HENRY W. AND SOPHINA SEARS

Henry W. Sears was born in 1842 in Ohio to Marvin and Mary Ann Bishop Sears.. Henry first married Sophina Porter who was born in 1846 in Ohio. Henry was married to Sophina on October 22, 1869 in Portage County, Ohio.

Henry served in the Civil War as a Private in Company G, Ohio 7^th Infantry Regiment, as a Private in Battery A, Ohio 1^st Light Artillery Brigade and then transferred to Company H, U.S. Veteran Reserve Corps. 8^th Infantry Regiment. Henry finally mustered out on September 9, 1864.

In 1870, Henry and Sophina lived in Fremont Township, Saginaw County, Michigan. Their neighbor was Howard and Martha Sears Collins.

On April 15, 1873, the United States General Land Office in accordance with the Homestead Act of May 20, 1862 granted Henry W. Sears (Homestead Certificate #519, Application #1900) the Southeast Quarter of Section Two (2) in Township Eleven North of Range One East in the district of lands subject to sale at East Saginaw, Michigan containing One Hundred and Sixty Acres. Signed by Ulysses S. Grant. The 160 acres was in Lakefield Township in Section 2 on the NW corner of Swan Creek and Chapin Roads. Henry's neighbors were Howard G. Collins and Edward Trombley.

By 1880, Henry and his family moved to Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio where he worked in a brick yard. Sophia, Henry's first wife, died March 1, 1884 in Charlestown, Portage County, Ohio. Portage County is where Howard and Martha Sears Collins moved to around 1880.

Henry married for a second time to Fidelia Bruner on January 13, 1886.

Henry died on November 1, 1915 in Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio.

SOURCES: United States General Land Office; 1870 and 1880 United States Census; Henry W. Sears Civil War Records; Find A Grave Information and Henry W. Sears death record.