- BIRTH: 24 AUG 1855, Springfield Twp,LaGrange co,IN
- DEATH: 17 JUN 1930, ,LaGrange co,IN
- BURIAL: ,LaGrange co,IN
Father: Isaac SEARS
Mother: Laurinda TUTTLE
_Eleazar SEARS _
_Isaac SEARS _____|
| |_Sarah WHEATON _
|
|--Charles Eleazer SEARS
|
| ________________
|_Laurinda TUTTLE _|
|________________
INDEX
Notes
!BIRTH-FATHER-SPOUSE-CHILDREN-DEATH-BIOGRAPHY: R F Elderkin, HOOSIER COUSINS;
1816-1994; Melbourne Beach, FL, 1994; pp 193D-200; Copy in poss of Ray Sears,
Duncan, OK; "1882-History of LaGrange Co" Charles E Sears - The Sears family
came to LaGrange County more than three-quarters of a century ago. At that
time the great Isaac Sears was about thirteen years old. As a family they
exemplified many of the pioneer virtues of thrift, good citizenship and
industry, and Isaac Sears had these virtues to an unusually high degree, and in
the course of a long lifetime became the largest land owner and one of the most
widely known stock raisers and feeders in Northeastern Indiana. Many of the
abilities of his honored father are possessed by Charles E Sears, whose home is
in Bloomfield Township, and who has been especially prominent for many years as
a sheep feeder.
Charles E Sears was born in Springfield Township, August 24, 1855. His
father, Isaac Sears, was born in Onondaga County, New York, 7 Nov 1828, a son
of Eleazer and Sarah Sears, the former a native of Saratoga County and the
latter of Onondaga County, New York. In 1841 the Sears family came to LaGrange
County, locating on Brushy Prarie in Springfield Township, where Eleazer and
his wife spent their last years. Both are now at rest in the Brushy Prarie
Cemetery. Isaac Sears had a common school education and lived at home until
his marriage on Febraury 13, 1853, to Miss Laurinda Tuttle. Her parents, Lemon
and Diadamie Tuttle, were natives of Ohio and spent their last days in LaGrange
County. Isaac Sears after his marriage moved to a farm of 236 acres in
Springfield Township, land that he had previously bought. Eventually this farm
under his ownership was increased to 436 acres. On May 10, 1874, his first
wife died and on February 11, 1875, he was married in Onondaga COunty, New
York, to Sarah Vanalstine, daughter of James and Sarah Vanalstine, natives of
that state, where both of them died. In October, 1880, Isaac Sears moved from
his farm in Springfield Township to a place in Bloomfield near the city of
LaGrange. The farm he owned there, improved with a fine brick building, is the
present home of his son Charles. Isaac Sears died December 24, 1902. he left
an estate of about 2,000 acres, the largest amount of land owned by any
individual at that time in LaGrange County. All of this property except 100
acres and $400 in money had been accumulated by his own efforts and industry.
For years he fed live stock on a large scale and was one of the principal
shippers to outside markets. isaac Sears and his first wife had two sons,
Charles E and David A, the later now deceased.
Charles E Sears acquired a public school education, supplemented by a
period in the Orland Academy. As a young man he bought eighty acres in
Bloomfield Township and began farming there. He has enlarged his possessions
until today he owns 1,110 acres, including the old homestead in Springfield
Township where he spent the years of his youth. Mr Sears has been one of the
men whose enterprise has made LaGrange County a great feeding ground for sheep.
he was one fo the organizers of the LaGrange State Bank and has been a
director since the bank opened for business. He is also a director and
president of the Home Grain Company of LaGrange. Besides sheep feeding he has
handled a large amount of beef cattle on his land for several years.
Politically, Mr Sears is a repoublican, and for several years was a member of
the county council. He and his wife are active in the Methodist Church at
LaGrange.
December 22, 1875, Mr Sears married Miss Margaret Adalina Vesey. She was
born at Butler in DeKalb County, may 3, 1858. She was formerly a teacher in
LaGrange County and has always taken a deep interest in educational and other
local affairs. She is a member of the Womans Club at LaGrange, andis an active
worker in the Ladies' Aid of the Methodist Church.
