# Representative women of New England/Clara L. B. Dyer

​CLARA L. BROWN DYER, artist, was born in Cape Elizabeth, Me., March 13, 1849, daughter of Captain Peter Weare and Lucy A. (Jones) Brown. Her father, who was born February 11, 1818, son of Jacob and Lucy (Pierce) Brown, was a master mariner, and spent a great part of his life at sea, often accompanied by his daughter, Mrs. Dyer. He was trusted and beloved for his many sterling qualities. Jacob Brown, Mrs. Dyer's paternal grand-father, was son of Lieutenant Peter Weare Brown and his wife, Eunice Braun, grandson of Major Jacob, Jr., and Lydia (Weare) Brown, and great-grandson of Jacob Brown, Sr., and his wife Mary.
Major Jacob Brown, Jr., of North Yarmouth, Me., served in the Revolutionary War in Colonel Edmund Phinney's regiment (Thirty-first) in 1775 and 1776, entering service April 24, 1775. His name appears in a list of officers recommended l)y the Council, October 6, 1757, to be commissioned by General Washington. Later he was First Major, Colonel Jonathan Mitchell's (Cumberland County) regiment, July 6, 1777, to September 25, 1779, expedition against Penobscot. He married July 13, 1743, Lydia, daughter of Captain Peter and Sarah (Felt) Weare.
Peter Weare Brown, Sr., was a private in Captain John Worthley's company. Colonel K. Phinney's regiment, May 8, 1775, to July 6, 1775; early in 1770 was Ensign in Captain Nathan Walker's company; promoted to Second Lieutenant, April 15, 1776, and served until December 31, 1776. He enlisted July 1, 1778, in Captain Benjamin Lemont's company, Colonel Nathaniel Wade's regiment, and served six months and twelve days in Rhode Island. He died February 28, 1830. In his old age he received a pension.
Mrs. Dyer's mother, Mrs. Lucy Jones Brown, who is now in her eighty-second year, was born November 25, 1822, daughter of Cyrus and Rebecca (Tyler) Jones. During the War of 1812 Cyrus Jones, Mrs. Dyer's maternal grandfather, helped to defend Portland. He also carried a load of specie in a four-ox team in the winter time from Portland to Canada for the government. On September 2, 1817, he was commissioned by Governor John Brooks Captain of a company in the Third Regiment of Infantry, First Brigade, Twelfth Division, of the militia of Massachusetts. His grandson, Cyrus .Jones Brown, brother of Mrs. Dyer, served twenty months in the United States Navy in the Civil War. He now receives a pension.
Rebecca Tyler, wife of Cyrus Jones and grandmother of Mrs. Dyer, was born June 25, 1795. She was daughter of John Tyler, of Pownal, Me., and his wife, Lucy Trickey, who belonged to one of the old families of York County. John Tyler, father of Rebecca, was son of Captain Abraham Tyler, of Scarboro, Me., a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner.
Abraham Tyler raised his own company and marched in response to the Lexington alarm, serving as Captain in the Eighteenth Continental Regiment during the siege of Boston and the Ticonderoga campaign of 1776, ​ also in Culoiiel Thomas Poor's regiment, May 15, 1778, to February 17, 1779. His son, Abraham Tyler, Jr., enlisted in 1781 for tliree years in Captain John Brooks's company. Seventh Regiment.
James Tyler, father of Captain Abraham Tyler, is saiil to have come to Scarboro, Me., from Cape Porpoise (Arundel) in 1718. James Tyler died in Scarboro in 1749, his will being probated in July of that year. He was survived by his wife Phebe, sons Abraham and Royal, and two daughters. He is believed to have been the James Tyler who was born May 7, 1685, son of Moses and Prudence Tyler (town records, Andover, Mass.).
Moses Tyler, of Andover and Boxford (son of Jot)'), and Prudence Blake were married in July, 1666.
Job Tyler, father of Moses, is reputed to have been the first settler of Andover, Mass. A monument erectetl to his memory in North Andover was dedicated Ijy the Tyler Family Association hi September, 1901.
Captain Abraham Tyler, of Scarboro, is said to have residetl in Andover before the death of his father. He lived to the age of one hun- dred years. He was much respected, and tilled many public offices in Scarboro.
