He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1866, but prior to this time had organized and commanded a company in the Civil War.

As a member of the banking firm of Barker Bros. & Co., he was appointed in 1878 as special financial agent of the Russian government.

He became an acquaintance of Tsar Alexander II of Russia who helped him in the development of mining lands throughout Russian and Europe.

As early as 1869 he founded the Penn Monthly, a weekly devoted to political, economic, and social questions, which in 1880-1900 was published under the name The American.

[5] During the 1912 presidential election the Republican Party was divided over William Taft and Theodore Roosevelt's presidential campaigns, but Barker opposed both of them and supported Senator Albert B. Cummins for the Republican nomination, but after Cummins lost the nomination Barker switched his support to Roosevelt and his Progressive Party.