Before passing the bar, he had studied by serving as seven years as an apprentice in a New York law practice.

[4] He successfully acted as a conciliator to Cornelius Vanderbilt and William Henry Aspinwall, ending their bitter feud.

At the end of the Franco-Prussian War, Barlow settled a dispute concerning a $1,600,000 contract to send arms to France.

[5] Barlow was a member of the high-class Manhattan and Union clubs,[4] the former of which he helped found.

He married Alice Cornell Townsend (1833–1889), with whom he had one son and daughter:[6] Barlow died on the morning of July 10, 1889, of heart failure at his summer home in Glen Cove, Long Island.

[5] Barlow's funeral service was held on July 12 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Glen Cove.

Attendees included former Secretary of State Thomas F. Bayard and Gen. Fitz John Porter.