In 1870 Clara L. Brown married a promi- nent merchant of Portland, Charles A. Dyer, son of James antl Lucy W. (Cushing) Dyer. Mr. Dyer's paternal grandfather, Paul Dyer, of Ca])e Elizabeth, was a soldier of the Revo- luti(jn. His name is in a descriptive list of men rai,sed in Cumberland County in 1778 for nine months. Captain Jordan's (also given Captain Strout's) company. Colonel Noyes's regiment; arrived at Fishkill June 22, 1778; age, eighteen years; also private, Cai^tain Peter W^arren's company, Colonel Mitchell's regiment, on Penobscot expedition, July 7 to September 25, 1779; in October in Captain Joseph Pride's company; and in 1780, May 4 to December 30, in Captain Isaac Parsons's company. Colonel Prime's regiment, under Brigadier General AVadsworth at the eastward. Mr. Dyer's mother died in 1899, aged ninety- five years. She was a daughter of Ezekiel and Thankful (Woodbury) Cushing and grand- daughter of Colonel Ezekiel Cushing, who removed from Massachusetts to Falmouth, Me., where he was a merchant and ship-owner and one of the leading citizens, holding the highest military office in Maine. Colonel Gush- ing died in 1765. He was son of the Rev. Jeremiah Cu.shing, of Scituate, and great- grandson of Matthew Cushing, who came from Hingham, Englantl, to Hinghain, New England, in 1638. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Dyer since their marriage has always been in Port- land. As Mrs. Dyer had been well drilled in elocution and in parliamentary usage, she became a power in the club work of the city. She has served as president of the Faneuil Clul) and also of the Mutual Improvement Club, and is a member of the Civic, Cresco, and Conklin Class. For two years she was cliairman of the School-room Decoration CV)m- mittee, and while working in this line gave a lecture (jn " Across the Sierras to the Yo- semite," which was most favorably commented on liy the press, and added seventy-five tlol- lars to the fund. As a member of the Liter- ary Union, she took part in the e.xerci.ses of two of the educational afternoons, one devotetl to art, the other to travel, speaking, as she •always does, entirely without notes. At the time of the Spanish-American War she served on the executive connnittee of the Volunteer Aitl Association, which did effectual work. In the year 1900 she was Vice-President at large of the Woman's Council.
Mrs. Dyer was organizer of the National Society of United States Daughters of 1812, State of Maine, of which she is now President. She has also been Thinl Vice-President of the National Society.
In 1880 Mrs. Dyer took up the study of drawing and painting, in which arts she has risen to much prominence. A brief sketch of the results of the first years of her work appeared in "A W^oman of the Century." She has been a most enthusiastic and persevering student, having taken a thorough course in an art school under able instructors from abroad, drawing from the antique anil from life. She has paid considerable attention to portrait painting, but is seen at her best in landscapes. Some of these appeared on the walls ​of the Boston Art Club in four successive years. Her work was represented at all the exhibitions of the Portland Society of Art. One of her landscapes was thus mentioned: "The live, graceful treatment of the long ranks of willows, the shadowy foreground, contrasting with the airy, sunlighted middle distance, all suggest the great French master, Corot"; again, "The work is strong, showing almost a masculine touch." Of the three pictures that she exhibited at the Midwinter Fair in San Francisco a critic said, "Tiie man who painted these pictures knew his Inisiness."
She made many sketches while in the Sierras and Yosemite Valley. She has devoted much time to teaching, being instructor of drawing and painting at Westbrook Seminary, Portland, Me. Mrs. Dyer passed the summer of 1902 in Europe, visiting the art galleries and the British Museum in London, the Louvre and Luxembourg in Paris, the Vatican in Rome, also galleries in Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan, Amsterdam, and the Hague. Since her return she has produced from her sketches many interesting pictures of Venice and Holland.
Mrs. U)'er was among the first members of the Society of Art and the Portland Art League. In 1890 she was elected a member of the executive and special committees. Much of her work has been copied to illustrate art catalogues. She has proved herself generous by giving paintings to increase by their sale the funds of needy societies.
Mr. and Mrs. Dyer have one son, James Franklin Dyer. He was graduated from Brown University with the degree of A.B. in 1899, and then studied law at the New York Law School. He married October 20, 1902, Amy Hoppin Aldrich, of Providence, R.I., where they now reside.