Richard Sears PortraitRichard Sears biography
Barnstable County MA Archives Biographies.....Sears, Richard 1590 - August 26, 1676************************************************Copyright. All rights reserved.http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htmhttp://www.usgwarchives.org/ma/mafiles.htm************************************************File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:Leslie R Sears III lrsears@cox.net March 11, 2006, 12:17 pmAuthor: Samuel P MaySP May, p 23, [handnotes from the author's personal copy of the original book], and revised and corrected typescript, 1913, p 4The parentage, place and date of birth of Richard Sears are alike unknown. [Hand notes] It is possible that he was the Richard Sevier, son of Richard and Eve (Taylort) Serrys who was baptised at Crosscombe co, Somet, Eng'd Mar 30 1605. Crosscombe adjoins Finder, the birthplace of Dorothy Jones wife of Richard Sares.The name of Richard Seer is first found upon the records of Plymouth Colony, in the tax-list of March 25, 1633, when he was one of fourty-four, in a list of eighty-six persons, who were assessed nine shillings in corn, at six shillings per bushel, upon one poll. [Hand notes] His name is not in tax list of 1634 or in list of freemen 1633.He soon after crossed over to Marblehead, in Massachusetts Colony, where Richard Seers was taxed as a resident in the Salem rate-list for January 1, 1637-8, and on October 14, 1638, was granted four acres of land "where he had formerly planted." [This would seem to indicate that he had then some family.]What his reasons were for removing can now only be conjectured. It has been suggested that he sympathized with Roger Williams and followed him in his removal, but this is improbable.It may be that he wished to be near friends, former townsmen, or perhaps relatives.Antony Thacher, and his wife who was sister to Richard Sares wife, was then living in Marblehead, and this fact probably influenced his removal to that place [changed to reflect hand notes]The early settlers of Marblehead were many of them from the channel islands, Guernsey and Jersey, and in these places the family of Sarres has been established for several centuries, and is still represented in Guernsey under the names of Sarres and Serres.[The next supposition was struck from the original book by May]Early in the year 1639, a party under the leadership of Antony Thacher crossed the Bay to Cape Cod, and settled upon a tract of land called by the Indians, "Mattakeese," to which they gave the name of Yarmouth.With them went Richard Sares and family, accompanied probably by his wife and infant sons, Paul and Silas. [handnotes] He took up residence on Quivet Neck between Quivet and Sesuit creeks [in what became East precinct of Yarmouth now Dennis], where in September of the same year their daughter Deborah was born, perhaps the second white child, and the first girl born in Yarmouth; Zachary Rider being supposed to have been the first boy.In 1643, the name of Richard Seeres is in the list of those between the age of 16 and 60 able to bear arms. (In Williamsburg we learned that the requirements were, male, able bodied and with at least two teeth, one top and one bottom to pull the cap off the powder horn)Oct 26, 1647, the commissioners on Indian affairs were appointed to meet at the house of Richard Sares at Yarmouth, when he entered a complaint against Nepoytam Sachumus, and Felix, Indians.Oct 2, 1650, he with sixteen others, complained of William Nickerson for Slander, damage 100 pounds; and at the same term of court, we find his name with seventeen others, against Mr John Crow, William Nickerson and Lt William Palmer for trespass, damage 60 pounds.Jun 3, 1652, Richard Seeres was propounded to take up Freedom.Jun 7, 1652, Richard Sares was chosen to serve on the Grand Inquest.Jun 7, 1653, Richard Sares took the Oath of Fidellyte at Plimouth, and was admitted a Freeman.Mar 1, 1658, Richard Seares was chose on the committee to levy the church tax.Jun 6, 1660, Richard Sares was chosen Constable.Jun 3, 1662, Richard Saeres was chosen Deputy to the General Court at Plymouth.Nov 23, 1664, Richard Sares, husbandman, purchased of Allis Bradford widow of Gov William Bradford, (who signed the deed with her mark,) a tract of land at Sesuit, for 20 pounds.10(3)1667, Richard Sares made his Will, to which Feb 3, 1676, he added a codicil. Both documents are signed with his mark, (RS) and in witnessing various deeds at previous dates, he always made his mark, a by no means unusual thing to do in those days.Mr H G Somerby in his manuscript collection in the library of the Mass Hist So, Boston, mentions a tradition that he held a commission in the militia, and lost his right arm by a gun-shot wound in a fight with Indians in 1650, but neither fact is recorded, nor is any such tradition known to the Cape antiquarians.Jun 30, 1667, the name of Richard Sares is signed with fourteen others to a complaint against Nicholas Nickerson for slander of Rev Thomas Thornton. His signature is well and plainly written, on the original document in the possession of Hon H C Thacher of Boston, (of which a copy much reduced may be seen in Swift's "Hist of Old Yarmouth," 1884) but it is not certain that it is his autograph, (and no other is known,) as it and several others may have been written by the same person, and probably the one who procured the signatures to it.I have followed the spelling of Richard Sears name as found on the records, which is probably the clerk's phonetic rendering; I have been told by aged members of the family, that when they were children, early in the 19th century, the name was written Sears, but pronounced by old people, Sares [ed. this is born out by the fact that in our recent visit to the Bahamas, our surname was noticed and the comment was "Where did you get a good old Bahama name like Say'-ers?" two syllables, accent on the first]Additional Comments:From The Descendants of Richard Sears of Yarmouth, Mass pub by Joel Munson's Sons, 1880File at: http://files.usgwarchives.org/ma/barnstable/bios/sears39gbs.txtThis file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mafiles/
found on ancestry.com
