources.ohiohistory.org/roster/results.php

[vi] https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40890665/chauncey-barker