TOWN OF PLAINFIELD, WISCONSIN 1870 CENSUS

Enumerated on the 12th day of July 1870.

Searles, Catherine 67 FW Retired New York

 

 

04 NOV1897 MR. & MRS. SAMUEL SEARLES, Golden Wedding

 

 On Thursday the 27th inst. MR. & MRS. SAMUEL SEARLES, of Oasis, celebrated their golden wedding at the home of ther son, ROBERT SEARLES, in the town of Deerfield, where a reunion of a portion of MR. SEARLES' family was held.....short address by the REV. SWARTZ, of Plainfield, congratulating MR. & MRS. SEARLES on their having passed the fiftieth milestone in their married life and that their family of nine children were all living and a majority of them were present.......MRS. BARKER, the artist, from Plainfield, was present with her camera and photographed the group.

 

 


November 10, 2000

 

GEORGE WILLIAM SEARLES FAMILY

 

 

 

This is kind of a smattering of stuff that I’ve been collecting over the past little while.  I don’t know if it is of interest to folks, but I guess it’s better to forward it on than to have it sitting around on my harddrive.  Enclosed is a copy of some information on the George Searles family.  It includes 1860 and 1870 census information, and 1858 land patent information for the same.  I found this information via Bonnie Price at the UWSP Archives (she was very helpful!)

 

Anyways, here's some information on George W. Searles that I received from the University of Wisconsin.  The 1860 census shows that "the Free Inhabitants in Bloomfield in the county of Waushara, Wisconsin...enumerated by me on the 26 day of July 1860, Edward Saye, Ass't Marshall...:

 

Name                      Age                Sex                          Profession           Value      Value      Place of

                                                                                Occupation           ofReal                ofPer.                Birth                                                                                                                                                       Estate                Estate

George W. Searl(sic)                41                Male                Farmer                    300                100                England

Elizabeth                 "                23                Female                                                                    Ohio

Margaret                "                8                Female                                                                    Wisconsin

George                   "                3/12*                Male                                                                       Wisconsin

 

 

*I assume this means that George was 3 months old.

 

 

The 1870 census shows "Inhabitants in the town of Bloomfield in the County of Waushara, Wisconsin...enumerated by me on the 22 day of July 1870, Post Office Brushville(?) F. E. Noyes, Ass't Marshall...:

 

Name                                      Age                Sex                          Profession           Value                 Value                Place of

                                                                                                Occupationof        Real                of Per.                Birth

                                                                                                                                Estate                Estate

William Searle(sic)                57(?)                Male                       Farmer                    8000                425                England

Eliza                        "                31                Female                    Keeping House                                    Ohio

George                   "                11                Male                                                                                       Wisconsin

Sylvia                     "                5                Female                                                                                    Wisconsin

 

A few things to note: first, Margaret (who is now about 18 based on the information in the last census) is no longer living in George and Elizabeth's house.  According to the University of Wisconsin folks, they found no Searles listed in the birth or death indexes, so I assume that she got married.  Second, the ages seem to be inconsistent.  In the last census George was listed as 41, now it appears that he's 57 (as best as I can make out the handwriting); Elizabeth was 23 and now is 31; George was 3 months and is now 11 (since this census is 10 years later, these don't add up).  However, inconsistencies are not uncommon in old records.  George and Elizabeth's wealth seems to be growing.  The census records (not reflected above) states that both of George's parents and both of Elizabeth's parents were born outside of the USA.  We knew that for George, but we didn't know that about Elizabeth.  It also reflects that George was born out of the USA and Elizabeth was born in the USA.  Finally, it reflects that George William was both 21 or over and a citizen of the USA. 

 

In the note from the University, it said that "I re-checked the 1880 cnsus but did not find the family listed in any form of the spelling Searl, Searle, Searles.  I also checked birth and death index in all forms of the spelling (and didn't find anything). 

 

A little insight into the the town of Bloomfield in the County of Waushara, Wisconsin: according the census record, there were six dwellings housing eight families, there were 21 white males, 19 females of which 16 of the males were foreign born, 15 of the females were foreign born.  There were no "colored males or females" and there were no blind folks living in town. 

 

Finally, I sent an e-mail note last week to the University asking them to check to see if George William Searles had naturalized in Wisconsin.  This is the response I got back today:

 

"Regarding your request for naturalization papers on George William Searles - I checked the Waushara County naturalization indexes and found no GeorgeWilliam Searles.  I did find a Jacob Searls and a Samuel (or Saul handwriting is hard to read) Searls who made their declarations of Intent on Mar. 28, 1870 in Wausahra County.  They both were born in Canada.  That is the only Searls (spelled various ways), that I could find.  Bonnie Price UWSP Archives"

 

---

 

I also found land patent information for George Searles:

 

 

WISCONSIN HOMESTEAD

Patent Description                 WI1570__.381

Cancelled: N                Document Nr. : 23894                Misc. Document Nr. :

Patentee Name: SEARLES, GEORGE

Warrantee Name:

Authority: April 24, 1820: Cash Entry Sale (3 Stat. 566)

Signature Present: Y

Signature Date: 02/22/1858                Metes/Bounds: N

Survey Date:                Subsurface Reserved: N

Land Office: MENASHA                Comments:

 

Legal Land Descriptions

SESW     Sec 20                T 20N                R 13E                Meridian 4th     Acreage  0      County  Waushara

SWSE     Sec 20         T 20N     R 13E                Meridian 4th     Acreage  80     County  Waushara

 

Source: Land Patent Report; Bureau of Land Management - Eastern States, General Land Office: http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/asp/patinfo.asp?AccessionNumber=WI1570__.381

 

 

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GEORGE WILLIAM SEARLES FAMILY SUMMARY

 

Thus far, I've been able to track my branch of the SEARLES family to George William SEARLES who was born in about 1819 - 1826 in Gosport, Hampshire, England.  There he was married to Julia MCCORMICK.  I don't know when they were married, what happened with this marriage, or who his parents or sibblings were.  However, in 1858, George William ended up on a homestead in West Bloomfield, Waushara County, Wisconsin with a new wife, Elizabeth Chamberlain.  The LDS Family Search database indicates that Elizabeth Chamberlain was born in 1838 in Ohio and that she and George William were married in NY City, but there isn't a marriage date or any documentation given with this information. So, I'm unsure of the "whens," "wheres" or "hows" of this initial connection.

