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- Frank Sears Biography
This biography appears on page 1552 in "History of South
Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned,
OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.
This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit
organizations for their private use.
Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval
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means requires the written approval of the file's author.
An engraving and the signature of Frank Sears faces page 1552.
FRANK SEARS, a leading member of the bar of Day county, and a
prominent citizen of Webster, the county seat, was born July 18, 1856,
at Moscow, Livingston county, New York. He is the son of William and
Margaret A. (Poorman) Sears, both natives of New York state, the former
born in Livingston county in 1828, and the latter in Seneca county in
1833. The Sears are of English descent. The grandparents (paternal) were
Franklin and Elizabeth (Shadders) Sears, the former born in
Massachusetts and the latter in Hagerstown, Maryland. William Sears, the
father, removed from Livingston county, New York, to Woodford county,
Illinois, in 1857, and from there he removed to Chatworth, Livingston,
Illinois, in 1866. He is a lawyer by profession and has held local
public office for many years. He and wife are still living. The mother
of the subject is the daughter of Jacob Poorman. Frank Sears was reared
in Chatsworth, Illinois. He graduated from the Chatsworth high school in
1875, following which he attended German school for three years,
becoming a fluent writer and talker in that language. Following his
schooling, he spent four years in the service of the Illinois Midland
Railroad Company. In 1884 he came to Andover, Day county, South Dakota,
where he took up the study of law. In November, 1888, he was admitted to
the bar, and in 1890 he was elected state's attorney for Day county,
while living at Andover. He removed to Webster, where he assumed the
duties of his office. He was re-elected state's attorney in 1892. In
April, 1805 he was elected the first mayor of Webster. In 1904 he was
re-nominated for state's attorney by the Republican party. He has been
prominent in legal circles for fifteen years, and has been connected
with the most important cases in this section of the state. He makes a
specialty of criminal practice. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias,
Independent Order of Odd Fellows Improved Order of Red Men and Dramatic
Order Knights of Khorassan. He is a self-made man in every respect.
In June, 188I, Mr. Sears was married, at Pekin, Tazewell county,
Illinois, to Isabell Hammond, the daughter of Daniel Hammond. The
following four children were born to that union: Mayme, married to Frank
J. O
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