The Sears Gazetteer contains a list of locations in the USA with the name Sears, compiled by Ray Sears over the years. Also see Maine, Mississippi, Alaska and others on this site.
The Gazetter has one place listed in Virginia with the name Sears, and it’s in Nelson County, Virginia.
The Sears Lane Trail is an old roadway that General Grant used to bypass confederate troops on his way to Appomattox Court House to discuss the Confederate surrender with General Lee.
Virginia is also home to The Sears Hill Bridge. In 1888, a wooden pedestrian bridge was built to cross the railroad tracks in Staunton, Virginia. An iron replacement was built in 1906. The Sears Hill Bridge connects to the Sears Hill neighborhood and park.
The bridge is famous. There is even a Bridge Day, April 26, in Staunton, or at least there was a couple of years ago. There are some great drawings of the bridge on Kristen Sparenborg Brinton’s blog site, and one was for purchase on her Etsy shop. In 2010 the bridge was condemned, torn down and put into storage. The community rallied around the cause and even put a short film together to raise money to save the bridge.
Dr. Barnabus Sears (Wikipedia) Colorized with De’Olidify
Dr. Sears helped edit and contributed to Roget’s Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases in 1859. He also decided that Roget had a bit of a dirty mouth, and, rather than burning Roget’s filthy word book, he would censor it instead. First Amendment and all.
The greatest fault of the work is that of incorporating so many objectionable words and phrases, which ought never to meet the eye or tempt the tongue.
I’m sure he wouldn’t be too kind on the Urban Dictionary…
There is more about Dr. Sears and his legacy at The Historical Marker Database. There is much material to read up on George Peabody, considered to be the father of modern philanthropy.
Making a left turn at Alburquerque and travelling underground about an hour and a half across the border from New Mexico to Colorado, you will end up inside the Sears Number One Mine in San Miguel County. The Sears Number One Mine is just outside of Slick Rock, Colorado, in the Slick Rock Mining District.
Coincidentally, searching for Slick Rock on Amazon results in this thrilling page-turner as the top hit.
What did The Sears No. 1 mine produce? The Sears No. 1 mine produced Uranium and Vanadium.
Searching for the mine on Google presents us with some unrelated litigation via The Colorado Law Reporter, Volume 1. SEARS v. COLLINS, April, 1881 has Collins in court against Sears, his brother-in-law, “to compel a conveyance of the undivided one-half of a mining claim called the Rough and Ready lode. This would have been during the Colorado Silver Boom.
There’s more info on surveys and mining claims in this book.
The Boulder County, Colorado Surveys and Mineral Claims at the General Land Office, 1859-1876: An Annotated Index contains the names of the mine owners (claimant), surveyors and survey crew members, along with the mines and their range and township information. One additional piece of information was added when found—cabins, houses, barns, buildings, bridges, boarding houses, mills, toll roads, wagon roads, creeks and rivers. Using those listings is one way to see what was built where during these early mining days.
Missouri Falls is quite far away from Sears No 1. Mine, and SEARS lost the case, so let’s move on.
CW Sears was a part of Golden Age Mining Company in Lake County. Charles B Sears was a part of Red Park Mining & Water Co in Grand County. JH Sears worked at the Greenback Mine. L Sears (or multiples of such) worked at Fulton, Idaho, and Spar Mine. All of those were in Ouray County.
Clark, Sears & Co ran the Magnolia Mine for awhile, a mine situated 12,198 feet above sea level. Pike’s Peak for comparison, is 14,110 feet.
Pike’s Peak was named after Brigadier General Zebulon Montgomery Pike, who was killed during the Battle of York in the War of 1812 .
Rufus Wainwright wrote a song about Zebulon (well, probably not about General Pike).
Pike’s journals are defined as culturally-significant works which were required reading for all American explorers who followed him in the 19th century. A Pike’s Gazetteer could be put together just on places and things named after him.
The Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, later known as the Colorado Gold Rush, started in 1858 and was one of the greatest gold rushes in North American history.
According to The Diggings.com, Ralph Sears of Grand Junction, Colorado is the owner or former owner of 16 mining claims in San Miguel. All are just north of the Sears Number One Mine.
