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BIOGRAPHIES

Source: 
Portrait and Biographical History of
Fayette,  Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio.
Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros.
1892
 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

CHAUNCEY EDWARD SEARS.  It is not ease, but effort - not luck, but labor - that develops character.  There is perhaps no position in life in which difficulties are not to be met and conquered before success can be attained.  As the skillful mariner gains his best experience amid storms, so on the ocean of life it is adversity which develops self-reliance, courage and the highest discipline.
     The experiences of many men go to prove the fact that obstacles in the path of progress may usually be overcome by perseverance, honest, zeal and energy, and above all by a determination to succeed in the face of every obstacle.  These elements in the character of Mr. Sears furnish us with the key to his success. Among the citizens of Circleville, few attained the prosperity which rewarded his unconquerable perseverance, and a brief review of his life will be both interesting and profitable.  Death has closed his labors on earth, but his character still lives as a model for others, furnishing an example which posterity may well
study, admire and imitate.
     The Sears family traces its ancestry to England, whence the great-grandfather of our subject came to America with two brothers, and settled in Connecticut. 
Daniel Sears, grandfather of our subject, was a native of the Nutmeg State, whence he removed to Lewis County, N. Y., and settled in Leyden Township, engaging in lumbering and farming in the section of country known as the Black River.  His death occurred at Port Leyden, where he was buried.  He came of Quaker ancestry.
     The father of our subject, Chauncey Sears, was born in Connecticut, and was there married to Miss Emily Hollister, a native of Vermont.  He pursued farming operations in Connecticut, and removed from that State to Port Leyden, N. Y., residing there for several years, but finally moving to Columbia County, N. Y., where he sojourned until his death.  His principal occupation through life was that of agriculture, and he accumulated a competency.  In politics, he was a Republican, and through life he adhered to the principles and teachings of the Quakers, in which faith he was reared.
     The youngest son in a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters, Chauncey Edward Sears was born in Leyden, Lewis County, N. Y.  His boyhood and early manhood were passed in Lewis and Columbia Counties, N. Y., where he attended the common school, worked as a mechanic, and also became familiar with the duties of farm labor.  When twenty-eight years of age, he went to Livingston County, N. Y., and, settling near Mt. Morris, engaged in general farming.  He was especially interested in raising broom corn, from which he manufactured brooms, and also in raising and drying sweet corn, and superintended various mechanical enterprises.
     In Livingston County Mr. Sears met and married Miss Annie Smith, M. D., a graduate of the Woman's Medical College of New York City.  In the spring of 1873, he and his wife removed to Circleville, and during the same year built a factory for drying sweet corn, and a few years later erected the canning establishment which is now the largest and one of the most successful enterprises of the kind in the State, and one of the three largest in the United States.  Two engines are in constant use from June to November, and between three and four hundred employes are given work.  All the modern improvements and machinery are to be found in this establishment, and everything is conducted with system and dispatch.  The drying house is 60x150 feet in dimensions; the packing house is large, two stories in height, and all the other buildings for storage are commodious and conveniently arranged.  The details of all this business were superintended by our subject.  In 1882, Mr. and Mrs. Sears erected a canning factory in Three Rivers, St. Joseph County, Mich., which they have operated since that time.
     A man of great energy, promptness and reliability, whose word was always considered as good as his bond, Mr. Sears was a splendid addition to
the citizenship of Circleville. he possessed great versatility of talent, was an able writer and a prompt and eloquent speaker.  He was a public-spirited, upright citizen, and a humanitarian, using his talents and means freely for the uplifting of society and humanity in general.  A thorough temperance advocate, he did much for the advancement of that cause, and was an active member of the Independent Order of Good Templars.  In politics, he was a stanch Republican.  In religious matters, he was educated in the Quaker principles, but was no stickler for creeds, forms or ceremonies, believing firmly in a practical daily Christian life as
taught and lived by Jesus.  He died Feb. 7, 1892, greatly lamented by the entire community where he resided.
     Mrs. Annie (Smith) Sears, M. D., was born in Van Buren, Onondaga County, N. Y.  Her father was a native of Greenock, Scotland, and died when
she was an infant; her mother passed away when forty-four years old.  The latter was the fourth daughter in a family of twelve children, seven daughters and five sons.  Her parents were by name Abram and Polly Gillitt, and were natives of Vermont.  Mrs. Gillitt was a sister of President Fillmore's mother.  Mrs. Sears is sole proprietor of the business of C. E. Sears & Co., manufacturers of canned goods, and is a lady whose business acumen is well known, and one who is thoroughly capable of superintending her own affairs.  She is a graduate of medicine, eclectic in principle, and very successful in practice when she gave her time thereto.
     In later years, it was the choice of Mrs. Sears and her husband that she should assist in the business instead of following her profession.  Wide-awake
and enterprising, she has conducted the entire business successfully since the death of her husband, and is a woman of independent turn of mind, always
doing her own thinking.  All the progressive and reform movements of the day find in her a faithful friend, and she is identified with the Western Packers' Canned Goods Association.  She is a member of the Grand Lodge of Ohio of Good Templars, and at present serves as Chief Templar of her own district.  In Religion, she was reared in the (Quaker doctrine, but is no sectarian, believing that Christ's people should all be one, and that without a daily practical Christian life, theories and doctrines are of no avail.  In politics, she is a Republican, but believes in the equal rights and privileges of all men and women as being God-given.
Source:  Portrait and Biographical History of Fayette,  Pickaway and Madison Counties, Ohio. Publ. Chicago: Chapman Bros. - 1892 - Page 119
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