Barnstable County MA Archives Biographies.....Sears, Richard 1590 - August 26, 1676************************************************Copyright. All rights reserved.http://www.usgwarchives.org/copyright.htmhttp://www.usgwarchives.org/ma/mafiles.htm************************************************File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:Leslie R Sears III lrsears@cox.net March 11, 2006, 12:17 pmAuthor: Samuel P MaySP May, p 23, [handnotes from the author's personal copy of the original book], and revised and corrected typescript, 1913, p 4The parentage, place and date of birth of Richard Sears are alike unknown. [Hand notes] It is possible that he was the Richard Sevier, son of Richard and Eve (Taylort) Serrys who was baptised at Crosscombe co, Somet, Eng'd Mar 30 1605. Crosscombe adjoins Finder, the birthplace of Dorothy Jones wife of Richard Sares.The name of Richard Seer is first found upon the records of Plymouth Colony, in the tax-list of March 25, 1633, when he was one of fourty-four, in a list of eighty-six persons, who were assessed nine shillings in corn, at six shillings per bushel, upon one poll. [Hand notes] His name is not in tax list of 1634 or in list of freemen 1633.He soon after crossed over to Marblehead, in Massachusetts Colony, where Richard Seers was taxed as a resident in the Salem rate-list for January 1, 1637-8, and on October 14, 1638, was granted four acres of land "where he had formerly planted." [This would seem to indicate that he had then some family.]What his reasons were for removing can now only be conjectured. It has been suggested that he sympathized with Roger Williams and followed him in his removal, but this is improbable.It may be that he wished to be near friends, former townsmen, or perhaps relatives.Antony Thacher, and his wife who was sister to Richard Sares wife, was then living in Marblehead, and this fact probably influenced his removal to that place [changed to reflect hand notes]The early settlers of Marblehead were many of them from the channel islands, Guernsey and Jersey, and in these places the family of Sarres has been established for several centuries, and is still represented in Guernsey under the names of Sarres and Serres.[The next supposition was struck from the original book by May]Early in the year 1639, a party under the leadership of Antony Thacher crossed the Bay to Cape Cod, and settled upon a tract of land called by the Indians, "Mattakeese," to which they gave the name of Yarmouth.With them went Richard Sares and family, accompanied probably by his wife and infant sons, Paul and Silas. [handnotes] He took up residence on Quivet Neck between Quivet and Sesuit creeks [in what became East precinct of Yarmouth now Dennis], where in September of the same year their daughter Deborah was born, perhaps the second white child, and the first girl born in Yarmouth; Zachary Rider being supposed to have been the first boy.In 1643, the name of Richard Seeres is in the list of those between the age of 16 and 60 able to bear arms. (In Williamsburg we learned that the requirements were, male, able bodied and with at least two teeth, one top and one bottom to pull the cap off the powder horn)Oct 26, 1647, the commissioners on Indian affairs were appointed to meet at the house of Richard Sares at Yarmouth, when he entered a complaint against Nepoytam Sachumus, and Felix, Indians.Oct 2, 1650, he with sixteen others, complained of William Nickerson for Slander, damage 100 pounds; and at the same term of court, we find his name with seventeen others, against Mr John Crow, William Nickerson and Lt William Palmer for trespass, damage 60 pounds.Jun 3, 1652, Richard Seeres was propounded to take up Freedom.Jun 7, 1652, Richard Sares was chosen to serve on the Grand Inquest.Jun 7, 1653, Richard Sares took the Oath of Fidellyte at Plimouth, and was admitted a Freeman.Mar 1, 1658, Richard Seares was chose on the committee to levy the church tax.Jun 6, 1660, Richard Sares was chosen Constable.Jun 3, 1662, Richard Saeres was chosen Deputy to the General Court at Plymouth.Nov 23, 1664, Richard Sares, husbandman, purchased of Allis Bradford widow of Gov William Bradford, (who signed the deed with her mark,) a tract of land at Sesuit, for 20 pounds.10(3)1667, Richard Sares made his Will, to which Feb 3, 1676, he added a codicil. Both documents are signed with his mark, (RS) and in witnessing various deeds at previous dates, he always made his mark, a by no means unusual thing to do in those days.Mr H G Somerby in his manuscript collection in the library of the Mass Hist So, Boston, mentions a tradition that he held a commission in the militia, and lost his right arm by a gun-shot wound in a fight with Indians in 1650, but neither fact is recorded, nor is any such tradition known to the Cape antiquarians.Jun 30, 1667, the name of Richard Sares is signed with fourteen others to a complaint against Nicholas Nickerson for slander of Rev Thomas Thornton. His signature is well and plainly written, on the original document in the possession of Hon H C Thacher of Boston, (of which a copy much reduced may be seen in Swift's "Hist of Old Yarmouth," 1884) but it is not certain that it is his autograph, (and no other is known,) as it and several others may have been written by the same person, and probably the one who procured the signatures to it.I have followed the spelling of Richard Sears name as found on the records, which is probably the clerk's phonetic rendering; I have been told by aged members of the family, that when they were children, early in the 19th century, the name was written Sears, but pronounced by old people, Sares [ed. this is born out by the fact that in our recent visit to the Bahamas, our surname was noticed and the comment was "Where did you get a good old Bahama name like Say'-ers?" two syllables, accent on the first]Additional Comments:From The Descendants of Richard Sears of Yarmouth, Mass pub by Joel Munson's Sons, 1880File at: http://files.usgwarchives.org/ma/barnstable/bios/sears39gbs.txtThis file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mafiles/
found on ancestry.com
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