I haven’t found yet where the name Sears Number One Mine came from, though there are 270 more results for Sears on The Diggings. I can see this being useful research for future posts about the Sears family members who worked the mines for a living.
Travelling east from Sears Number One Mine about another 6 1/2 hours you will end up at Sears Spring in Huerfano County, south of Pueblo, Colorado. Here’s the Sears Spring Topo Map. I didn’t find a lot on Sears Spring.
Another Sears location in Colorado, though not in the Gazetteer, is the Sawyer House / Sears Hotel (Burge Hotel) in Phillips County. The Hotel is on the National and State Register of places, and is located at 230 N. Interocean, Holyoke.
The Burge Hotel was built in 1887. It opened as the Sawyer House and eventually became the Sears Hotel around 1912. In 1926 the name was changed by the new owners to Burge Hotel.
New Mexico has one location on the map, the Sears Well in Colfax County, New Mexico. The Sears well is listed as a cultural feature, located at latitude 36.226, longitude -104.147.
An Aultman photo of Raton Pass in the early 1900’s sangres.com, DeOldify
Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell (1818-1875) owned more than 1.7 million acres of New Mexico and Colorado, and owned the abandoned Fort Sumner.
The below picture shows Lucien, his wife Ana Maria de la Luz Beaubien Maxwell and their 3 children. Their young daughter Verenisa died at age 4.
Maxwell Family Added by S. Butler, FindAGrave.com DeOldifyA young Lucien Maxwell FindAGrave, S. Buller, Jan 20, 2020
Lucien’s only son, Peter (Pedro, Pete) Menard Maxwell (1848-1898) who was general manager at Fort Sumner and witnessed (or ran away from) the killing of Billy The Kid. His sister Paulita would have a relationship with the Kid.
Peter Menard Maxwell Added by S. Buller on 20 Jan 2020, FindAGrave DeOldify
Pat Garrett (George Montgomery) has retired from law enforcement and is on his way to Abilene, Kansas, to meet his sweetheart. He learns that Butch Cassidy (Neville Brand) and his gang are preparing to rob an incoming train carrying half a million dollars, so Garrett calls in Wyatt Earp (Buster Crabbe) and a few other lawmen to move some of Cassidy’s gang they’ve already arrested. When the Abilene locals refuse to stand up to Cassidy and his outlaws, Garrett must take matters into his own hands.
Badman’s Country, IMDB DeOldifyFred F. Sears, IMDB DeOldify
More about Willow Springs. According to the Legends of America Site,
“In the early days of the Santa Fe Trail, a campsite was developed called Willow Springs. Shaded by two big willow trees with a spring that offered a refreshing drink, it was located at the mouth of what would later be called Railroad Canyon.”
The Google Maps Satellite view of Sears Well, New Mexico, shows what looks like a bunch of cattle drinking at the well, and some interesting lines in the landscape centered on the well.
The author continues,
“Sometime during the 1860’s a two-room jacal log house was built at the site. In 1871, it was taken over by a Mr. Sears who removed the old house and built a larger four-room log house that faced the spring. That same year, the land surrounding the house was taken over by a man named John Thacker who established the Willow Springs Ranch with some 700 head of cattle.
By 1874, the owner of Willow Springs Ranch was offering the water for sale to travelers for 25 cents per bucket, at which time, most people postponed their baths and other water needs until cheaper water source could be obtained.”
That’s about $5.64 for a bucket of water in today’s dollars, which is a bit steep even for current rates.
John Thacker, a pioneer from Iowa, came over the pass from Colorado where he had been living, and thought of buying the Sears’ property. He brought seven hundred head of cattle along with him.
That’s about $2.1 million dollars worth of heads of cattle, in today’s dollars. John appears to have been a wealthy cowboy.
Just how many lived there in those first days of occupation cannot be said but in 1871, we learn that a Mr. Sears, known as “Sears at the Springs,” had been living at the spot in a jacal log house which it is said had only two rooms. He was not the first occupant; someone had lived there before him as early as the 1860’s.
