The year is 1840 and the United States of America is 21 years away from the Civil War. In Lynnfield, Elzina (E.) Florence Whittredge was born to her parents, William A. Whittredge and his wife Mary J. (Skinner) Whittredge.
No one realized it yet, but a leader, a woman of self-sacrifice and true patriotism, had just been born.
In June of 1863, her last name would change to Barker after marrying Col. Thomas Erskine Barker. At the time, Thomas Barker was a Union Soldier commanding the 12th New Hampshire district. According to E. Florence Barker’s death notice in the “Boston Evening Transcript” in 1897, the colonel had been granted furlough during the time of their marriage due to being wounded.
However, he’d soon be back in the action in 1863 in Point Lookout, Md., a hot spot during the Civil War. Witnessing the fighting firsthand, E. Florence Barker knew she wanted to be involved and help the soldiers.
Upon returning home, she and her husband would settle in Malden. A year after the war ended the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) would form and E. Florence Barker would immediately become interested in its work. The G.A.R. was made up of veterans of the Union Army, Union Navy, Marine Corps and the US Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War.
It was one of the first political groups formed and supported the rights of Black veterans, patriotic education and the establishment of Memorial Day as a national holiday, according to Freedom’s Way
G.A.R. had been a fraternal organization, but with a desire to be involved, E. Florence Baker became a founder of the Woman’s Relief Corps (WRC) in 1883, an auxiliary to the G.A.R. She would be unanimously voted in as President the first year of WRC’s founding.
According to the WRC, a decade had passed since the war and still, the United States was feeling the effects of it. There were orphans and widows struggling after the passing of their husbands and fathers. “Loyal women” stood ready to help, providing post-war relief to Union veterans and keeping their memory alive.
“During the administration of Mrs. Barker as department president of the Woman’s Relief Corps of Massachusetts the formation of the national order was accomplished,” the “Boston Evening Transcript” stated.
E. Florence Barker would preside over the WRC’s annual convention in Boston in 1883 and Commander-in-Chief Paul Van Der Voort and Senior Vice-Commander-in-Chief I. S. Bands would be among the prominent figures to visit the convention.
Upon reaching the national scale, E. Florence Barker would guide the WRC through its first year, gaining the appreciation of many who served, including Van Der Voort. Though she was renominated as president, the woman turned down the offer, but remained active and was a lifetime member of the national executive board.
Kate Brownlee Sherwood, a poet, journalist and writer, would become the second president and she’d be followed by Sarah E. Fuller as the third president. Other members who were a part of the founding group included Emma B. Alrich, Mary Jewett Telford, and Annie W. Clark. American Red Cross founder Clara Barton had also been a member of the WRC.
Her service didn’t end there though. E. Florence Barker was a trustee of the Malden Hospital, a member of the Women’s Clubhouse Corporation (acting as president during its formation), founder of the Ladies’ Aid Association of Chelsea Soldiers’ Home, a director of Union ex-Prisoners of War National Memorial Association and joined many charitable movements throughout Boston.
“She was well known in social circles in Malden and Boston and her acquaintance among prominent men and women in almost every walk of life throughout the country was large,” according to her death notice.
Upon her death in 1897, she was viewed as a patriot, an eloquent speaker and a respected leader by her constituents and was recognized for her work to memorialize the sacrifices made by the Union soldiers who fought in the Civil War. She rests in Forest Dale Cemetery in Malden along with her husband.
E. Florence Barker represents the countless women who joined the fight before women were legally allowed to march on the battlefields. The women who worked as nurses, caregivers, mothers, spies and those who ignored the law and raised arms as soldiers.
