1900 Census Vol 1,7,7,9 Dennis, Barnstable, MA
Dennis Directory 1895, carpenter, Center st, East Dennis
DVR, p 301, b., d.; p 453 d., Elkanah H and his wife Lelia Y.[sic] A record of their children
LJB Carpenter, windmills built church in Wellfleet, worked in the Shiverick Shipyard 1882
Pam Cooper discovered that Elkanah's maternal grandfather was Howes Berry and Howes Berry's maternal grandmother was Sarah Howes, grandaughter of Jeremiah Howes. Hence Elkanah's (Mr El-kay'-ney according to Ellen Sears Curran) middle name
by Lelia Brownscombe-grandaughter of Elkanah (9 Nov 1992) My grandfather was born in a house built in 1805 by his grandfather, Elkanah Sears (No. 401), whose home on the Southwest corner of South and School Streets, E Dennis, had burned.
This beautiful Cape Cod house, located at 51 School St, replaced the destroyed one.
Elkanah Howes' father, William (No. 1144), was also born in the 1805 house. His mother was Ruth Berry. I have an old silver tablespoon with the initials WR engraved on the handle. This was unusual because they stand for William and Ruth. The usual way was to use the first initial of the last name of the married couple. Elkanah (No. 2568) had two brothers, William Gray and Isaac Berry. (ed. the autographs in the Sears Genealogical Catalogue were collected by Isaac)
As a boy, grandfather said, if it rained he had to get up in the middle of the night to help pull up the canvas which protected the salt beds from getting wet. He also had a pet skunk and a turtle in his closet.
On 22 Dec 1881, Elkanah married Lelia Eldridge (No 6984b. i). (I was surprised that my grandmother's line through her mother was back to Richard Sears) She lived at 2666 Route 28, S Chatham. (The house is still there) She had been a teacher in Chatham before her marriage.
My grandfather was a carpenter and had a beautiful workshop in the carriage room of the large barn on Center St. across the street from the Church. He also called himself a mechanic probably because he installed and repaired windmills. He built a Church in Wellfleet, repaired the steeple on the E Dennis Church when it was struck by lightning, repaired the Brewster Mill according to brother Isaac's note book. He built many houses on Cape Cod.
When he was first married, Kanah, as his wife called him, worked in the Shiverick Shipyard on Quivet Neck according to Lelia T Sears' diary written in 1882. (ed. according to Dean Stanley Sears, Quivet rhymes with quiet)
Kanah and Lelia lived lived in a duplex at 26 or 28 South St near School St. It is still standing. All four of their children were born in this house, James William, Lewis Elkanah, Lelia Estelle and Leslie Ray. Elkanah added dormer windows, bathroom, screen porch and pump house and water system to the 1805 house after 1905.BURIED: South St Cemetery
LJB
Mrs Harriet Sears, 39 Hildale Rd, S Weymouth, MA from the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, Dept of Public Health, Lakeville State Sanatorium, Middleboro,
Dear Mrs Sears, According to our records your father died at this institution
on April 21, 1921.
Mrs Harriet Sears, 39 Hildale Rd, S Weymouth, MA from the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, Dept of Public Health, Lakeville State Sanatorium, Middleboro,
Dear Mrs Sears, According to our records your father died at this institution
on April 21, 1921.
Married first Thomas Beaman