Andrew ‘Pecos’ William Sears (1868-1946) is buried in Clayton, Union County, New Mexico, USA. According to The Union County Leader, August 29, 1946 on Find A Grave Web Site, “Pecos” Sears did not originate from the Pecos river. He was a native of the White Mountains country and Mescalero Indian reservation and came to this country in the early 1890’s with a Bar W, Carrizono Cattle Company herd for shipment and remained here the rest of his life.
Andrew “Pecos” William Sears Findagrave.com Colorized with DeOldify
In 1942, Fort Greely was established near Fairbanks. The Alaska Highway was built in WWII to connect Dawson Creek, BC to the Richardson Highway in Alaska. The Public Roads Administration (PRA) divided the highway into six-lettered sections of several hundred miles each south from Alaska for administrative purposes.
Fort Greely was named after Adolphus Washington Greely, polar explorer and Civil War veteran.
In 1861, First Lieutenant Greely was given command of the Lady Franklin Bay Expedition on the ship Proteus, for an ill-fated expedition to Alaska. Of the 25-man crew who left with him, only 6 survived.
Dot Lake used to be called Sears City, according to the Village history. Sears City isn’t in the Sears Gazetteer. During construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942-43, a work camp occupied Dot Lake’s present location. Upon completion of this section of the highway the camp was abandoned and the structures left in place.
Perhaps the Sears City work camp was run by the Sears Construction Company, who had a contract to build there from 1942-1944. The William Herbert Newlove photographs and postcards at UAA/APU Consortium Library may tell a story. The Sears Construction company was a subcontractor of Lytle & Green Construction Co. Group, of Des Moines Iowa, and mentioned frequently with Duesenberg, both out of Clear Lake, Iowa.
Clear Lake, Iowa is about 52 hours and 3000 miles from Sears Creek, Alaska. It probably took twice as long to get there in 1942.
Here’s a video I DeOldif’ied of the building of the Highway of Alaska.
According to the ALCAN Highway web site, Dot Lake is Mile 1361 of the Alaska Highway. Mile 1938 and parts of the highway were constructed by Sears Construction Co., who were paid at least $560k in 1945 US dollars for their work.
William W. Sears was born 25 Dec 1857 in Cascade, Michigan. According to Samuel P. May, “he is an extensive farmer, and stock-raiser in Alaska, Michigan, and had no children” when Samuel was writing his book. Since this post is about Alaska the state and unlike Kansas City, Alaska the city isn’t in Alaska the state, Farmer Bill will have to wait another day and perhaps another Superbowl for further research.
The Alaska Yukon Gold Book, 1930, mentions the passing of Frank Sears in its records, at the Pioneer’s Home in Sitka, Alaska.
James Hamilton Sears (1855-1915) was born in Binghamton, NY and had some “interesting and adventurous experiences in Alaska” mentioned in Samuel P. May’s handwritten notes below.
Lieutenant James Hamilton Sears, was born and educated in Binghamton, NY; entered Annapolis Naval School, 20 Sep 1871, and graduated with the rank of Ensign, 20 Jun 1876. For three years he was a “Middy” or as now called, Ensign on the Tennessee, which guarded American interests at China, Japan and Siam. Returning from the three years cruise he entered the Naval Observatory at Washington, where he spent a year or more. He was subsequently attached to the Kearsarge as Ensign.
His next detachment was at the navy yard at Charleston, from where he secured an appointment under Captain Schley at that time in command of the Baltimore. This latter detachment brought Lt Sears into the midst of events that have a place in the history of the United States. The Baltimore conveyed the remains of Ericson, the famous inventor, to his birthplace, Sweden. This service performed, the Baltimore sailed to the Mediterranean where after a short stay, the cruiser was ordered to Chili, where hostilities had broken out. The attack made on a party of sailors from the Baltimore, and the tragic death of a number of American naval men is a matter of history. Some of the sailors from the Baltimore were taken prisoners and Lt Sears was sent on shore to secure their release. This dangerous errand was successfully performed, by him and his men, although he was compelled to spend several days in jial. The Chilian incident closed, the Baltimore returned to the United States.
