1807-1848
Attorney General of New York, 1842-1845
George Payson Barker was born on October 25, 1807, in Rindge, New Hampshire. In 1823, he attended Amherst College and later studied at Union College from which he graduated in 1827. While in college, he studied law in the office of Alonzo C. Paige in Schenectady, New York and upon his graduation from college, he continued his legal studies in the law office of Stephen G. Austin in Buffalo. Admitted to the bar in 1830, Barker was appointed first Attorney of the City of Buffalo in 1832, and later became the District Attorney of Erie County. In 1836, Barker was elected to the New York Assembly.
George P. Barker served in the New York Militia, and in June 1839, he was commissioned brigadier general of the 8th Brigade.
George Payson Barker was elected Attorney General in 1842 and served in that office until 1845 when he returned to Buffalo and was again appointed District Attorney of Erie County. George Payson Barker died in Buffalo, New York, on January 27, 1848.
Sources
George J. Bryan, Lucien Brock Proctor. Biographies of Attorney-General George P. Barker, John C. Lord, D.D., Mrs. John C. Lord, and William G. Bryan, Esq. (1886).