Elkanah Sears was born on 21 Oct 1758 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA as the seventh child of Edmund Sears and Hannah Crowell. He had nine siblings, namely: Edmund, Elizabeth, Jane, Joshua, Joshua, Christopher, Mercy, Temperance, and Hannah. He died on 01 Jun 1836 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. When he was 29, he married Mercy Bray,daughter of William Bray and Sarah Joyce, on 10 Jan 1788 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
Elkanah Sears was buried in Ancient Sears Cemetery, West Brewster, Brewster, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA (No. 117).
Elkanah Sears and Mercy Bray had the following children:
1. Sarah Sears was born on 20 Nov 1788 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She died on 29 Apr 1879 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She married Peter Baker on 10 May 1805.
2.
Temperance
Sears was born on 28 Nov 1790 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She
died on 01 Mar 1859 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She married
Ezekial Hallet on 29 Oct 1829 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
3.
Susanna
Sears was born on 27 Apr 1794 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She
died on 02 Jun 1857 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
4.
Lucy Sears
was born on 29 May 1797 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She died on
27 Nov 1852 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. She married Ezekial
Thacher in Dec 1816 in Brewster, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
5.
Thomas Sears
was born on 16 Feb 1800 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. He died on
28 Nov 1891 in West Brewster, Brewster, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. He
married Azubah Crowell on 28 Dec 1825 in West Yarmouth, Barnstable,
Massachusetts, USA. He married Louisa G Ainsworth on 01 Nov 1867 in Yarmouth,
Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. He married Eliza A Dean on 01 Nov 1867 in
Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
6.
Elkanah
Sears Jr was born on 16 Feb 1800 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. He
died on 20 Jan 1876 in West Brewster, Brewster, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
He married Clarissa Hall on 22 Mar 1827 in Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts,
USA. He married Sarah Berry on 08 Dec 1836 in Yarmouth, Barnstable,
Massachusetts, USA.
7. William Sears was born on 04 Apr 1808 in East Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 16 Oct 1896 in East Dennis, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA. He married Ruth Berry on 21 Jan 1836 in South Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts, USA.
He was a soldier in Capt Micah Chapman’s company, Col
Freeman's Regiment and marched on alarm at Dartmouth and Falmouth, 6 Sep 1778;
was on duty 3 days. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Vol. 13, pg. 951
[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS3Q-C3XR-T]
Massachusetts, Revolutionary War, Index
Cards to Muster Rolls, 1775-1783- Sea Cost Defence Muster Rolls, Vol. 35, page
237 [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQZ-VHJ3]
Elkanah is 3rd-great-grandfather of the author.
In the fall of 1819, Elkanah Sears with his son William, set out some cranberry vines at Flax pond (now called Scargo lake), in Dennis, and was the pioneer in the large and profitable business of cranberry raising.
Some years later Henry Hall of Dennis, having a marshy lot which produced some very fine berries, was led to follow the experiment of transplanting some of the vines to another portion of the same swamp, and the experiment proving a success, he and others continued their efforts in the same direction. But it took years of careful study, and laborious and costly experiment to ascertain the processes, soil and conditions necessary to success.
In 1888, the shipments of cranberries from Cape Cod were 80,128 barrels and 13,463 boxes.
In 1677, to appease the wrath of Charles II, who was angry with Massachusetts Colony for coining "pine-tree shillings," the General Court ordered a present to be sent him of "ten barrels of cranberries, two hogsheads of samp, and three thousand codfish," luxuries which it was thought would soften the ire of an angry monarch.
BURIED: Ancient Sears Cemetery - No 117
Dennis, Cape Cod, c. 1995 Nancy Thacher Reid, p 298, Over the next few years the family of Elkanah Sears on Quivet Neck experimented in cranberry cultivation. Used with permission of Dennis Historical Society
Dennis [Mass.] Vital Records p 35-6 a record of the births and names of their children; p.123, b., d.; p 152 [another] record of their children
Elkanah had a house on the corner of South
and School streets (supposedly the SW corner) in East Dennis. [That one burned and so] He built 51 School
St in 1805. Katherine and Edmund lived
next door (north) at 55 School St. In
1913 Elkanah H. added a bathroom and dormer window upstairs and the screen
porch. The kitchen or room across the
back of the house had a beautiful brick wall with fireplace, built in
oven. One time Edmund and Katherine
found several barrels of very old dishes stored in the barn. Cranberry barrels
were still being made when I (LJB) was a little girl. Later cranberry boxes. Elkanah H used to travel to Wisconsin to buy
wood for barrels.
