The Sears Family Collection contains documents and letters related to the family descending from the line of William Sewall Sears (1718-1795), who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, moved to White Plains, New York and eventually settled in Montgomery, Orange County, New York. This collection includes deeds, indentures, and legal documents in which William’s son Benjamin Sears (1745-1817) served as a witness, executor, or a party of. Benjamin Sears was appointed sheriff of Ulster, later Orange County, by Governor George Clinton on February 18, 1793 as well as Vendue Master (authorized auctioneer) for the county by John Jay. Although the documents pertain to land in the Town of Montgomery, which changed from Ulster to Orange County in 1798, Benjamin and his line established a farm along the Blooming Grove Turnpike in 1791. These documents were found in a trunk dating from the late 18th, early 19th century with the initials “H B”, which could be the initials of Henry Brewster (1750-1830), a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and local landowner in the Town of Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York.
