Person:John Sears (39)

John moved from Hardy County, West Virginia to Greene County, Tennessee about 1786.

In 1787, upon affidavit of Johns Seers and Joseph Scott, the Greene County sheriff was directed to return Sears, Scott and John Smith insolvent.

Sears was appointed Greene County road overseer at Henry Conway's house on 3 November 1789 [3-Goldene Burgner, Greene County, Tennessee Court of Common Pleas, pp 135, 193, 232, 415]. At a meeting in John Sears' room in February 1791, Joseph Conway was made overseer of the road from Bird's Hill to Mat Pate's Hill. Sears, an assignee of Martin Armstrong, the surveyor of land for soldiers, was granted 120 acres north of Nolichucky River "joining his former survey" and adjoining Mathew Pate's grant, on 4 Feb 1795 [4-NC Land Grants Filed in Greene co, Vol 5, p 122. Goldene Burgner, North Carolina Land Grants Recorded in Greene County, Tennessee, 1981, p 150. Grant 261, George Brock, 211 acres; #282, 383, 390 Mathew Pate, 372 acres, Greene County, 20 Sep 1787, north side Nolichucky. Zedikiah Sears was made overseer of the road from Pate's Hill to Darby Ragan's place in Nov 1795 [3-pp 135,193,232,415]

In 1796 John served on a jury.

John was on the 1797 Grainger County, Tennessee tax roll, the 1806 Anderson County, Tennessee roll and - as "Seers" - on the 1812 Greene County, Tennessee roll [6-A John Sears was on Bledsoe co's 1815 roll].

On 4 Apr 1812, John L Sears sold to Moses Easterly, both of Greene County, Tennessee, for $1,000, 60 acres where Henry Burkhalter then lived, which was a part of a grant to Sears on 4 Feb 1794 by NC, on the north side of the Nolichucky River. Witnesses were Daniel Brunson and Henry Burkhalter [7-Greene County, Tennessee Deed Book 10, pp 112-113]. On 1 Sep 1812, John L Sears sold to Anthony Bewley, both of Greene County, Tennessee, for $170, 211 acres on the north side of the Nolichucky River. Witnesses were Jacob Bewley, Robert A Ragan, and Mahlon Bewley[7- pp 86-87] Blanche Keeney Stephens proved that John Sears who was in Hampshire and Hardy Counties was the same man who later lived in Greene County, TN and KY by virtue of a unique mark he used on instruments in the appropriate jurisdictions' it was a capital "I" with a cross line and a reversed capital "S". As Blanche put it, "Thank goodness for that mark and seal."

John and his wife were moved from Tennessee to Knox County, Kentucky with his children about 1813. He was on the 1819 tax list there, the only Sears. An injunction suit was filed in the Knox County Chancery Court about Oct 1821 by Peter Wilson against James Sears, administrator of John Sears estate, to prevent foreclosure on two notes Wilson had given to John Sears, his father in law [9-Sharon Mayne Withers, Lexington, Kentucky wrote in Oct 1992 giving the results of her discovery at the Kentucky State Library and Archives of the papers in this administration's defense against a suit by son in law Peter Wilson to offset his claims against notes held by the estate of John Sears. She is a descendant of Peter Wilson and Elizabeth Sears, William Sears, and Maryann Sears Sutton Stanfield].