Mr and Mrs Sears have five children. Rena, who was born in Bloomfield
Township, November 1, 1877, is a graduate of the LaGrange High School, was a
student of the Tri-State College at Angola, and was a teacher before her
marriage to Charles A Yotter, a well known citizen of Angola mentioned
elsewhere. Helen V, born August 11, 1879, in Bloomfield Township, is also a
graduate of the LaGrange High School and is the wife of Lewis Price, a
Bloomfield Township farmer. Mr and Mrs Price have five children, named Sears,
Irene, Lois, Catherine and Margaret. Homer I Sears was born July 10, 1886, and
died December 30, 1888. Audra Margaret was born April 23, 1895, is a graduate
of the LaGrange High School, has attended Northwestern University and is the
wife of Frank J Bollman and the mother of a daughter, Dorothy Jean. Olive L,
the youngest of the family, was born May 16, 1896, and was educated in the
LaGrange High School and Northwestern University and is now at home. Mr and
Mrs Sears also took into their home when in his first year of high school
harold P Arends, who was born December 15, 1892. He graduated from the
LaGrange High School in the same class with Audra and Olive Sears in June,
1913. Mr and Mrs Sears were preparing to enter him at Purdue University, but
while assisting in the grain threshing he was accidentally killed September 5,
1913.
Mrs Sears is a daughter of Horace J Vesey. Mr Vesey was born in Vermont,
October 19, 1834, and is still living at LaGrange, probably being the most
active man for his years in the entire county. He is a son of William and
Adeline (Copland) Vesey, both natives of Vermont. In 1834 William Vesey and
wife moved to Geauga County, Ohio, and in 1835 he bought a tract of land in
Elkhart County, Indiana. In 1836 his five children, accompanied by an uncle,
went out to occupy the Elkhart County land, but he was detained in Ohio by the
illness ofhis wife, who died there. He then joined his children in Elkhart
County and lived there until his death in 1873. Horace J Vesey when eighteen
years of age paid $150 to his father for his time until he reached his
majority. In 1853, at the age of nineteen, he began attending school at
Ontario, and worked at various occupations to pay his expenses. He took up a
trade and for nearly forty years traveled extensively through Canada and
seventeen of the states. In 1858 he traded land in Filmore co, MN, which he
had bought in 1851, for 120 acres in Milford Twp of LaGrange co. He increased
this property to 302 acres and improved it with excellent buildings. In his
time he was one of the successful sheep feeders of LaGrange co. On 6 AUg 1857,
Mr Vesey married Helen Smith. She was born 14 Dec 1839, daughter of Joseph H
and Margaret (Robinson) Smith, both natives of NY State, whence they removed to
MI at an early day. Mr andMrs Vesey had four children, Mrs Sears being the
oldest. The next in age, Lottie E, is the deceased wife of George McKibben,
who is still living at LaGrange.. Mrs Lydia C Love is a resident of Kansas
City, and Sylvester T is a well known farmer and sheep feeder of LaGrange co,
Milford Twp. Horace J Vesey has had membership in the Masonic Order many years.
His wife died 22 Feb 1909. He is the owner of property at LaGrange and also
has some holdings in FL, where for several years he has spent his winters. Mr
Vesey is a republican in politics.
Dick Elderkin-Undoubtedly inherited substantial assets from his prominent
father, Isaac Sears. FIrst owned 80 acre farm in Bloomfield Twp, IN and
additional land. IN 1893 he also owned the 150 acre "Locust Hill Farm" on Rt
20 near Huff's COrners which was later managed and farmed by his son-in-law,
Lewis Price. The "Sears Homestead," a classic red brick mansion, on US Rt 20
at the edge of LaGrange, IN, had 12 large rooms most with fireplaces, 2 baths,
several cut/stained glass windows and doors, an open staircase, an enlarged
kitchen, large enclosed porches, a substantial "Tenant House" and three very
large barns. At his death in 1930, he and Margaret owned 1,110 acres in
LaGrange co, IN. The land and buildings in 1994 were owned by Brady Stockyards
and the red-brick painted white.
Charles was one of the men whose enterprise made LaGrange co a major feeding
ground for sheep; was on of the organizers of the LaGrange Grange; was
president of LaGrange Grain Co. He was a member of LaGrange Methodist Church.
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