William Barker came from Acton, Mass., and located in Nelson, in 1780. He was a soldier under General Washington, in the French and Indian war, and, with two of his sons, served in the Revolution, and was at the battle of Concord. His son Thaddeus, who came here with his father, had a family of eleven children, and died in 1843. His son Chauncey, the only child now living, was born in 1809, and has lived forty-six years on the place he now occupies. William Barker was town clerk and town representative for many years. Thaddeus also took an active part in town affairs, and held nearly all the offices. The family has always been one of the leading ones of the town.
