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Bethia married John Crowell, Jr. on 27 May 1684. John and died. [Group Sheet]

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SP May, p 41- Paul Sears took the oath of "Fidellyte" in 1657, held a commission as a captain in the militia, and made claim for a horse lost in Narragansett war, but I find no record of his services. October 30, 1667, he was one of the grand jury, in an inquest held on the child of Nicholas Nickerson. He was one of the original proprietors of lands in Harwich, between Bound and Stony brooks, known as "Wing's Purchase," as appears by deed of John Wing et als., to Paul Seers et als., dated April 16,1677, recorded at Plymouth.
The early town records of Yarmouth were destroyed by fire at the burning of the town clerk's house in 1674, and from the succeeding volume the first twenty-six pages are gone, and others mutilated and worn. The names and dates of birth of his children have been supplied from various sources, and are believed to be correct.
I annex copies of the will and inventory of Paul Sears;- the will is signed with his mark, as is also the inventory of John Burge's estate, rendered by him and recorded Barns. Rec II, 1701, p130. He left property valued at L 467 03 03, to his "loving wife Deborah," and to his sons, "Samuel, Paul and John;" that to his sons being charged with a payment to "their brothers, Richard and Daniel, towards their purchase of lands at Manamoy;" having given to his daughters, (whose names are unfortunately omitted) "such parts or portions as I was able or thought fitt."
In the ancient cemetery in Yarmouth lies a stone slab, removed from its place to make room for the granite monument to the Searses, which bears the following inscription, surmounted by a cherub's head and scroll work: Here lyes the Body of Paul Sears, who Departed this life February ye 20th 1707, in ye 70th year of his age." It is the oldest dated memorial in the cemetery. His wife was doubtless laid by his side, but there is no stone to her memory.
George Willard, the father of Paul Sears' wife, was the son of Richard and Joane (Morebread) W., of Horsmonden, Kent, Eng., where he was bap. Dec. 4, 1614. He settled at Scituate for a time, removing thence it is said to Maryland or Gorgeane Maine. There is some reason to believe that his wife was Dorothy Dunster, dau. of Henry D., of Baleholt, near Bury, Lanc., sister to Eliz'h D., who m. his bro. Simon Willard; and to Rev. Henry D., Pres. of Harvard College. [See Willard Mem., 1858, p. 339]
Paul Sears was the first to adopt the present spelling of SEARS.
In the name of God, Amen, the Twentieth Day of February, 1707-8. I, Paul Sears, Senr. of Yarmouth, in ye County of Barnstable, in New England, being at this time ill and weak in body but of Disposing mind and memory, Praised be God, Do make, Constitute, ordain and Declare this my Last Will and Testament, in manner and form following:
First, and principally. I Comitt my soul to God, most humbly depending upon the gracious Death and merits of Jesus Christ my only Lord and Saviour for Salvation, and to the free pardon of all my sins. And my Body to the Earth to be buryed in such Decent Christian manner as to my Executors hereafter named shall be thought fitt. And as for my outward Estate, as Lands, Chattels and Goods, I do order Give and Dispose in manner and form following;
First, - I will that all those Debts and Duties that I owe in Right or Conscience To any person whatsoever shall be truly paid in convenient time, after my Decease by my Executors hereafter named, out of my movable Estate.
