[2] Barker later sold his holdings in Randolph and relocated to Montpelier where he worked as an auctioneer and was employed as an officer of the Vermont House of Representatives.
[5] Active in the Democratic Party,[6] in 1835 he was appointed United States Marshal for the District of Vermont, succeeding Heman Lowry.
[11] Other ventures in which Barker was interested included acting as the sales agent for several Vermont counties in retailing two patent medicines, Goelicke's Matchless Sanative and Phelps' Compound Tomato Pills.
[6][15] He then received contracts to construct portions of the Rutland and Washington Railroad; when this venture failed during the Panic of 1857, Barker lost his fortune and moved to Painesville, Ohio.
[6][15] In Wisconsin, Barker undertook construction for the Appleton and New London Railway (later the Milwaukee, Lake Shore and Western Railroad).