A Well Deserved Pension At Last!

Transcript

Colored Veteran Gets Pension.

Elisha Barker of White Plains, late of Co. E. 11th U.S.C. Troops, a disabled veteran, after many years of waiting, was this week notified of the allowance of his pension, through M. A. Hodgson, his attorney.

Elisha is a member of the old White Plains colored family of that name. He and two brothers enlisted and fought in the same regiment. All returned alive, none of them having even been wounded. The regiment was stationed for a couple of years in Louisiana, however, and the eventual effect of the torrid climate upon the consttution of Elisha was the disability on account of which he has just been awarded a pension.

Elisha is the last of the three brothers left, the others having passed away. He had been employed at Charles Deutermann's stable at Croker's Pond, but of late has been unable to work.

The Barker family were originally slaves. They took their name from their owners, the homestead of which family stood on the site of the John W Young residence, Broadway, and Hamilton avenue. Elisha's grandfather was born in slavery, but was liberated by his owner, William Barker.

The colored Barkers were among the first to settle in the Negro Hills, where they multiplied and became a numerous family. They earned reputation as hunters and particularly as skaters on the nearby St. Mary's Lake.