caption resting_place predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place religion nationality office birth_date order term_start image article_title term_end name alma_mater
1881 engraving walnut street cemetery brookline , massachusetts , us francis wayland alexis caswell 6 july 1880 sandisfield , massachusetts , us saratoga , new york , us baptist american president of brown university 19 november 1802 5th 1855 barnas sears 5th president of brown.jpg barnas sears
 1867 barnas sears brown university
barnas sears

barnas sears -lrb- november 19 , 1802 -- july 6 , 1880 -rrb- graduated from brown university in 1825 .
sears was the general agent of the peabody education fund who was sent to staunton , virginia , by george peabody to offer leadership in public education .
sears was general agent of the fund from 1867 until february 1880 .
he settled in staunton because of the easy access to the railroad .
sears travelled extensively throughout the south promoting southern education , `` free schools for the whole people '' .
sears `` inspired confidence , removed doubts and suspicions , and aroused sympathy '' through his warm personality , tact , and intelligence .
`` under his direction the fund improved the sentiment for education in the south , developed the idea of adequate taxation for public schools , and helped remove the hostility toward black education . ''
sears served between 1855 and 1867 as the president of brown whose `` encyclopedia brunoniana '' offers a more detailed biography .
-lsb- http://www.brown.edu/administration/news_bureau/databases/encyclopedia/search.php?serial=p0360] .
his home at staunton , known as the sears house , was added to the national register of historic places in 1972 .
