Frank Leslie “Les” Barker

Above Frank Leslie “Les” Barker in 1944

Les Barker was born in Wilmington in 1875.  His parents were Benjamin and Sallie Messick Barker.  Benjamin Barker worked on the railroad and in 1885 he was promoted to yard master in Delmar and the family moved here.   At that time there was no high school in Delmar and Les had to go to Laurel and graduate high school there.  At the age of 15 in 1890 he started work on the railroad as a messenger/callboy.  His father used his influence to have Les get a furlough each fall so he could attend high school and then once school was out he started work on the railroad again.   When he was 20 years old and completed his education (he graduated Goldey Business school) he was promoted to clerk at the Delmar yard office.  At that time Delmar had less than 700 people in it.

In 1923 Les was elected to be a councilman in Delmar Delaware.  He also served on the First Methodist Church board.  He was a member of the Delmar fire Department.  He also raised homing pigeons, an interesting fad in the early 1900s.

 above 1908 ad

Leslie Barker married in October of 1921 Henrietta “Etta” Dryden Sterling (1876 -1964).  Etta had been married before (1898) to Horace Sterling of Crisfield.  Both families were prominent in Crisfield.  Horace worked as a joint agent for the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk Railroad and the Baltimore Chesapeake Atlantic Line at Crisfield.    They had one daughter, Charlotte Katherine Sterling who died in 1919 at the age of 19. Horace Sterling grew despondent over her death and in March of 1921 at the age of 45, while Etta was on a trip to New York City, he committed suicide. 

Les and Etta Barker had no children.  When Les died in 1945 at the age of 69 he was buried in Harrington with his parents.  He had 54 years of service as being a clerk with the railroad retiring in 1944. When Etta died she was buried in Crisfield.