Daddy Dies, and a Lawman Takes His Place
Her parents, Emeline and John Clark, were a modest pair of Scottish-Irish immigrants trying to make ends meet on their small farm with their four children. Little Kate adored her father, but he passed away when she was seven, after which her mother remarried.
Source: Pinterest
The man who took her father’s place, Reuben Reynolds, was a lawman with whom the young girl just didn’t get along. He brought along his two biological children and treated Kate and her siblings worse than his own. Barker became a rebellious child, getting hooked on the Midwest outlaws of the time.