Barker was born Arizona Donnie Clark in Ash Grove, Missouri, the daughter of John and Emaline (Parker) Clark; her family called her "Arrie". Over the years, George held several steady albeit low-paying jobs, primarily farming corn and beans and working in localmines. J. Edgar Hoover called her "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade.". The FBI ordered Willie Woodbury, a local handyman, to enter the house while wearing a bulletproof vest. In the reign of Edward II, the overlord of the manor was Bartholomew de Bcdlcsmere. by Elford H. Messer 1994 . Unknown Harker married Unknown Woman c1910 Parents of . And, of course, she also enjoyed the improved living conditions wealth allowed. Compare DNA and explore genealogy for William Barker Sr born 1646 Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts died 1718 Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts including parents + descendants + 2 photos + DNA connections + more in the free family tree community. She never much cared for the name, though, and changed it to Kate herself, notes Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian in "Ma Barker." endobj According to Enss and Kazanjian, Kate handled the boys while George worked, although he managed to take them fishing and teach them how to shoot. Barker was born Arizona Clark in Ash Grove, Missouri, the daughter of John and Emaline (Parker) Clark; her family called her "Arrie". The family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1912. Kate never punished her sons because she never believed they had done anything wrong. November 8, 1931 Fred Barker killed an Arkansas police chief. According to Biography, on the morning of January 16, the Feds surrounded the house and demanded Ma and Fred surrender. Prior to the move, her ghost was said to haunt the house, as per the Tampa Bay Times. In 1891 there were 10,030 Barker families living in Yorkshire. 1655 Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts died 1744 Andover, Essex, Massachusetts including parents + descendants + 3 photos + 4 genealogist comments + DNA connections + more in the free family tree community. The lakefront Florida retreat where FBI agents gunned down gangland legend Ma Barker in 1935 is up for sale - bullet holes and all.. The FBI connected the Barker-Karpis gang to the Hamm kidnapping by pulling fingerprints, a new technology at the time. He was killed in a lengthy gunfight with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 1935. One of the copyholders seems to have been chosen by the rest to act in this capacity; in 7 Edw. Nonetheless, her boys, described by the FBI as mostly illiterate, ran wild. Two of the shots hit the sheriff in the heart, killing him instantly. Ma saw a lot of movies." She was buried in (3) 1645 in Rowley. Frederick George Barker (December 12, 1901 January 16, 1935) was an American criminal who, along with Alvin Karpis, co-founded the Barker-Karpis gang, which committed numerous robberies, murders and kidnappings during the 1930s. Mary Barnard , Roger Williams, Marguerite D'ANJOU , Charles 1er Capet de Valois DE FRANCE, Mathilde Mahaut DE MAYENNE , Hugues II, le pacifique DE BOURGOGNE. Some say she was no more than a common hillbilly woman, others claim she was the mastermind of the entire Barker-Karpis Gang, who stole more money than John Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, and Vern Miller combined, notes author Chris Enss and left a trail of nearly a dozen . On New Year's Eve, there was a gala attended by many top mobsters, including Capone's associates and Isadore "Kid Cann" Blumenfeld (per authorTroy Taylor). Williams Timberhill Cemetery in Welch, Okla. [Newton, Michael. Agents surrounded the house at 13250 East Highway C-25 on the morning of January 16, 1935. Having already captured the era's other public enemies, they were devoting all their energy to bringing in the "Bloody Barkers" and Alvin "Creepy" Karpis. [6] While at one hideout, a resident identified the gang from photographs in True Detective magazine and told the police, but Chief Brown tipped them off and they escaped. Short, blue-eyed, and dark-featured, George was quiet, as per Biography, and lacked the ambition Kate wanted, allowing her to dominate the relationship, notes the Kansas City Star. Unfortunately, this odd tidbit led the G-Men right to their doorstep. They pulled the same trick, this time bringing in $200,000. James and his brothers had begun robbing banks throughout Missouri and made regular national news throughout her childhood. Also a set of twins that passed away at birth Donny Ray and Donna Kay Barker. The pair had their first son, Herman, in 1894 (per Enss and Kazanjian in "Ma Barker"). /Subtype /Type1 Gang member Alvin Karpis claims Barker wasn't a real criminal. Chris Enss: Ma Barker was this incredible woman who ends up being the matriarch to a family of thieves, thugs, and murderers. Racketeer Jack Peifer suggested that they move to St. Paul, Minnesota which had a reputation at the time as a haven for wanted criminals. /FontDescriptor 11 0 R Continued on Pago IIS Column U Local Secret Orders BELIEVE , list of public enemies. These pedigrees show five branches of the family of Barker to have been then settled in the county; at