Judge James Madison Barker with signature

James Madison Barker (October 23, 1839 – October 2, 1905) was a justice of the

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the claim is disputed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, the SJC claims the distinction of being the oldest continuously fu ...

from 1891 to 1905. He was appointed by Governor William E. Russell. Baker was born in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the most populous city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfi ...

to John Vanderburgh, a woolen manufacturer whose American ancestry could be traced back to settlers of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

in 1663, and Sarah (Apthorp) Barker.''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume 14'' (1917), p. 494. ''

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography ''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography'' is a multi-volume collection of biographical articles and portraits of Americans, published since the 1890s. The primary method of data collection was by sending questionnaires to subjects or the ...

'' says of Barker: Barker died in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts, while sitting as a single justice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, James 1839 births 1905 deaths Justices of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Williams College alumni Harvard Law School alumni Yale Law School alumni Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives People from Pittsfield, Massachusetts 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court 19th-century Massachusetts state court judges Civil service reform in the United States