Kate (Ma) Barker (ne Clark October 8, 1873 January 16, 1935), better known as Ma Barker, and sometimes as Arizona Barker, was the mother of several criminals who ran the Barker gang during the public enemy era, when the exploits of gangs of criminals in the U.S. Midwest gripped the American pe . /Length 4108
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.. The home is famous for being the location of the longest gun battle in FBI history. The most Barker families were found in United Kingdom in 1891. Nonetheless, her boys, described by the FBI as mostly illiterate, ran wild. [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 FBI reported that a small arsenal found in the house consisted of two .45 caliber automatic pistols, two Thompson submachine guns, a .33 caliber Winchester rifle, a .380 caliber Colt automatic pistol, a Browning 12 gauge automatic shotgun, and a Remington 12 gauge pump shotgun. Both bodies were found in the front bedroom. Both pictured above, they are Fred, Ash Grove, Greene County, MO, United States, Aurora, Lawrence, Missouri, United States, Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri, United States, Ocklawaha, Marion County, FL, United States, Historical criminals, thieves and vagabonds, American Gangsters of the 1920s and 1930s, Arizona Donnie "arrie Kate" Barker (born Clark), Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers, 1791-1963, Spartenburg Weekly Herald and Herald-Journal - Jan 19 1935, Ma Barker Biography - Facts, Birthday, Life Story. Hunter' and 'Mrs. Barker was born Arizona Donnie Clark in Ash Grove, Missouri, the daughter of John and Emaline (Parker) Clark; her family called her "Arrie".In 1892, she married George Barker in Lawrence County, Missouri, and the couple had four sons: Herman (1893-1927), Lloyd (1897-1949), Arthur (1899-1939), and Fred (1901-1935). <<
City, State. Delma Barker, Marion Barker, Versie Barker are all deaceased. In 2016, the Florida house where she died was relocated via barge to Carney Island and is now a museum, complete with the original furniture and bullet holes. Their early married life was spent in Aurora, Missouri where their four sons, Herman, Lloyd, Arthur, and Fred, were born. The Ma Barker House was owned by the Bradford family and rented by Kate "Ma" Barker and her son Fred George Barker in November 1935 as members of the Barker/Karpis Gang were sought in . BARKER Family. "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. As they came of age, Ma Barkers sons turned to a life of crime, as evidenced by Hermans 1915 arrest in Joplin, Missouri for highway robbery. ", United States Department of Justice,Wikimedia Commons, The Hunt for the Last Public Enemy in Northeastern Ohio, Hunt for the Last Public Enemy in Northeastern Ohio. James Barker was born on 17 Jan 1760 in Bradford. The gang apparently believed that Dunlop's loose lips had given them away, and they murdered him while traveling. George was employed as a farmer at the time, but young Kate saw the promise of wealth if she stuck with him. He was the owner and operator of Quincy Typewriter in Quincy Center for many years. in Ocklawaha, Florida , United States, This form allows you to report an error or to submit additional information about this family tree: Fred BARKER (1901), Biography from Wikipedia (see original) under licence CC BY-SA 3.0. James and his brothers had begun robbing banks throughout Missouri and made regular national news throughout her childhood. 1 0 obj
Back in the 1930s, people would pose with the bodies of infamous criminals. 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. Why The FBI Thought Ma Barker Was Americas Most Dangerous Mind In The 1930s. From 1928 to 1930, Ma lived in "miserable poverty" in a "dirt-floor shack" with no husband and no job, while all her sons were in jail. In an FBI document, J. Edgar Hoover described George as lacking motivation. After about a four-hour gun battle, gunfire stopped coming from the house. Edna Murray the girlfriend of gangster Everett "Curly" Davis of Dillinger Gang fame wrote in Startling Detective Adventures Magazine that the men of the gang always followed Barker's orders. In June 1933, they kidnapped William Hamm Jr. of the brewing family, getting a ransom of $100,000. Most notably,in 1927, Herman Barker killed a sheriff deputy who had witnessed him cashing stolen bank bonds (per ZMAN Magazine). In the decades since her death, Ma Barkers role as the leader and mastermind behind the Barker-Karpis gang has been depicted in several movies including the low-budget 1960 film Ma Barkers Killer Brood, starring Lurene Tuttle, 1970s Bloody Mama starring Shelley Winters and Robert De Niro, and Public Enemies, a 1996 film starring Theresa Russell. In the civil wars then continually waged, he was attainted and hanged. [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. 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). Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love. 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. In August 1933, gangsters attacked a vehicle carrying the money. After the break, the real Ma Barker and big time crime in the 30s. <<
