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Note: <b>Nelson Evans Sears</b> was born in Plano, Kendall County, Illinois on 15 Aug 1876 "of English and Welsh parentage"* namely Charles Madison Sears and Katherine Evans.
In 1880 he moved with his father Charles Madison and his second wife, Celia Chambers, to Scranton, Iowa living for two years on the old John Henning farm two miles from town. In 1882 he returned to his home state where he made his home with his grandparents, Archibald Sears and Rachel Maria Carver, in Sandwich, Illinois.
In May of 1886, he traveled to Nebraska to live with his father on a farm near Aurora. Four years later, in 1890, he returned to Plano to attend school. In 1896 he returned to Aurora to work on his father's farm. In the winter of 1898-1899 he attended Business College in Lincoln, Nebraska.
In 1899 he began farming 80 acres of land in Nebraska which his grandmother had bought for him in 1897 for $2600. Nelson sold his Nebraska land early in 1901 for $7200 and traveled to Colorado in an emigrant car chartered by a David Titler arriving in Akron in March of that year. He worked in the harvest fields southwest of Akron for Ira M. Barnhouse. However, after a brief trip to California, he returned to his father's farm in Aurora, Nebraska in the fall of 1901.
He returned to Colorado in 1903 where he resumed work with Ira M Barnhouse.
In May of 1905 under the Homestead Act of 20 May 1862, Nelson E Sears obtained the South half of the SE quarter of Section 3, and the West half of the NE quarter of Section 10 both in Township 1S of Range 55W of the Sixth Principal Meridian, Washington County, Colorado containing 160 acres.
On 20 Sep 1907 he was united in marriage to Ira Morgan Barnhouse's daughter, Edna Maude.
Nelson proved up his homestead on 17 May 1909 and was issued Homestead Certificate No. 0585 of the Register of the Land Office at Sterling, Colorado.
Later in 1909 Nelson and his wife Edna moved from their homestead into the town of Akron, Colorado where he purchased Lots 1, 2, & 3 facing Golden St. and Lots 10, 11, & 12 facing Gunnison St, Block 11, Original Town of Akron.
On 22 Mar 1910 Nelson and Edna's first child, Alva Raymond Sears, was born in Akron. Their second, Margaret May Sears, was born 23 May 1912, and their third and last child, Faye Eleanor Sears, was born 8 Aug 1914.
In 1916 Nelson began carrying mail on RFD (Rural Free Delivery) Route 1 out of the Akron Post Office. He carried mail for 25 years until 1941 at which time he retired from the Post Office and assumed the duties of Justice of the Peace for Washington County, Colorado, a position he retained until his death, 17 May 1948.
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*According to Nelson Sears' journal dated 1895. Sears is, indeed, an English name traceable back to Richard Sares, who arrived in America before 1632 but the Evans family, Evans typically a Welsh name, actually emigrated from Co. Wicklow, Ireland.
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