Cumberland County, Maine - Barnas Sears Shailer
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Biography
Barnas Sears Shailer
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 270-273


Barnas Sears Shailer, a successful  tiller of the soil and the owner of the old
Cushman farm in New Gloucester, Me., of which place he is a highly respected
citizen, was born in Brookline, Mass., on May 1, 1839, son of the Rev. William
H. and Betsey Payne (Hascall) Shailer. Probably the earliest ancestor of this
family in America was Thomas Shaler or Shaylor, the name being variously
spelled, who, with about twenty-seven others, settled in 1662 in the southern
part of the Connecticut valley, at a place which a few years later received the
name of Haddam.

William H. Shailer was born in Haddam, Conn., in 1807. He studied for the
ministry, and was a graduate of the Theological Seminary and College at
Hamilton, N. Y., later incorporated as the Madison University, in the class of
1835. His first pastoral charge was the Baptist church in Brookline, Mass., to
which he went in 1837, and where he remained until March 19, 1854, when he
removed to Portland, Me., and was installed as the pastor of the First Baptist
Church of that city, a position which he continued to hold for a quarter of a
century. Besides his church work, he was prominently interested in the general
welfare and advancement of the community, and for twenty-seven years was a
member of the School Committee. He died there on February 23, 1881, at the age
of seventy-three years, three months, and three days. On May 22, 1836, he was
united in marriage with Miss Betsey Payne Hascall, daughter of Professor Daniel
Hascall, the founder of the Hamilton Literary and Theological Seminary, which
has since become the Madison University. Four children were the fruit of their
union, namely: Sophia, the wife of J. B. Mathews, of Newton Centre, Mass., agent
for the Monson (Me.) Slate Company; Barnas S.; Elizabeth H., who married the
Rev. Safford D. Moxley, and lives in Bristol, R.I.; and Mary E., who died when
ten years old. Their mother died in December, 1886, having survived their father
five years.

Barnas S. Shailer acquired his early education in the common and high schools of
Portland. When eighteen years old he secured a position as clerk in a grocery
store in Portland, and remained there until four years later, at which time he
went to Monson, Me., where he spent the succeeding seven years at work on a
farm. He next returned to Portland, and was employed as a clerk in his brother-
in-law's grocery store for ten years.

In 1878 he came to New Gloucester, and purchased the old Cushman farm, on which
he has since resided. This estate contains one hundred and twenty-five acres of
land, and it is one of the oldest and most productive farms in the town. Mr.
Shailer has made various improvements upon it since he owned it, and its
appearance marks him as a thoroughly capable and progressive agriculturist. He
takes special pride in his horses, of which he has several of fine breed. On
December 25, 1861, he was joined in marriage with Miss Harriet H. Sawyer, of
Madison, Me., who was born on March 7, 1842, and is a daughter of Jefferson and
Lydia (Crosby) Sawyer. Both her parents died in 1846, when she was but four
years old; and she was reared by William Dutton, of Madison, Me. Her union with
Mr. Shailer has been blessed by the birth of six children, as follows: William
H., who married Miss Blanche Carville, and lives in Lewiston, Me.; Hezekiah, who
married Miss Margaret Sheridan, and is engaged in the shoe business in Freeport,
Me.; Mary, the wife of Albert C. True, of Freeport, Me.; Feroline L., who died
when but seventeen years of age; Bessie H., who with her husband, George W.
Haskell, is living with her parents; and Harry, likewise residing at home. All
the children have received a good public-school education.

In political principles Mr. Shailer is a loyal adherent of the Republican
party. Fraternally, he is a member of Siloam Lodge, No. 45, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, of Gray.