The Barker Family Home / Sarah Daisy Barker Thomas

Side A: Generations of the Barker family lived in the house that stood at 89 Wood Street from 1875 to 1973. George W. Barker (1836-1913) was born enslaved in Virginia, emancipated age 13, and settled in Mansfield by 1870. He worked as a well-known chef in downtown hotels. In December 1873, Barker married Dayton-native Harriet J. Hurley (1840-1925). The next April, he purchased a corner plot in Snyder’s Subdivision for $450. Completed by 1875, his original brick house sheltered Barker, his wife, and his mother-in-law, Eliza Hurley (1815-1885). The Barker’s children — Sumner (1875-1890) and Sarah Daisy (1877-1973) — were born there. The Barker family were one of Mansfield’s historic Black families and members of the First Congregational Church. Their house once included a decorative wooden porch, numerous outbuildings, and served as an important community gathering place. Side B: “Daisy” Barker graduated from Mansfield High School (1896) and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music (1900). She taught music in Kentucky’s Eckstein Norton Institute, a school dedicated to educating African Americans, and served as the institute’s music director (c.1903-1905). She returned to Mansfield around 1905. Giving lessons from the Barker home, she became a notable music and piano instructor. In 1920, Daisy Barker married Captain Walter S. Thomas (1853-1928), a Spanish-American War veteran who served as a clerk in the Ohio Senate and a trustee for Wilberforce University. Residing in the Barker House, the couple were active civil rights leaders. In 1961, Daisy Thomas helped establish a Mansfield chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The Daisy Barker house was sold in 1973 and demolished in 2024.