I developed an interest in Ma Barker about 1970. At that time I read a biography about her entitled "The Real Ma Barker," by Miriam Allen deFord. I was on a plane on my way to Vietnam at the time. The author depended more on flights of fancy in describing Ma Barker's early years than she did on facts. "The given names of Ma Barker's parents are lost; so are the exact date and place of her birth," asserted the author. She also said that "...nobody knows how many there were (in the family) or whether Arizona was oldest or youngest or somewhere in between..." As any genealogist knows, this is nonsense. There was an 1880 Census and all types of records are available for that period.
As I read more, I realized that many "facts" were unsubstantiated and I began to wonder how much we read of history is similarly erroneous. My interest was further piqued because Arizona Clark had been born in Greene Co., MO, and my mother and I had both been born in Greene Co. George and Arizona Barker had also spent time in Stone Co., MO, where my father had been born. And lastly, George and Arizona had spent 15 years in Tulsa - where I had grown up and where I now live. Many of the records documenting their lives are nearby.
I am not particularly interested in all the details of the family's criminal activities and there is already a good deal of information available on that topic. I don't particularly believe that there is "Bad Blood" in a family. It is clear that George and Arizona Barker did a poor job of raising their sons and that it resulted in a great deal of tragedy. Nevertheless, there is no reason to malign the Clark, Barker, and Reynolds families for the actions of the four Barker boys. Ma Barker's mother married as a second husband Reuben R. Reynolds. Reuben was a police officer in Tulsa for a number of years - as was his son (and Ma's half-brother) Chesley Reynolds. There is no indication that Ma Barker's ancestors or those of her husband were anything but upstanding citizens in their communities.
As for Arizona (Clark) Barker herself, there is a real question whether she was an important part of her sons' criminal activities. She was never arrested for any criminal activity and the modern view is that her reputation as a criminal was largely created by the FBI as part of a publicity campaign for itself.
Wikipedia has an article on Ma Barker, although it isn't a smooth narrative. It was there that I made the argument that Ma Barker had been born on 8 Oct. 1873. In general, the information provided by Wikipedia is more accurate that that provided by the on-line version of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
I would appreciate any input on the family of Ma Barker as I have presented it at Rootsweb. I would like references to any source records that exist or the reasoning why any particular point might be correct or incorrect.
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