Lt Sears was ordered to Alaska to make a government survey. After interesting and adventurous experiences in Alaska, he was placed in command of the survey boat McArthur, which patrolled the Pacific coast in the vicinity of the bay of San Francisco. Lt Sears prepared a complete history of the Chilian incident which was published by the government.
His thorough knowledge of naval matters as well as his intelligence and ability to express himself, brought him in to demand by the government, as a lecturer on naval craft defense in the Naval College at Newport. From there he went to the Naval Home at Philadelphia, where his stay was abruptly terminated by the trouble with Spain. While at Philadelphia Lt Sears was honored by Capt Schley, who had been given command of the Flying Squadron. In selecting his officers, Capt Schley did not forget his associates on the Baltimore, men he knew to be brave, fearless and trustworthy. Lt Sears was one of these, and to him fell the position of Flag lieutenant. It has been proven an important position, but Lt Sears has been equal to it, and has brought honor to himself and his country.
The Sears Gazetteer contains a list of locations in the USA with the name Sears, compiled by Ray Sears over the years. Also see Sears Gazetteer – Maine.
The town of Grenada was formed in 1836, after the federal removal of the Choctaw Native Americans with the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek, 1830, 25 years before the American Civil War. It was a result of the union of two rival villages, Pittsburg and Tulahoma, tied together in matrimony with a mock Methodist wedding ceremony.
A marriage of two towns, visitgrenadams.com
Beautiful Pittsburg, The City of Tomorrow, Tullahomans Keep Out!
Grenada County was formed in 1870, with Grenada named the county seat. Willis Cemetery is located in Grenada County, “on Horsepen Road, one mile from the interesection of Caderetta Rd and Horsepen Road East. Then 1/2 mile deep in the woods, a path thru woods at a dirt pile on North side of Horsepen Road..” It’s not the Sears Cemetery.
Lansing Sears was born 1828 in New Durham, NY, and was lost on a Mississippi river steamboat, according to these notes on the Sears Family site. He is not buried in Sears Cemetery. The Mississippi River is about 3 hours away by car.
Colonel Cyrus Sears (1832-1909) fought for the Union in the Battle of Iuka in Mississippi in 1862 and won the Medal of Honor for bravery, 30 years later. Sears’ troops would be the only portion of the Union line that maintained their original positions during the battle. Milken’s Bend has a great article on him and his battles.
You can feel the fury and frustration in his words – it’s not for the faint of heart. He self-published it and it’s angry preface the year of his death.
Cyrus Sears, Image courtesy of Milliken’s Bend, courtesy of Abraham Lincoln Library and Museum, Harrogate, TN.
On the opposing side of the Civil War, Brigadier General Claudius Wistar Sears (1817-1891) was a Professor of Mathematics & Civil Engineering at the University of Mississippi from 1865-1889, and served in the Confederate Army.
Colonel Claudius Wistar Sears
There is an email from 1998 about him in these notes on the Sears Family Site. He graduated from West Point military academy in 1837. He resigned from the U.S. Army in 1842. He taught at Holly Springs, in Marshall County, Mississippi before leaving for Louisiana. Many of his children were born in Holly Springs, Mi, which contains Hillcrest Cemetery. Hillcrest is referred to as the “Little Arlington of the South” as it contains the graves of five Confederate generals. Holly Springs was also founded in 1836. It’s about 26 hours South to Grenada by foot, according to Google Maps. Probably more like 40 hours in 1836 steps. Less by horse.
General Sears died at Oxford, Mississippi, February 15, 1891 and is not buried in Sears Cemetery. His wife, Alice Gray Sears (1835-1893) is buried with him in Saint Peter’s Cemetery in Oxford.
Alice Gray Sears
Thaddeus Patchen Sears was born in 1825 in Hoosick Falls, NY. He was one of the “Forty-niners” arriving in San Francisco in 1849. He was elected to the State Senate in 1850, and was secretary of the Mississippi Constitutional Convention (in 1868), under which the state was reorganized after the Civil War. Although he played a part in Mississippi’s history, he is not buried in Sears Cemetery.
