Robert Newton Baer (1834-1888)

Robert N. Baer was born on April 12, 1834 in Baltimore, Maryland. He entered Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania with the class of 1858, was elected to the Union Philosophical Society, and graduated with his class. Following this he studied as a clergyman in the Methodist Episcopal Church.

During his career, Baer served in various capacities within the Baltimore Conference from 1861 to 1888. Initially, he was principal of Salisbury Academy in Maryland for three years beginning in 1858. Baer also served in Washington, D.C. as pastor of the Metropolitan Methodist Episcopal Church, and he officiated at Memorial Day services in the Congressional Cemetery there in 1881. He finished his career in the Conference at the Fayette Street Church in Baltimore. Dickinson College awarded Baer an honorary doctor of divinity degree in 1884.

His family circumstances are unknown at this time. On September 21, 1888, Robert Newton Baer died of typhoid in his Fayette Street parsonage after a short illness. He was fifty-four years old.