William Boardman Barker

Push to enlarge.

William Boardman Barker was born in Limerick, York County, Maine, on April 17, 1838, and was the son of Simeon and Almira (Boardman) Barker.  He received the education which the common schools and academy in his native towni provided, and subsequently taught several terms of school. He then read law in the office of his brother-in-law, Hon. Luther S. Moore, of Limerick. He first entered the military service Sept. 30, 1862, enlisting in Co. A, Twenty-Seventh Maine Volunteer Infantry, and becoming a corporal. After nearly ten months of  service, he was mustered out July 17, 1863, having been one of those who volunteered to remain after their time was out, because of Lee's march into Pennsylvania, and the impending battle of Gettysburg.

He then returned to the study of law until the Thirty-Second Maine was recruited, when he again enlisted, and was mustered into the Union army as Sergeant-Major of that regiment, on April 5, 1864. Participating with the regiment in all its severe service, he was promoted to Second Lieutenant of Co. C, June 21, 1864, and to First Lieutenant of Co. H, Sept. 16, 1864: was Acting Quartermaster; and on Oct. 8, 1864, was commissioned Captain of Co. D. At the consolidation of the Thirty-First and Thirty-Second Maine, Dec. 12, 1864, Captain Barker was assigned to the command of Co. I, Thirty-First Maine, where he remained until the regiment was mustered out.

He had been admitted to York County bar on Jan. 13, 1864, and after the close of the war entered upon the practice of the law in New York City for a time. But while on a visit to Portland, Me., he was suddenly taken sick, and after a few days' illness, died of congestion of the lungs, Nov. 24, 1866. He was buried in the village cemetery at Limerick.  His obituarist at the time of his death, writes of him as a young man of tine natural ability and prepossessing personal appearance, which would doubtless have secured to him a successful and honorable career had his life been spared.  His comrades of the Thirty-Second Maine will recall him as a genial, generous and noble-hearted man, and a brave soldier.

Captain Burlank was his close friend from boyhood, they having been associated in the same school and academy, having read law in the same office, and later having served together in the Twenty-Seventh and the Thirty-Second
reogiments.