From Proud Heritage, Vol 1 by DCPA, not currently in print.
Charles T., the sixth child of Charles and Eliza Joyner Barker, was born in Dallas County May 12, 1856. He married Anna Jane Pelt. Anna’s mother was Lucretia Ann Merchant whose father and mother were James and Lucretia Baugh Merchant of Simpson County, Mississippi.
James Madison and Lucretia Ann Pelt made the trip to Texas in 1861. They were the parents of seven children. The five who lived to be adults were: Columbus Washington (a schoolteacher), Anna Jane, Melissa Ann, William Jasper, and John Asa. Both parents died in 1865 and only Columbus and Anna came to Dallas County. Anna assisted her brother in teaching school in Corsicana, Texas.
Anna, born Valentine’s Day 1852, came to the Colonel George Wilson home in Dallas County to tutor his children and to help in the home. The Wilson land joined the Barker land on the south, and the two families were close friends. She met Charles T. Barker and they were married November 7, 1878.
Charles T. and Anna Barker lived on the southwest part of his father’s land farming and raising cattle, sheep, goats and hogs. Wolves, wild animals and rattlesnakes had to be dealt with regularly. They had two daughters, Lucretia, born August 13, 1881, who married C. 0. Vinyard, and Ella Carolina, born September 1883, who married C. W. Cox.
Charles Thomas Barker was hauling lumber from Grand Prairie when his team of horses ran away with him causing serious injuries which resulted in his death September 7, Anna moved to Grand Prairie and died August 7, 1930. Both are buried in Little Bethel Cemetery, Duncanville, Texas.
By Zelda Vinyard Johnston, Duncanville