Item,- I do give and bequeath to my eldest son Samuel Sears, all that my land and meadow in the township of Harwich upon part whereof his house now stands as is comprehended within and between the boundaries now following: (that is to say ,) bounded on the east by Kenelm Winslows Land at ye known and accustomed bounds and on the west side beginning at a remarkable rock, (lying about four Rods eastward from Yarmouth bound Rock at bound brook,) and from the sd Remarkable Rock the line runs Southerly over the Swamp and up ye hill to a great Pine tree marked in sd Yarmouth line: and thence up ye same straight line Southerly to the highway: and thence eastward as the way runs to ye said Winslows Land, (the sd highway being the bounds on ye south side) And the beginning again att ye sd Remarkable Rock the line runs northerly to a stone sett in ye ground: and thence easterly to the edge of ye marsh by a straight line to another stone sett in to the ground, and so bounded by the marsh to another stone sett in the ground northerly on a straight line to a bend of ye main Creek at a stone sett in the Maresh, and on the north side tis bounded by the known and accustomed bounds and of my interest in the undivided lands in sd Harwich, viz.: that is my sd son Saml. shall sixteen acres to himself in ye next Division (ye proprietors make of the undivided Lands) and the one half of all the rest of my interest there. All which sd Lands and Meadows shall be to my sd son Samuel Sears, and to his heirs and assigns forever, he yielding to his mother, my wife, one third part of ye proffits thereof during her natural life, and also paying to his two brothers Richard and Daniel, forty and two pounds in money towards the paying their purchase at Manamoy. I do give him my Try pott and Kettle.
It.- I do give and bequeath to my son Paul Sears and to his heirs and assigns forever, one piece of fresh meadow called the Green Meadow which lyeth on the north side of my old house and is bounded eastward at ye Well or Spring, then westward taking in all ye Marsh or ground to ye old cartway (which leads into ye neck) on Joseph Sears fence: thence northeastward as the old sd cartway and fence runs to Zachariah Paddocks fence or line which is ye bounds on ye north side to bound brook, the sd bound brook and well or spring being the bounds on the east side, and also one quarter part of my interest of the undivided Lands in sd Harwich (besides the above sd Sixteen acres given to my son Samuel,) and for the rest of my son Pauls land is in ye neck where he now dwells, and by me confirmed by Deed of Gift formerly, and my Will is that he shall yield to his mother, my wife, one third of the proffits or income of all I have given him, during her natural life, and that he shall pay to his two brothers Richard and Daniel, forty and four pounds in money towards the paying their purchases att Manamoy.
My will further is that the Ditch which hath been the accustomed bounds in the marsh betwixt my son Paul, and my kinsman Josiah Sears shall remain forever; beginning southerly att ye upland and running straight northerly to the Creek which did run on ye north side of ye island, which creek shall be the north bounds:
And my Will is, and I do give all that slip of meadow on the West side of ye sd ditch unto the said Josiah Sears, his heirs and assigns forever.
It.- I do give and bequeath unto my son John Sears, and to his heirs and assigns forever, all the rest of my Homestead, both housings, lands and meadows, also one quarter part of all my interest in the undivided lands in ye sd Harwich, excepting the sixteen acres before given to my son Saml.-he my sd son John allowing and yielding to his mother, my wife, the one third part of my Housing, and the third of the proffits of ye lands during her natural life, and he paying to his two brothers Richard and Daniel, forty and four pounds in money towards their purchase att Manamoy.
It.- I do give and bequeath all my movable Estate as Cattle, sheep, horses, swine and household stuff &c, unto my loving wife Deborah, (my Debts and Funerall charges being first paid.) She shall have the rest for her comfort while she lives: and what she leaves at her death to be equally divided amongst my daughters to whom I have each of them given such parts or portions as I was able or thought fitt.
Lastly,- I do nominate and appoint my sd son Saml Sears and my Loving Wife Deborah executors to this my last will and testament.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto sett my hand and seal ye day and year in ye other side first above written.
Signed, sealed & declared in The mark and seal of presence of Paul (=) Sears, Senr. (seal), John Thacher, Zachariah Paddock, Samuel Howes
- The Descendants of Richard Sares (Sears) of Yarmouth, Mass., 1638-1888

