The following statement was provided by my father, George Robinson Barker, describing what he knew or remembered about his grandfather, who died approximately one year before my father was born.
According to my father, Ralph Barker had a business partner known only as Captain Inglis. Captain Inglis was apparently based in Savannah, where my Aunt Eugenia spent many of her summers. My father believed the two men must have been close friends as well as business associates.
The Barker family reportedly owned a beautiful home in Jacksonville, likely in the Riverside area along the St. Johns River. My father thought the property may have been near the location of present-day Memorial Park. He often wondered whether the family might have known notable Florida developers such as Henry Flagler or other wealthy northern investors who played major roles in Florida’s early development during the late nineteenth century.
As far as my father knew, the family’s principal business enterprise was cotton brokerage in Madison. He believed this business probably continued into the early twentieth century.
My father also recalled that phosphate mining became increasingly profitable in Florida during that period. Early phosphate operations focused on extracting pebble phosphate from riverbeds, but by the 1920s technological advances — particularly diesel engines and electric-powered draglines — allowed mining companies to remove large amounts of overburden to reach rich phosphate deposits beneath the surface. This dramatically transformed the industry and attracted significant investment capital.
According to family recollections, Ralph Barker and his associates recognized these opportunities and became involved in phosphate mining operations near Dunnellon. My father believed this likely began during the first decade of the twentieth century because he personally remembered visiting the Withlacoochee River area as a boy. Since he was born in 1899, those memories would date to the early 1900s, coinciding with the peak years of Florida’s river-pebble phosphate industry, which largely ended around 1908.
My father also served briefly in the military during the closing period of World War I, probably around 1917–1918. Although he did not recall the exact dates, I remember seeing a photograph of him wearing his Army uniform.
At one point, my father researched Inglis in hopes of learning more about Captain Inglis and possibly discovering whether the town had been named after him. However, he found little useful information. He noted humorously that the town had once gained national attention through a televised “town-wide exorcism” intended to rid the community of Satan. Beyond that, most of the available information concerned real estate and local attractions.
He also mentioned nearby Yankeetown on the Gulf Coast, which had once been planned as the western terminus of the proposed Florida Barge Canal. Although the canal project was ultimately abandoned, much of its route later became part of the Cross Florida Greenway. The reservoir area created near the Gulf eventually became a wildlife management area featuring walking, biking, and equestrian trails.
My father concluded by saying:
“I am afraid this isn’t much, but it’s all I know without personally visiting the area archives. I don’t think I could add any more.”
— “Daddio”