Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 January 1911 — Frank J. Sears’ Father was Oldest Man in South Dakota. [ARTICLE]

Frank J. Sears’ Father was Oldest Man in South Dakota.

A copy of the Canton, .S. Dak., Leader, relates the death of Elijah Clark Sears, the oldest man in South Dakota and the father of Frank J. Sears, of Rensselaer. Death came to the aged man on Dec. 31st, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Shields. He was loved and mourned by all who knew him. He was a wonderful man in many respects, and he saw his country grow from a few millions of people .to a mighty nation. He was born at East Hampton, Conn., on the 23d day of June, 1805, when Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was president of the thirteen original states. Mr. Sears' father and two uncles were soldiers under General Washington and his eldest brother fought in the war of 1812, He saw the first steamboat that sailed on the Connecticut river, shortly after Robert Fulton’s experiment on the Hudson. He cast his first vote in 1828 for John Quincy Adams, the Federalist candidate for president, the same year that General Jackson was elected, and his last vote was cast for President Taft. The writer in the Leader went to his house and accompanied the aged man to the polls in a carriage. The grand old man had been a member of the Baptist church for 75 years. He never used either liquor or tobacco. He went to Canton, S. Dak., in 1883, with Mr. and Mrs. Shields, and made his home them until his death. The funerai took place Tuesday, Jan. 3d, at thi M. E. church at Canton and burial was made at Forest Hill cemetery. The weather was bitterly' cold and stormy and kept many from attending the funeral and paying their respects to the memory of the aged patriarch