Capt. married Deborah Willard in 1658 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Deborah (daughter of George Willard and Dorothy Dunster) was born before 14 Sep 1645 in Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts; died on 13 May 1721 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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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]
- Samuel P. May as republished in From The Descendants of Richard Sears of Yarmouth, Mass pub by Joel Munson's Sons, 1880

In his will, dated 10 May 1667, with a codicil dated 3 February 1675/6, and proved 5 March 1675/6, 'Richard Sares of Yarmouth' bequeathed to 'Sylas Sares my younger son . . . all my land, that is allthe upland upon the Neck where his house stands in which he now dwells . . . after mine and my wife's decease,' provided that 'my son-in-law Zachery Paddock' shall have the house where he dwells and two acres within the above tract 'during the life of Deborah his now wife'; also to 'the said Sylas Sares' a tract of meadow and half of 'my land called Robins as in undivided'; to 'my elder son Paule Sares all the rest and remains of my lands whatsoever', to 'Dorothy my wife' all lands and goods during her natural life, she to be sole executrix, and 'do entreat my brother Thacher with his two sons as friends in trust' as overseers; to 'my son-in-law Zachery Paddock' two acres from land called Robins before it is divided between Silas and Paul Sears, and this two acres, along with the two acres mentioned above, to go to Ichabod Paddock, son of Zachary, at the death of Zachary's wife; witnessed by Anthony Thacher and Anthony Frey; in the codicil, dated 3 February 1675/6, Richard Sears bequeathed to 'my eldest son Paul Sares .. . the house which I now live in' and various moveables; witnessed by John Thacher and Judah Thacher; on 5 March 1675/6 deposed that he and his brother witnessed the codicil,a nd that when 'my uncle signed this appendix,' he asked him [John Thacher] to redraw the will and 'to leave out of the new draft the legacy of land that is given to Ichabod Paddock, for saith he I have answered it in another way,' but Thacher never did produce this new draft [PCPR 3:2:53-54]. The inventory of the estate of 'Richard Sares,' taken 8 October 1676 and presented at court on 15 November 1676 by 'Dorethy Sares the relict of Richard Sares and Paul Sares his eldest son,' was untotalled and included 'his house and lands,' valued at £220
"Between the two creeks whose Indian names we have given above, there was a tongue of land called 'Quivet Neck,' made up in part of alluvial deposits, and forming therefore the best and most fertile soil. Richard Sayer purchased the greater part of this neck of land, and built his house upon it. On this gentle swell he could hear the crooning of the two brooks on either side of him s they wound through the meadows, and he could look over the green interval into the broad blue ocean, always sounding with the march and countermarch of its waves. After two hundred years, the house which he built had disappeared; but the precise spot is still to be seen where his household gods found undisturbed repose. . . Nothwithstanding his peace-loving habits, the Pilgrim, as tradition says, head a military office, and lost an arm by a gun-shot would in some conflict with the Indians. He also appears on the records as constable of Yarmouth, and once on some committee in ecclesiastical affairs. . . Richard Sayer lived to be the patriarch of the little colony of Sursuit, and to see his children and his children's children settled aroungd him. . . Richard sayer was once or twice summoned from his seclusion, as Deputy to the Colony Court at Plymouth. . . .He lived to a green and honored old age, and died in 1676. . . His ashes repose in the old Yarmouth churchyard, where one of his descendants, with filial reverence and affection, has erected a costly monument to his memory."
"In 1668, there was exchanging and buying of upland and meadow abetween Quivet Creek and Sauquatuckett River or as it was now often called 'Stoney Brook.' On January 17, an agreement was made between 'Richard Sears of Yarmouth and John Dillingham about an exchange of meadow lying between Bound brook and Stoney brook.' By this 'agreement' it appears 'Richard Sears fully and readily' accepted 'all right that John Wing and John Dillingham' had 'in all the meadows commonly called the Nooks - for all the right that Richard sears had in that meadow lying and being against Mr. William Bradford's two lots sold to said Richard Sears,' and 'his in the great division of broken meadow.' At the same date Richard Sears sold to 'John Dillingham, his heirs and assigns, all the land lying and being below the path commonly known as the path from Sesuit to the mill, with all the dead timber about the path forever.'

Richard married Dorothy Jones in 1632 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts. Dorothy was born in 1603 in Somerset, England; died on 19 Mar 1679 in Yarmouth, Barnstable, Massachusetts. [Group Sheet]

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George married Dorothy Dunster. Dorothy and died. [Group Sheet]

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Excerpt from "Willard-Hosmer" by Stephen M. Lawson: Richard Willard, probably son of Symon WILLARD. His will, dated Feb. 12, 1616/7, was proved Mar. 8, 1616/7 before Edward POPE, Vicar General. the will names, in order, his wife Joan, her son Francis MOREBREAD, his son George, his daughters Mary, Elizabeth, Margery and Catherine, his son Richard, and his son Symon. Simon was to receive his bequest when he becomes of age. Based on the wording and order his children were names, it appears that George was the son of Joan, and that daughters Mary and Elizabeth were born before Margery. Due to the presence of more than one Richard WILLARD in Horsmonden, it cannot be stated with certainty that the father of Simon WILLARD was the subject of the following three marriages. Catherine, wife of Richard WILLARD, was buried Mar. 11, 1597/8 at Horsmonden. Richard was married on Sep 23, 1601 at Westgagte, Kent to margery HUMPHRIE. Margery, wife of Richard WILLARD, was buried Dec. 12, 1608 at Horsmonden. Richard was married on Jan. 17, 1609 at Horsmonden, Kent to Joan MOREBREAD (bur. Feb. 25, 1617), a widow with son Francis MOREBREAD,

Richard married Joane Morebread on 17 Jan 1610 in Horsmonden, Kent, England. Joane was born in 1585 in Horsemondon, Kent, England; died in 1617 in Horsemondon, Kent, England. [Group Sheet]

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Symon married Elizabeth Waterman about 1578 in Horsmonden, Kent, England. Elizabeth was born in 1532 in Horsmonden, Kent, England; died before 12 Apr 1587 in Horsmonden, Kent, England. [Group Sheet]

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