Some time around 2005 and 2007 I contacted the Grace Church in New York about my great, great aunt Sarah Barker and they were very helpful and provided a lot of information about her time at the church. Including;
A note in the records states that Sarah Kirtland Barker’s student records are missing. However, information preserved in the card files provides several details about her education and church service.
From the card file:
- Date of entrance: 1890
- Address: Bridgeport
- Education: Grove Hall, New Haven
Further research uncovered additional information from the following source:
The Whitney Library, New Haven Museum — Manuscript Register MSS #17, School Records, Finding Aid revised by James W. Campbell, 2016.
Under “Private Schools of New Haven,” the records reference:
- Grove Hall — Journal of Harriet Holly, 1823
(removed from the Dana Collection, Vol. 106, p. 22)
Sarah Kirtland Barker was ordained on October 2, 1892, at Grace Church by Henry Codman Potter, Bishop of New York. Her work assignment was with Grace Parish in New York.
A particularly significant note in the records states:
“Sarah K. Barker was the first student of the NYTSD set apart a deaconess.”
Two other women were set apart during the same service:
- Mary E. Greene
- Kate Newell
A fourth member of the first class, Alice Goodeve, was unable to attend and was set apart separately on November 10th.
According to a contemporary newspaper clipping, the early graduates received medals from Dr. Huntington and certificates from Dean McKim during the first “Service for Commencement Day,” held at 10:00 a.m. on October 2, 1892, in the Chantry.
Additional information from the National Conference files records:
Deaconess Sarah Kirtland Barker
Position: Grace Church, New York — 1892 to 1912
A 1917 entry describes her as:
“Deaconess Emerita, Grace Church, N.Y.”
“Retired; unable to write on account of eye trouble.”
The same file records her death on September 28, 1944, at the age of 85.
Other Information About Sarah
Sarah Kirtland Barker was born on August 28, 1859. She would have been approximately 31 years old when she entered church service in 1890. She retired in 1917 at about age 58 due to severe eye trouble.
My father, George Robinson Barker, remembered visiting Sarah as a child and recalled that she wore a green eye patch.
The 1943 U.S. City Directories list Deaconess Sarah Kirtland Barker living at 50 Paradise Place in Stratford. Her residence was approximately six miles from the home of her brother, Ralph Barker, who lived at 143 Coleman Street.
Sarah died on September 28, 1944.
Her home, the Isaac Lewis House, is a historic residence located at 50 Paradise Green Place in Stratford, Connecticut. The house is a large two-story wood-frame structure, five bays wide, with a porch extending across the front and a lantern section rising above its shallow-pitched hip roof. The porch is supported by Corinthian columns and features a low balustrade with turned balusters.
The deep roof eaves are decorated with jigsawn brackets, and a twentieth-century addition extends from the rear of the home. Built around 1858–1859, the house is considered an excellent local example of Italianate architecture.
The home was originally built by Isaac Lewis, who earned his fortune through construction projects for John Jacob Astor III and other wealthy New York City families.
The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. It is currently used as a funeral home.