Fred Barker met Alvin Karpis in prison in 1931. [6] Writer Tim Mahoney argues that the real force behind the gang was the corrupt St. Paul law-enforcement system, especially under Police Chief Tom Brown. Fred Barker was born to George Elias and Arizona Donnie Clark "Ma" Barker in Aurora, Missouri on December 12, 1901. The ring is presumed to have been owned by Fred Barker and it has been added to the collection along with several bullet casings and assorted paraphernalia. ", "Note. ", While she didn't do any of the heavy lifting, Kate still had a role in the gang's activities. 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. Roger and Alva had Joseph Barker, Cecil Barker, Larry Barker, Wayne Barker, Delma Barker, Marion Barker, Versie Barker, Dalton Barker. Add. Barker's sons committed crimes as early as 1910, when Herman was arrested for highway robbery after running over a child in the getaway car. January 30, 1921 Arthur Barker aka "Bob Barker" received at the Oklahoma State Prison (#11059); released June 11, 1921. /Type /FontDescriptor
This theme of persecution and injustice would permeate her life. Historian and author John Koblas declared (via Press), "You can't talk about Ma Barker without talking about Jesse James.". The special agent in charge of the operation approached the house and demanded that the occupants surrender. This paper focuses on the family of Richard Barker of Andover, Massachusetts, and illustrates how the Barker . James lived in Rowley and Southfield. However, those who knew her insisted that she had no criminal role and also allege that Hoover created such accusations in order to excuse the FBI for her subsequent death in a shootout in 1935. The only variant spellings which are met with, "Barcar" and "Berker," in early Claverley documents, both go to confirm this derivation. The house was moved from original site to Carney Island Recreation and Conservation Area in Ocklawaha. The FBI located the house and confirmed that Ma Barker and Fred were on the premises. The gang managed to get away, and their reputation as a dangerous band of criminals grew. According to an FBI report, she enjoyed the life of luxury and bought expensive clothes and furniture. He married Mary Stickney on 10 or 11 May 1667 in Rowley. This was about 22% of all the recorded Barker's in USA. Soon, cars full of high school students from Ocala, a town 20 miles north, were turning up to watch the gunfight. 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. She was buried in (3) 1645 in Rowley. 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. On September 14, 1892, 18-year-old Kate Clark married George Barker, 10 years her senior, which was concerning to her parents. Heres how she became the FBIs most wanted mother of the 1930s. The Barker gang is rooted in the family of Arizona "Ma" Clark Barker (1873?-1935) and her four sons, Herman (1894-1927), Lloyd (1896-1949), Arthur "Dock" (1899-1939), and Fred (1902-35). [16], This view of Ma Barker is corroborated by notorious bank robber Harvey Bailey, who knew the Barkers well. 7 . The Herald's Visitations of Salap commence the.pedigree of this family, whose name appears to have been originally Coverall or Calverhall, with Richard de Coverall, who married Margaret Pigot, and then pass over the intermediate generations to William Barker, also called Coverall, who married the heiress of the Goulstons of Goulston. They moved to St. Paul, Minnesota because of the citys reputation as a safe-haven for wanted criminals. The land where it had sat since 1930 was sold by its owners. /Rotate 360
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. The two-story wood frame house in rural Ocklawaha, 62 miles . She had conveniently visited her son in jail only a short time before his escape. She was sent to the, The character of "Ma Jarrett" in the 1949 James Cagney film, Ma was played by Jean Harvey in 2 episodes of the TV series, "Ma Barker and Her Boys", an episode of the 1959 TV series, Barker's story was also adapted in the low-budget film, "The Ma Gantry Gang", featured in the first episode of the 1974 TV series, Another retelling of the legend occurred in the 1996 movie, Maw Famon and her thug sons who battle it out with. 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. 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. Get info on Richard E Barker - Agawam, Massachusetts - (413) 782-0169. As the legend goes, his last words before he pulled the trigger were, "forgive me, Ma," notes Judith A. Yates in "Put the Money in My Purse!". The FBI later claimed that she would try to break up any relationships, so that "other women in the gang" did their best to avoid her. Sometime around 1903 or 1904, the Barker family moved to Webb City, Missouri. According to Enss and Kazanjian, a group of prisoners, including Arthur, had used a small saw and sulfuric acid to break down the bars of their cell. endobj