Colchurst, Haghmond, Wolverton, Hopton Castle, and Aston respectively; but the Barkers of Aston cannot have appeared in person, for their genealogy, though begun, is not brought up to date like those of the other branches. What could look more innocent? Ma, 63, was curled on the floor, cradling her Tommy gun. Roger and Alva have been deceased for many years. A search of his apartment revealed a map of Florida and a partially burned letter that mentioned a man-eating local alligator named "Old Joe." According to Julie Thompson's "Hunt for the Last Public Enemy in Northeastern Ohio," many historians believe this party was key to the Barker-Karpis Gang's transition into a big-league crime outfit. From about the fourteen century onward the word Barker was applied to a tanner, and at a still later date it came to mean a barker of trees, but these were comparatively modern uses of the word and only originated after family names had become established. From 1916 to 1919, he was at the Crystal Springs Water Co. Roger and Alva had Joseph Barker, Cecil Barker, Larry Barker, Wayne Barker, Delma Barker, Marion Barker, Versie Barker, Dalton Barker. Family life George and Arizona had four boys named . Ma Barker, shown here sitting with her friend Arthur Dunlop, died at age 61 in a shootout with the FBI. Kate "Ma" Barker (Ash Grove, 8 de outubro de 1873 - Ocklawaha, 16 de janeiro de 1935) [1] foi uma notria criminosa estadunidense que viveu na poca da chamada "Era dos Inimigos Pblicos", fenmeno da Grande Depresso e que teve lugar na regio do Meio-Oeste do pas. A psychologically disturbed matriarch presides over her damaged family of bank-robbing misfits. /FirstChar 32 Standing here in front of the windows where Ma Barker made her last stand, it's easy to feel one. He observed in his autobiography that Ma Barker "couldn't plan breakfast" let alone a criminal enterprise. By 1935, the FBI was after the Barker-Karpis Gang. Her name was Kate Barker, but she was notoriously known as "Ma" Barker, a Midwestern woman who became the FBI's most wanted mother of the 1930s. From 1927 to 1930, Kate Barker lived alone in what author Tim Mahoney describes in his book "Secret Partners" as a "dirt-floor shack" in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1999 using rap name Sha-Queen her single hit 15 on the Billboard charts. [6] He concluded: The most ridiculous story in the annals of crime is that Ma Barker was the mastermind behind the KarpisBarker gang. It was there that the Barker-Karpis gang committed their more infamous crimes, eventually turning from bank robberies to kidnapping under the protection and guidance of Thomas Brown, the citys corrupt chief of police. We are all related! Born Arizona Donnie Clark (October 8, 1873 - January 16, 1935), Kate "Ma" Barker was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang from the "public enemy era", when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the U.S. Midwest gripped the American people and press. According to Biography, she had quite the temper and was rather stubborn. The Barker family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. Ma Barker The Barker Gang Criminal Family . Both bodies were found in the front bedroom. According to Karpis (per Crime and Investigation), her motherly persona was a huge asset. Travis Barker Family Tree Explored: Parents And Siblings Revealed. 1 0 obj Either she threw him out, as some say, or he left when life became intolerable with his criminal family. In 1928, Lloyd Barker was incarcerated in the federal penitentiary at Leavenworth, Kansas, Arthur "Doc" Barker was in the Oklahoma State Prison, and Fred was in the Kansas State Prison. "The name Barker, though not a very common one, made its appearance during the thirteenth century in parts of the country widely distant from each other, and it is not to be supposed that all those who bore it were in any way related to each other. The riches she had always hoped her husband would bring her were now hers by way of her sons. On the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 15, 1935, 15 agents swooped down on a large frame house on the shores of Lake Weir, on the outskirts of this Florida citrus belt town (population then, as now . At birth, she was given the name Arizona Donnie Clark, as per Biography. They were: Samuel Barker, born in 1648, settled in New Castle county, Del., in 1685; Robert Barker and his brother, John Barker (the latter sometimes erroneously called Francis), settled in Plymouth, Mass., in 1626, having doubtless came over with the Pilgrims in 1620; and James Barker, of Shropshire, England, born in 1617, -settled in Rhode Island in or about 1634, having come over on the ship Mary and John. In 1931, the family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where Barker graduated from Central High School in 1941. He added, "she wasn't a leader of criminals or even a criminal herself.". Woodbury reported that there was no one inside alive. He was the owner and operator of Quincy Typewriter in Quincy Center for many years. American criminal who, along with Alvin Karpis, co-founded the Barker-Karpis gang, Born on December 12, 1901 Ma tossed out her husband around that same time and lived in abject poverty from 1928 to 1931 during her sons incarceration. Microfiche. The name Barker is derived from the old Norman "bercer," which signified the elected herdsman of the village or manor. Vital Records & More. