ALBERT BARBER. As the world grows older, competition in every line of business grows more and more pronounced, and happy are those who find in the calm serenity of country life both wealth and happiness. Our subject is one of the representative agriculturists and stock-raisers of Belleview Precinct, Calhoun County, where he makes his home on section 1. His birth occurred in Yorkshire, England, May 20, 1828, and he was the son of James B. and Eliza Barker, natives of England.
Mr. Barber remained in his native country until he reached his fourteenth year, and then in company with his brother, Arthur S., emigrated to America in order to find a new home and broader scope for money making. He took passage at Liverpool on a sailing vessel and after an ocean voyage of seven weeks landed in New York City. He made his home in New York State for about a year. His brother was a teacher by profession and is now serving as Postmaster at Alameda, Cal. From New York our subject moved to Wisconsin where he engaged in farming for a number of years, and working out for others. He moved from that State to Missouri, settling in Lincoln County. In 1863 he removed with his family to Calhoun County, where he farmed on rented land for several years, settling on his present farm about the year 1870. He has continued to make this place his home up to the present writing and has cultivated his estate after doing much hard pioneer work and under-going all the deprivations peculiar to pioneer days. He owns two hundred and twenty acres of valuable land all of which was acquired by his faithful service and energetic habits.
Our subject was married in Lincoln County, Mo., on May 3, 1853, to Miss Nancy M. Ashe, whose birth occurred in Pike County, Mo., October 5, 1831. She was a daughter of Isaac and Susan (Plunkett) Ashe, natives of Kentucky. This marriage has been blessed with six children, three of whom are living, viz: William, Ann E., wife of F. M. Elledge; and Charles H. Those who are dead were named as follows: James B., Mary E. and Arthur J. Mrs. Barber has been in the truest sense of the word a helpmate to her husband and by her gentle counsel and loving treatment under all circumstances has made the struggles that attend a business career light to endure.
Mr. Barber is a member of the Democratic party and has been a candidate for Assessor, Treasurer and County Commissioner. He has always manifested a lively interest in the public good of the community in which he resides and has many warm personal friends both in mercantile and political circles. Success has crowned his business ventures; he and his wife are now in the prime of life, and are surrounded by all the comforts that money can procure, and by loving children and a host of friends. They both have the pleasure of looking back upon lives well and profitably spent. Our subject's career and popularity illustrate the fact that our brothers who come to us from across the waters are as a rule very valuable citizens, and bring with them habits of strict integrity and tireless energy that enable them to hew out flattering paths for their journey through life in a new country.
Extracted 23 Mar 2017 by Norma Hass from Portrait and Biographical Album of Pike and Calhoun Counties, Illinois, published in 1891, pages 691-692
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