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| The Mears plot is right next to the Allen plot second plot in from Spring Street, next to the shed on the far right side of the cemetery |
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| 1849 SAMUEL ALONZO 1927 HIS WIFE 1851 ANNIE JANE PERKINS 1933 1890 SAMUEL ARTHUR 1960 HIS WIFE 1904 JENNIE A. MEARS 1999 MEARS |
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| (on the rear of the stone) 1875 EDWARD A. 1922 1878 LILLIAN E. 1946 1894 ANNIE M. MEARS 1991 |
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| (rear stone) JENNIE A. MEARS 1904 - 1999 LOVING WIFE OF SAMUEL ARTHUR MEARS (front stone with flag) SAMUEL ARTHUR MEARS MASSACHUSETTS PVT. CO. M 102 INF 26 DIV WORLD WAR I |
Samuel Alonzo Mears was the half- brother to Sarah Burnham Mears (1844 - 1913), my 3x great grandmother who married Joseph Gilman Allen. Sarah was the daughter of Samuel Mears (1823 - 1904) and Sarah Ann Burnham (1821 - 1848), and Samuel Alonzo was the son of Samuel Mears and his second wife, Lydia Gray (1823 - 1914).
Samuel Alonzo Mears married Annie J. Perkins in 1872, had six children:
1. Edward A. Mears, born 12 November 1875, died 1922
2. Lillian Estelle Mears, born 5 July 1878, died 1946
3. Marian Estelle Mears, born 5 July 1878 (twin)
4. Walter Irving Mears, born 12 April 1880, married Ida Unknown
5. George Melvin Mears, born 18 Aug 1884
6. Samuel Arthur Mears, born 19 October 1890, married Jennie A. Unknown (My mom just told me she remembers Jennie Mears running a dry goods store in Hamilton, Massachusetts for many years. This is a good clue to investigate...)
7. Annie May Mears, born 8 August 1894, died 1991.
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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
Isn't it just amazing when we find these things?
ReplyDeleteJennie Alice Hatt Mears and her husband Samuel Arthur Mears (unknown as "Art") adopted my father, Perley Burnham Cummings. According to one of our family stories three Perkins sisters make us related to three of the five founding families of Essex because one married a Mears and had Samuel Arthur Mears (I see here he had siblings); one married a Hatt and had several children including Jennie Alice (yes they were cousins, but had no children except to adopt dad); and one married a Cummings and had George Cummings who had five boys the youngest was my dad. So, I always tell people (leaving out Jennie) that we are related to Cummings, Mears, and Perkins 3 of the 5 founding families of the town of Essex (the other two are Story and Burnham). I am the middle child of two brothers and the only daughter; my older brother is Perley Burnham Cummings Mears Junior, my younger was Andrew Arthur Mears (mom said if she had known that "Art" was the middle name of dad's adopted father my younger brother would have been Andrew {for her dad} Samuel Mears); and I am Kimberley Anne Mears Carter (my husband is a distant relative of Mayor Curley of Boston on his mother's side).
ReplyDeleteGrandmother Mears was a wonderful person with her own quirks and yes she ran the Mears Shop for many years on Bay Road route 1A across from the Talbots (is the Talbots still there?).
Hello, I guess this makes us distant half cousins. Yes, the Talbots is still there in South Hamilton. There are plenty of Burnhams in our family tree, and a few Storys, so you are related to everyone in the Essex History books!
Delete"(unknown as 'Art')" was supposed to be "AKA Art". :-)
DeleteArt & Jennie had owned 26 Park Street, S. Hamilton, MA; Jennie hung on to it and eventually gave it to my parents who allowed the renters to stay there until 1977 when they sold our house in Holliston and moved into 26 Park St during the middle of my High School years. (Selling the house in Holliston paid for North Eastern University for my older brother.)
Grandma Mears told me how she and Art put a second floor on the old Mears farm house at 84 Pond Street, Essex, MA. She seemed to be involved with the Essex historical society and gave them some documents about the Mears family.
