Sam was born to Reuben (1814-1873) and Martha McCauley Barker (1818-1890).

At the age of 12 he and his family were in Beat 4, Hunt, Texas.

In Van Zandt County, Texas on July 20, 1867 Sam married Mary Virginia Iley (1847-1917) and to this union thirteen children were born.

1870 they were in Beat 1, Washington, Texas.

Before 1880 they were somewhere in Oklahoma, which was still Indian Territory.

1900 finds them in Township 7, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory.

1910 they are in Hunter, Choctaw, Oklahoma

By 1920 being a widower he is in Justice Precinct 3, Lubbock, Texas. County where he remained until his death.

Think at sometime between 1920 and 1930 he visited several of his children who were all scattered around the area except for his son Richard Polk Barker who lived in California. I do know he went to visit him and his family. Have no idea as to what year, but think it was late 1920's, because my mother one of his granddaughters said she was still young enough she just wanted to go out and play, and didn't care about the stories of people and things she just could not relate to (which later in life she really felt bad about). My Grandfather Polk (which is what he went by with frineds and family ) died in 1935, so that visit was the last time Sam saw him or any of those grandchildren. Sam himself past 2 years after his son's passing.

Of Sam and Mary's children not found to be linked to their memorials, they are:

Elizabeth Ann Barker; March 5,1869 - December 22,1894, husband; Thomas Gibson Martin.

Johnnie Vanessa Barker; 1870 - 1882

Martha "Mattie" Barker; 1872 - 1909, Husband; William Thomas Betts.

Ben Barker; 1874 - 1890.

Samuel Henry Barker; April 3,1880 - 1936, Wife; Mary Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Martin.

Walter R Barker; April 4,1884 - May 3,1976, Wife; Mollie Sossamon.

Lillian Mary or Mae Barker; May 1888 - March 29, 1960, husband; S.T. Kropp
WLS
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Your tombstone stands among the rest;
Neglected and alone.
The name and date are chiseled out
On polished, marbled stone.
It reaches out to all who care
It is too late to mourn.
You did not know that I exist
you died and I was born.
Yet each of us are cells of you
In flesh, in blood, in bone.
Our blood contracts and beats a pulse
entirely not our own.
Dear Ancestor, the place you filled
so many years ago.
Spread out among the ones you left
Who would have loved you so.
I wonder if you lived and loved,
I wonder if you knew
That someday I would find this spot
And come to visit you.
(I do not know who wrote this, but it fits)
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My Maternal Great Grandfather.