The Sears Gazetteer contains a list of locations in the USA with the name Sears, compiled by Ray Sears over the years.
The largest collection of placemarks in the Sears Gazetteer is in Maine, with 25 places. That would make sense. The Town of Searsport contains the majority of those places. Searsport, Maine was settled in the 1760s. Searsport includes Sears Island, formerly Brigadier’s Island, named after David Sears of Boston after he agreed to grant a large sum of money towards founding of Searsport. The Memoir of the Hon. David Sears, A.M. can be found on page 405 of the Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
The #1 attraction in Searsport is the Penobscot Marine Museum. That makes sense – over 500 merchant captains came out of the small town. The museum has a collection of over 50,000 photo and postcard negatives. Their Adopt A Town program lets you sponsor the purchase and conservation of the negatives by state.
Searsmont was settled shortly after Searsport, in 1780, and also named after David Sears. Searsmont contains the East Searsmont (Marriner Family) Cemetery and it’s Brook.
The Town of Searsmont, Maine, formerly Quantabacook, is located in Waldo County. Waldo County was created in 1827 and named for Brigadier-General Samual Waldo. Samuel Waldo was a merchant, land speculator and soldier who recruited German immigrants to the area between 1740 and 1753. With his assistance, the powerful merchants of Massachusetts won out over the King and Samuel Waldo of Boston aquired a controlling interest in the Waldo (Muscongus, or Lincolnshire) Patent in 1729. The town of Waldoboro, Maine was where many of the German immigrants settled.
Waldoboro is known for the Paul Palmer five-masted schooner and it’s top attraction is Fawcett’s Antique Toy and Art Museum.
Also see:
Searsport Historic and Archaeological Resources
Town of Searsmont, Inventory and Analysis (2013)
Searsmont, Maine Encyclopedia
Marriage Records of Waldo County, Maine prior to 1892
http://www.veazie.org/ Veazie.org Family Site – (doc) Sears and Searsport
Maine Historical Society and Maine Historical Society Web Store
Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine (PDF)
Maine Places: Searsmont, Waldo County and other locations
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
The Knox Museum’s Map of the Waldo Patent, 1789
Ray’s Place, Explore New England’s Past
Waldo County, Maine Gen Web
Waldo Patent on Wikivisually
Maine Memory Network
Carver Memorial Library
Vintage Maine Images
Digital Maine Library
And 1425 pages of names in the Waldo County Cemeteries