Gangster Movie (1970)Director: Bill Karn Writing Credits: F. Paul HallCast: Lurene TuttleMa Barker and her four sons terrorize the 1930s South and Midwest wi. /Contents 10 0 R
In October 2016, the Ma Barker home in Ocklawaha, Florida, was relocated via barge across Lake Weir to Carney Island in Marion County in preparation for being opened to the public as a museum in late 2017 or 2018. According to Karpiss (per Chris Enss and Howard Kazanjian's book "Ma Barker"), Kate allowed Dunlop to "sponge off of her" and was a "pain in the ass." Anytime a revival came through town she went. Put yer hands in the air and gimme all yer money," before going on to describe her as "the meanest cat from ol' Chicago town." He was a freeman on 19 Dec 1690 in Springfield. 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. 0 0 0 0 0 722 667 722 0 667 611 778 778 0 500 778 0 944 0 0 0 0 0 556 667 0
By 1928, all three remaining Barker brothers were incarcerated, with Lloyd serving time in a federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas, Arthur in an Oklahoma State Penitentiary, and Fred in a Kansas State Prison. The purpose was to keep her from learning much about the gang's crimes, as well as to separate her from their girlfriends, with whom she did not get along. By 1935, the FBI was after the Barker-Karpis Gang. . /Descent -206
II (1313), for instance, in the Manor of Pattingham, adjacent to Worfield, John de Herdwyke was elected Bercar by the villagers in place of John Lovekyn. FBI leader J. Edgar Hoover agreed, revealing to the public in 1935 that her eyes were "queerly direct, penetrating, with some strongly smoldering flame, yet withal as hypnotically cold as the muzzle of a gun.". Bob was a veteran of the U.S. Army. In his memoirs ("Ma Barker"), Karpis claimed, "there was probably never before as complete a gathering of criminals in one room in the United States as there was on New Year's Eve in 1931.". 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. Kate never punished her sons because she never believed they had done anything wrong. Anderson', she rented houses, paid bills, shopped, and did household errands. George Barker/Kate"Ma"Barker By genealogy.com user March 02, 1999 at 01:46:22. . Concur in stating that he was descended from one Ralph or Randulph de Coverall, for whom a date is given, 12 Edw. In 1918, Arthur Barker and his associates stole a few cars. Authorities found a map belonging to Arthur and were able to determine that the other gang members were hiding out in Ocklawaha, Florida. And for the first time, Ma Barker was officially recognized as an accomplice to the gang by law enforcement. /LastChar 122
Their production was 30 thousand dollars. /ItalicAngle 0
Mercy Truth Barker Keetch was born Feb. 21, 1835 in Marston, Bedfordshire, England, a daughter of Thomas Barker and Elizabeth Thompson Barker. Standing here in front of the windows where Ma Barker made her last stand, it's easy to feel one. [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. In 1892, she married George Barker in Lawrence County, Missouri, and the couple had four sons: Herman (1893-1927), Lloyd (1897-1949), Arthur Barker (1899-1939), and Fred Barker (1901-1935 . If that doesn't sound familiar, Lady Gaga later sampled the song in "Poker Face" - those famous "ma ma ma ma's" are referencing the one and only Ma Barker. Kate continued to encourage the boys' participation in crime and, according to the Joplin Globe, their family home became a gathering place for criminals. February 10, 1922 Arthur "Doc" Barker received (#11906) at Oklahoma State Prison for the murder of Sherrill. The gang split up and went into hiding. 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. Build your family tree online ; Share photos and videos ; Smart Matching technology ; Free! So stick around, see. -- 1 sheet ; 11 x 15 cm Sources of the history -Origin of the family - Landmarks and heirlooms -- Signs and abbreviations -- Descendants of Robert Barker -- Descendants of John Barker "It's no insult to Ma's memory that she just didn't have the know-how to direct us on a robbery," he wrote in his memoirs (via Crime and Investigation). /BaseFont /EQNEBL+Times-Bold
Ma Barker The Barker Gang Criminal Family . Newspaper article on Ma Barker. While in Washington, his father fell from a tower and sustained an injury which resulted in his death in 1929. The second kidnapping of the Barker/Karpis gang targeted a wealthy banker named Edward George Bremer, Jr., who was snatched in St. Paul, Minnesota on January 17, 1934. Williams Timberhill Cemetery in Welch, Okla. [Newton, Michael. 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. My interest was further piqued because Arizona Clark had been born in Greene Co., MO, and my mother and I had both been born in Greene Co. George and Arizona Barker had also spent time in Stone Co., MO, where my father had been born. FBIFred Barker met Alvin Karpis in prison in 1931.