David Sears (1849-1894) was born at Wickhamford in 1849, the fourth of five children of Thomas Sears, an agricultural labourer, and his wife, Sarah (née Chandler). He was baptised at the Church of St John the Baptist, Wickhamford, on 17th February 1850. He was just five years old when his mother died in 1857. By 1861, David was living with his widowed father and two of his siblings at Badsey.
David’s whereabouts in 1871 are unknown, but it is thought that he emigrated to America in 1873. David married Felicia Edgington in Geuaga County, Ohio, USA, on 26th November 1874. The couple had met whilst living in the Vale of Evesham. The following year, Felicia’s parents, William and Eliza Edgington, also decided to emigrate.
David and Felicia had two sons: Ozro Thomas H (1875-1953) and John Ozel (1877-1934). At the time of the US Federal Census of 1880, they lived in Troy, Geauga, Ohio, where David was working as a farm labourer.
David died on 1st September 1894 and was buried at Shadyside Cemetery, Auburn.
Felicia married again, on 11th January 1900, to Albert Nobel Ellis at Cleveland, Ohio. On the night of the 1900 census, Felicia was staying with her parents in Auburn Township, but she was also recorded on the census return for Britt Township, County Hancock, Iowa, with Albert and his three children from his first marriage. Felicia died on 16th July at Iowa, but was buried at Shadyside Cemetery, Auburn.