I think she married Art in 1930 because she said she'd been married to him for thirty years before he died. He was the only grandfather to live long enough to see any of dad's and mom's kids; he got to see Perley Jr. who was born in April of 1959.
Grandpa George Cummings died when dad was about 4 years old and Art and Jennie took care of him when he got sick at about 6. When he was better he went home and his brothers teased him meanly so he packed his toys and went back to live at 84 Pond St. When he was 14 Art and Jennie asked him if he wanted to be adopted by them and impressed him with the legacy of the Mears name; they did adopt him. Grandma Elizabeth Cummings (George's widow) was still alive and she must have been agreeable, but when dad was 15 he had his picture taken with Grandma Cummings for the newspaper as she was honored for having three of her sons serving in the military during WW II. The Newspaper article said he was Perley Cummings (probably so as not to confuse readers outside of Essex).
My mother's father died before my mom even got married.
Jennie lived long enough to see her first great-grandchild my brother's son Alexei ("Alexei" in honor of our Russian maternal grandfather Andrew Kolesnikoff); he was born in July of 1996.
Jennie was born in May on the 13th, I think, & died on Jan 2, 1999; I remember it well because it was right after New Year's Day. She had spent about 5 months in a nursing home and I knew she wouldn't last long because she had always said that nursing homes are place for people to wait to die. She had been very active most of her life; traveling, giving the elderly painting lessons, mostly water colors though she preferred to paint with oils. Her very good friend and relative thru her husband's side of the family Ruth E. Mears Lyons-Montgomery died last Oct. She had been dad's favorite cousin and the executor of Jennie's will. She inherited the house on Pond St. because Jennie wanted it to stay in the Mears family (that seems a little funny since all 3 of Ruth's children were adopted and they'll probably get the house now).
Jennie grew up in Canada with her German paternal grandparents; it wasn't what her mother wanted, but circumstances had most of the children there while Mrs. Hatt needed to get back to MA for the sick daughter left behind. All this about how and why she lived in Canada comes from talks with Grandma Mears. I know a little about my Cummings uncles, but no one seems to know much about Grandma Cummings.
I've said more than I intended and have said too much or too little. :-) Kimberley A.M. Carter
Hello Kimberly.... This is John K from Maple Street. Your brother Andrew and I as you know, were BEST friends since our pre-teen years! I think about him and your family all the time. Is your dad doing ok? I Miss Andy so much! We did so much together, such as hitch-hiked across the US back in 1978. I hope you respond, seeing I don't have your info! *Blessings,
ReplyDeleteJohn
This must be your lucky day; One I've said all I was going to say and was not planning to return to this site. Two I'm responding to you even though you misspelled my name (one of the most important things to any person is their own name and a person is impressed with people who pay attention enough to spell and or pronounce it correctly) and I don't remember a John K. As far as I'm concerned my younger brother's Best Friend was John Parent; a person who helped him in times of need and in times of unemployment. He gave Andy a job several times and helped him in other ways too.
DeleteMy dad's doing OK. You can send an email to tstreasure@aol.com; make sure you put something in the "Subject" line I delete anything that's blank.
Kimberley Mears-Carter
From Kimberley
ReplyDeleteFor anyone interested I recently found out that my grandmother Mears' mother was a Story not a Perkins. So the story that she married her cousin seems to be false. I am looking for family history and relatives. You can send info and or comments to tstreasure@aol.com. Please put something in the subject line I tend to ignore anything that has a blank subject line.
Hello! I am descended from Alexander Mears who came to the US around the 1770s. A few generations later, our branch is from Charles Mears who operated an ice company out of Wenham and I believe lived in Essex. Then came Delmar, Chesley, and then my dad James.
ReplyDeleteHello Cousin! You must be descended from Charles Wallace Mears, my first cousin 4 generations removed. I have in my tree Chesley Thurston Thomas Mears (1923 - 1990) married to Marie Walls Murphy, with five children including James. Your ancestor's ice business was a big deal!
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