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. [11] Karpis has suggested that the story was encouraged by J. Edgar Hoover[14] and his fledgling Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to justify his agents' killing an old woman. [8] The gang decided to leave St. Paul with the FBI on the case and without Tom Brown supplying information; they moved to the Chicago area, renting apartments for Ma while they tried to launder the ransom.[9]. In 1892, she married George Barker in Lawrence County, Missouri, and the couple had four sons: Herman (18931927), Lloyd (18971949), Arthur (18991939), and Fred (19011935). Karpis claimed that Ma Barker was just an old-fashioned homebody from the Ozarks a simple woman, adding that Ma was superstitious, gullible, simple, cantankerous, and, well, generally law-abiding. The first word of her simple, unassuming grave marker reads: "Ma. In 1910, per The Famous People, teenage Herman Barker ran over a child while fleeing the scene of a robbery in a getaway car, and the Barkers became constantly involved with the police. >> More About Barker Family, Site (s) of. That day, Hoover said, marked "the end of an era of violence." For nine months, the corpses lay unclaimed. Taken from The Ultimate Killer Collection by Stewart Andel. Barker gained a reputation as a ruthless crime matriarch who controlled and organized her sons' crimes. Simone: This is Chris Enss, she's a history writer and co-author of Ma Barker: America's Most Wanted Mother. Fleeing the scene, they were accosted the following day Sheriff C. Roy Kelly at a garage while getting two flat tires fixed. She felt he treated her and her three siblings worse than his two biological children. "[4] Alvin Karpis was probably the real leader of the gang, and he later said that Ma was just "an old-fashioned homebody from the Ozarks superstitious, gullible, simple, cantankerous and, well, generally law abiding". Discover the family tree of Robert Barker (2) for free, and learn about their family history and their ancestry. She was writing to him to tell him about a large, September 26, 1935 The supposed body of underworld doctor, November 7, 1935 Karpis and five accomplices robbed an Erie Railroad mail train at. Before they met him, the gang were nothing more than a "bumbling band of hillbilly burglars" who would have been captured or killed long before becoming nationally notorious. My people in this country originate from James Barker of Rowley, Massa chusetts. Arizona Donnie Clark; October 8, 1873 January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker (and sometimes known as Arizona Barker and Arrie Barker), was the mother of several American criminals who ran the BarkerKarpis Gang during the "public enemy era" when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the Midwestern United States gripped the American people and press. However, a few minutes later, machine-gun fire erupted from the house. Per the Joplin Globe, the Barker boys were known as the town criminals while still school-aged. /Type /FontDescriptor August 13, 1932 Attorney J. Earl Smith of Tulsa, Oklahoma found killed at Indian Hills Country Club north of Tulsa; he had been retained to defend Harvey Bailey over the Fort Scott bank robbery, but the man was convicted. << An error has occured while loading the map. The Barker family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The gang apparently believed that Dunlop's loose lips had given them away, and they murdered him while traveling. They were a bunch of criminal misfits, drawn together by friendship, family, and a thirst for easy money. At the age of 12 she began her rap career with artist such as LL Cool J, 50 Cent, NOE from ByrdGang ,Kool G Rap and many other. Her blood has been scrubbed from the pine floorboards. [2] The FBI claimed that George left Ma because she had become "loose in her moral life" and was "having outside dates with other men". Why The FBI Thought Ma Barker Was Americas Most Dangerous Mind In The 1930s. On Aug. 29, 1927, the eldest son, Herman, killed himself to avoid prosecution after committing a robbery and shooting a police officer in the mouth. Then take a look at 55 vintage mugshots of early 20th-century female criminals. January 15, 1921 Arthur Barker aka "Claude Dade" involved in attempted bank robbery in Muskogee, Oklahoma; arrested (#822). The gang managed to get away, and their reputation as a dangerous band of criminals grew. A strong-willed matriarch who allegedly helped organize her sons crimes, Kate Barker better known as Ma Barker was killed after a four-hour gun battle with FBI agents in Ocklawaha, Florida in 1935. Middle Name. April 26, 1932 Body of A.W. The first recorded occurrence of the name in Shropshire is in 1292, when one William Barker was an under tenant at Stanton Lacy, but the only Barker families of any standing in the county in later years believed, as will be seen, that the name was not their original one, but had been adopted in place of another by one of their ancestors. Current reports as of 2022 are consistent that Kate Barker's role in her sons' crimes