Where is Sears Cemetery? According to the Mississippi Tombstone Transcription Project, Sears Cemetery is located in Gore Springs, Grenada County. One of the top things to do near Gore Springs is to visit the Big Creek (Pat Harrison) Water Park in Soco, which is not actually a water park.
the Sears Cemetery, we end up in a forested area near the city of Lumberton, Mississippi. Lumberton is named for, well, Lumber. It is in both Lamar and Pearl River counties, and part of the metro Hattiesburg area.
Though further research is needed to find more details on the Sears Cemetery in Mississippi, the journey there brought us a marriage of two feuding towns, a Sears lost in the Mississippi River, two Colonel’s named Sears on opposing sides of the Civil War, and the divorce and resentful re-unification of a state and country by one Senator Sears.
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.
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.
Possibly the most famous barn in Missisquoi and Qubec is the 12-sided Walbridge Barn, with a floor that was rotated by waterpower and inspired by railway turntables.
The Wallbridge Barn is part of Missisquoi County Museum’s agricultural collection.
Classified as a provincial historic building, the Walbridge Barn is the only dodecagonal (12-sided) barn in Québec. The Museum chose it as the permanent exhibition site for its impressive agricultural tool collection, making this site of great historical, ethnological and technological interest.
From Diane Sears Brigode:
In September of 2002, my husband and I – accompanied by my cousin and her husband – took a trip up into Quebec. My cousin’s husband was very good at making land calculations, and he helped us locate the property that was Hezekiah Sears’ land grant at Sutton, Brome County, in 1802.
Possibly Hezekiah Sears’ 1802 land grant at Sutton, Brome County
Hezekiah moved back to Missisquoi County, where he lived the remainder of his life.
Possibly Hezekiah Sears’ 1802 land grant at Sutton, Brome County
His son Hezekiah (who married Lavina) inherited part of his land on S. Beech Road near Clarenceville.
My cousin’s husband located this for us also. We figure that this was where my great grandfather David Sears (son of Hezekiah and Lavina) would have been born. This is the picture with the barn.
As near as I can tell, these are the locations.
We stayed at a bed and breakfast in the area. The last picture is taken there.
La Charmante Loualiste Couette Et Cafe
This was the property that was once owned by my ancestor John Nichols. John Nichols’ daughter Mary married Asa Pixley, and they moved to Loughborough. David Sears married their Granddaughter Susan Pixley.
Between 1825-31, when John Nichols died, the property was inherited by David Nutt.
From Diane: The bed and breakfast may no longer exist. It was owned by a Jean Pierre Goyette and his wife.
I was told by a cousin that it was on the property where our Nichols ancestor once lived – the present day garage was where the Nichols log cabin once stood. Very close to the Nutt property there. Some of the Hawley family (earlier than ours) had owned it for a time also.
In 1999, the site was known as Sears Family Researcher. A list of Sears Biographical Links on the Web in 1999 was 78 links long. Don’t click on any of them! Many have been trampled on with Warning – visiting this website may harm your computer! showing up.
How many of these links still exist in 2020? osez-vous suivre?
With domain names like Angelfire , Homestead, and GeoCities, chances are they have moved on. Even on the Wayback Machine, there were 16 broken links, less than I thought! Will leave this here if you’d like to try them out. Or click on the Geocities link above and torrent 1 terabyte of vintage website awesomeness.
Gendex.com is now a dental website. The meridian.uwaterloo.ca/~bowerman site has moved on. Search the Geneanet instead.
I always wonder why companies like Ancestry and Google don’t have a nice clear roadmap to migrating services and content. Killing off services is something Google is famous for. Rootsweb mailing lists are a goldmine of information, and those using them still would probably be some hardcore ornery researchers (aka “valuable customers”) not willing to change to Facebook.
A 380-page PDF file containing 14,500+ links (updated in May 2019) to genealogy & history Facebook groups. That’s an amazing amount of information living behind the monolith that is Facebook.
Ironically, the W3C.org’s Validator service choked on http://w3.one.net/~durp (don’t click on that!) and I probably gave it some malware scanning those links…