 

A check with some government records folks in England shows that George William SEARLES does not appear in the 1851 census index for Alverstoke (which includes Gosport).  Therefore, I assume that George William came to the states in the 1840's or early 1850's

 

The BLM's Records for Wisconsin Homesteads show that on 02/22/1858 George Searles signed on to homestead 80 acres of land in Waushara County, WI:

 

Legal Land Descriptions

SESW     Sec 20                T 20N                R 13E                Meridian 4th     Acreage  0      County  Waushara

SWSE     Sec 20 T 20N         R 13E                Meridian 4th     Acreage  80     County  Waushara

 

The 1860 and 1870 US Census' show that George William and Elizabeth lived in lived in West Bloomfield, Waushara County, Wisconsin for quite a while (note: SEARLES is recorded as SEARL in 1860 census and as SEARLE in 1870 census).  The 1860 census shows George to be 41 years old (hence born 1819)

and Elizabeth to be 23.  It also shows them with two children, Margaret who was 8 and George (William George, but called George) who was three months old.  The 1870 census is a bit more difficult to read.  It seems to show George as 57 (which doesn't add up with his earlier birth date) and Elizabeth as 31 (which doesn't add up with her earlier birth date). Margaret is not recorded on this second census (she may have been old enough to get married and moved on but I don't know what happened to her), George who was 11 and a new child, Sylvia, who was 5.  I don't know if they had any additional children but I suspect that they had at least one other brother.

 

Further searches of the 1880 WI census do not show George William and Elizabeth to be in Wisconsin.  I have no further information on George, but Elizabeth moved to Nebraska.  She died and was buried at Norfolk, Madison, Nebraska on 2 Aug 1906. I don't know when they (or possibly just Elizabeth) moved from Wisconsin to Nebraska.  Sylvia SEARLES married Franklin Gilbert Clark, in about 1882, died and was buried in 6 Oct 1927 at Bassett, Rock, NE.  As far as I can tell, they had one child Adalyne Edith (born 3 Mar 1888 at Creighton, Knox, Nebraska).  I don't know anything about Margaret SEARLES after the 1860 census.

 

My direct family line is through William George SEARLES, who was my great-grandpa. William George moved to Nebraska and married Elizabeth Tuson Pearson (or possibly married and then moved).  They had a total of eight children.  The first two children were born in Nebraska (Charles and Walter).  Then the family moved to Washington State in about 1885/1886 where they had six more children (Daisy, Marion, Mildred, George, Sidney and Douglas).  They made a series moves throughout eastern Washington (e.g., Kittitas Co, near Ellensburg) and western Washington (e.g., near Castle Rock, near Seattle, and near Bellingham).  Their moves included living on the San Juan Islands, in Washington State, where Elizabeth taugh school and I believe William George worked in a store.  Elizabeth Tuson PEARSON died in there in

1899.

 

After Elizabeth's death, some of the family stayed in Washington State, but William George and several of his sons moved North and homesteaded in the Youngstown/Big Stone area, in Special District #3, Alberta, Canada. I am not sure if his daughters or any siblings moved to Alberta with him or not. Either just prior to immigrating to Canada, William George remarried.  His second wife's name was Rita, however, I don't know her maiden name.  Family history says that William George died 21 Apr 1925 and is buried near Norfolk, Alberta, Canada, but I suspect that it was near Youngstown.  I don't know what happened to Rita.

 

During WWI, some of the SEARLES boys joined the Canadian Expeditionary Forces and Merchant Marines, some of them seeing action in Europe.  I don't know exactly when, but the boys eventually migrated back south to the US, most to Washington State and one (my grandpa) to Michigan State.  About 80 decendents were present and accounted for at a family reunion in Seattle this summer.

 

My grandpa, Sidney SEARLES, was born "on a ranch near Ellensburg in Kittitas County," Washington on Oct.  4, l894.  He worked as a logger, an assistant to a surveyor and on the family ranch in Alberta, Canada.  When he was discharged from the Canadian Expeditionary Forces, he joined the American Army including a stint with the famous "Hat & Ring squadron".  He married Evangeline Blanche Wallis (or Wallace, depending on the records being checked) in about 1921 in Detroit MI.  My grandma Eva's family is from Ontario, Canada, her father was Edward Wallis (b. 1860 in Manchester, England) and Lettie Houghtling (b. 1862) at Napanee, Richmond Twp, Lennox & Addington Co, Ontario, Canada.  We have very scant information on the Houghtling and the Wallis families.

 

When Sidney got out of the service he went to work for and later retired from the Railroad Express Company at the New York Central Station in downtown Detroit.  Sidney and Eva had three children, Virginia, Betty and Sidney, and Eva had one child prior to this marriage, Kingsley STROM (who upon return from WWII legally changed his name to SEARLES).  Eva died in Detroit, Michigan in November 1968 and Sidney died in Marysville, Washington in November 1971.  Kingsley passed away in Mar 1979, and Sidney just passed away in Feb 2000.  Virginia lives in the Detroit area and Betty (my mom) lives in western Washington.

Contributed by: Jerry Sehlke