Cleric.
Born in Scotland in 1880, he came to Canada at the request of James Woodsworth and served as a lay minister at the West Fort William Mission for year. He then enrolled in Wesley College and received a theological degree in 1911 while serving at Dryden, Keewatin, and Killarney. He became the first resident ordained minister at Transcona, serving there for four years then he assisted Richard Whiting at Young Methodist Church for a year while preaching in the West End Methodist Church. When it became Greenwood Methodist Church, he was asked to become its first minister, serving until 1917.
Subsequent posts included Gordon Methodist Church (1917-1922), Sparling Methodist Church (1922-1926), Knox United Church (1926-1932), Morden United Church (1932-1942), Sturgeon Creek and Charleswood (11 years). When the Winnipeg United Church Presbytery was constituted, he became its first Secretary and, the following year, its Chairman. He served on the Senate of United College and Board of Regents for United College. He received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from United College in 1944.
On 30 June 1917, he married Margaret Madill (1889-1943) at Winnipeg and they had a son and a daughter, including Jean Duncan Barker (1927-2018, wife of David Murray Peden).
He died at the Winnipeg General Hospital on 16 July 1967 and was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery.
Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registration [Margaret Barker], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 17 July 1967, page 25.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 8 January 2022
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