John Barter, the son of William (a farmer) and Mary Ann (née Hunt) Barter was born about 1843 in Stower Provost (also known as Stour Provost), a small village 5 miles south-west of Shaftesbury in Dorsetshire. At the time of the 1851 census the Barter household comprised the following people: William (41, dairyman—a widower), Jane (19) and Ann (18) both of whom were employed in the dairy, John (8, scholar) and Edwin (3). With the exception of William who was born in Shillingstone, Dorset, all the other occupants hailed from Stower Provost.

Ten year later we find John working as a miller’s servant in the residence of George (42) and Catherine (44) Jeffery and their family in the small North Dorset village of Hinton St Mary, about 1 mile from Stourminster Newton. At the same time, his 13-year-old brother Edwin was lodging with the Bristow family in East Street, Warminster, in the neighbouring county of Wiltshire, learning the trade of cabinet maker.

In the September quarter of 1864 John Barter married Sarah Taylor, the daughter of Thomas (a farmer) and Martha (née Dean) Taylor. At that time he was 21 and she was 26.

Early in their married life John and Sarah emigrated to Australia. The researcher has yet to determine the pertinent shipping details—a task rendered more difficult because some records for that period were severely damaged during one of Brisbane’s floods. However, from the information on John and Sarah’s death certificates about their ages and the length of time they spent in Queensland, we can safely conclude that they arrived about 1865.

After they settled on their farm in Cooper’s Plains, they became the parents of two children—Edwin William (b. 23 June 1869) and Sarah Ann (b. 23 January 1873). Edwin William contracted cerebral meningitis and died in the Brisbane Hospital on 27 February 1892. He was buried in the South Brisbane Cemetery on the following day (7B 207). Those present at the interment in an official capacity were: W Day (minister of the Congregational Church), Charles Hawkswood (undertaker) who certified the burial, and R and H Shipp (witnesses).

Sarah Barter died on 17 January 1884 and was buried on the following day in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery. The witnesses to her burial were James Drane (?) and William Goostrey.

Following Sarah’s untimely death at the age of 46, John married Ann Carr, the daughter of William and Mary (née Parkinson) Carr, according to the rites of the Church of England in St Matthew’s Church, Sherwood, on 22 October 1884. The celebrant was the Reverend James Samuel Hassall and the official witnesses were George Boyland and Hannah Manning, the wife of Samuel Manning and the sister of Robert and George Catchpole. John and Ann’s daughter Elizabeth was born on 27 July 1886.

John Barter of Brown’s Plains died on 10 June 1905 aged 62 years and was laid to rest in the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery two days later. Assisting at the funeral were: AE Atkins (undertaker), HJ Henry and John Bruce. The deceased was a brother of Edwin Barter of Boggo Road. His funeral notice reads as follows:

FUNERAL NOTICE.—The Friends of Mr. JOHN BARTER are respectfully invited to attend his Funeral, to move from his residence, Brown’s Plains, THIS (Monday) AFTERNOON, at 2 o’clock, for the Cooper’s Plains Cemetery.

A. E. ATKINS, Funeral Director, corner Merton-road and Stanley-street, South Brisbane.

Sarah Ann Barter married James Rankine on 17 March 1900. Their children were: James Albert (b. 9 February 1901), Christina May (b. 23 July 1904) and Leslie John (b. 4 April 1915). She died on 16 August 1927 and was buried in the South Brisbane Cemetery two days later (10C 445). James passed away on 15 August 1948 at the age of 74 and was laid to rest beside his wife.

Ann Barter, John Barter’s second wife, died on 26 September 1924 and was buried in the South Brisbane Cemetery (8C 180). Her funeral notice reads as follows:

BARTER.—The Friends of Miss ELIZABETH BARTER are respectfully invited to attend the Funeral of her deceased Mother (Mrs. Ann Barter), late of Cooper’s Plains, to move from their residence, Keith-street, Moorooka, THIS (Saturday) AFTERNOON, at 3.0 o’clock, to the South Brisbane Cemetery.

CANNON & CRIPPS.

Edwin Barter, John’s younger brother, married Jane Spackman in Warminster, Wiltshire, in the June quarter of 1872. He and Jane and their children left Plymouth on the 837-ton Queen of Nations (Captain S Bache) as remittance passengers on 14 January 1880 and arrived in Moreton Bay on 14 April 1880. They are listed in the shipping records as follows: Edwin (31), Jane (33), Margaret (6), Alfred (5), Ethel (3), Edith (2), William (1). Jane, who was pregnant during the voyage, gave birth to Arthur Edwin on 4 July 1880.

Two of the above-mentioned children did not survive for very long in Australia: Alfred Ernest died on 28 November 1882 and Edith Mary on 29 October 1880. More children were added to the family but sadly the pattern of early deaths continued: Julia Ann (b. 24 November 1881; d. 9 May 1882), John Henry Charles (b. 20 March 1883; d. 9 May 1890), Florence Kate (b. 3 August 1884), a stillborn child (bur. 9 June 1886), Walter Stewart Spackman (b. 23 December 1887; d. 19 November 1914.

The Barter family home was in Crown Street, off Annerley (Boggo) Road, Woolloongabba, at the time of Edwin’s death on 25 August 1907. During his years in Australia he had followed his trade as a carpenter. Edwin was laid to rest in the South Brisbane Cemetery (1 194) on the following afternoon. His wife Jane moved to Lindon Street in the Deighton Estate, Dutton Park (the address of their son Walter) and died there aged 77 on 29 September 1923. She was buried two days later beside her husband.