were falsely created by the media to increase newspaper and media sales margins. She had no job, all her sons were in jail, and her husband was gone. Soon, cars full of high school students from Ocala, a town 20 miles north, were turning up to watch the gunfight. His naked body was found near Webster, Wisconsin with a single bullet wound to the head. While the rest of the U.S. was scraping pennies in a severe economic depression, Kate was frequenting high-class restaurants and nightclubs. The gang split up and went into hiding. The Lake Weir Chamber of Commerce stages an annual "Ma Barker Shootout" on "Ma Barker day" in a building near the actual location of her death. Samuel Barker was a lineal descendant of John Barker, of Shropshire, England, who married, in 1549, Elizabeth Hill, a sister of Sir Rowland Hill, the first Protestant Lord Mayor of London. Had she lived she likely would have been simply been charged with accessory and harboring fugitives. Family life. /Filter /FlateDecode His mother, Matilda ("Tillie") Valandra (ne Matilda Kent Tarleton), was a school teacher; his father, Byron John Barker, was the foreman on the electrical high line through . City, State. The gang moved to Chicago but left after a short period because Alvin didnt want to work for Al Capone. Ma Barker was born on October 8, 1873, deep in the Missouri Ozarks in a town that was barely a town called Ash Grove. Last Name. % [6] According to Claire Bond Potter, "Her age and apparent respectability permitted the gang to hide out 'disguised' as a family. The most Barker families were found in United Kingdom in 1891. This was about 22% of all the recorded Barker's in USA. A funeral mass was held on Monday, September 12th 2022 at 11:00 AM at the St. Augustine's Parish (43 Essex St, Andover, MA 01810). Please try again. He was among a group from nearby Newbury and Ipswich who had petitioned for . Ancestry is a major source of information if you are filling out the detail of Ma Barker in your family tree. Fred brought fellow prison inmate Alvin Karpis, alias Old Creepy, home with him; the two formed the Barker-Karpis Gang and used Ma Barkers shack as their hideout. Com a sua morte sendo bastante explorada pela imprensa sensacionalista, Ma Barker tornou-se "lenda" da crnica policial . The updated Disco-Mix of Boney M. Hit "Ma Baker" with actual photos and mug shots of the real-life Ma Barker, matriarch of the notorious 1930s outlaw family.. After learning about the rough-and-tumble life of Ma Barker, check out some more female gangsters. /Ascent 694 Getty ImagesMa Barker, shown here sitting with her friend Arthur Dunlop, died at age 61 in a shootout with the FBI. According to legend, as a young girl Barker saw the outlaw Jesse James and his gang ride through her town. [13], The popular image of Ma as the gang's leader and its criminal mastermind is often portrayed in films such as Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960), Bloody Mama (1970), and Public Enemies (1996). The agents ordered them to surrender, but Fred opened fire; both he and his mother were killed by federal agents after an intense, hours-long shootout. Biography of Ma Barker and her Sons. The surname Barker was first found in Yorkshire where Ralph Berker was a Knights Templar in 1185. She traveled with her sons during their criminal careers. We collect and match historical records that Ancestry users have contributed to their family trees to create each person's profile. "The most ridiculous story in the annals of crime is that Ma Barker was the mastermind behind the Barker-Karpis Gang," he said in a 1979 interview (via Toronto Sun). In the 1920s, he was employed as a farmer, watchman, station engineer, and clerk. She wasn't a leader of criminals or even a criminal herself. However, there is some controversy regarding Ma Barkers role as the leader and mastermind behind the success of the Barker-Karpis gang. But Hoover went straight to the press, describing Barker as a "she-wolf" who was "the most vicious, dangerous, and resourceful criminal brain of the last decade," notes "Ma Barker," by Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian. According to writer Miriam Allen deFord, George "gave up completely and quietly removed himself from the scene" after Herman's death and the imprisonment of his other sons. However, this is widely regarded by historians as fictitious, and some have been skeptical that she participated in the shoot-out in which she died. The . A strong-willed matriarch who allegedly helped organize her sons' crimes, Kate Barker better known as "Ma" Barker was killed after a four-hour gun battle with FBI agents in Ocklawaha, Florida in 1935. [6] She certainly knew of the gang's activities and even helped them before and after they committed their crimes, and this made her an accomplice, but there is no evidence that she was involved in planning them. 3 0 obj That event kicked off a series of crimes that would escalate in seriousness to include robbery, kidnapping, and murder. . Barker-Karpis Gang member Alvin Karpis who knew her quite well paints a different picture, describing her as "an old-fashioned homebody from the Ozarks superstitious, gullible, simple, cantankerous, and, well, generally law-abiding" (via theToronto Sun).