In the books' own words, not ours, with obvious scanning errors fixed. The later printing (1910) is folded below the first. Families often supplied these stories to the publisher, so check key dates.
From General history of Macon County, Missouri (1910), History of Randolph and Macon counties, Missouri (1884)
WILLIAM H. SEARS
(Of Guthrie & Sears, Attorneys at Law, Macon City).
Mr. Sears, one of the successful and prominent young lawyers of the twenty-seventh judicial circuit, and who was for four years prior to 1876 prosecuting attorney of Macon county, was born and reared in this county and was a son of Eev. William Sears, a pioneer settler and for many years an Old School Baptist minister, widely known and universally esteemed for his sterling character and earnest piety by all who knew him. William H., born August 8, 1848, was the eldest son by his father's third nnarriage. His mother's maiden name was Drucilla Ratliff, of the well known and highly respected family of that name, long settled in this section of the State. William H. received a good common school education as he grew up, and in 1869 began the study of law under Col. A. L. Gilstrap, of Macon City. As a youth he was remarked not only for close application to his studies, but for the rapid progress he made. Possessed of an active, quick mind, he seemed to grasp the principles involved in his studies almost at a glance, and was thus soon able to master the information afforded by the curriculum of common school studies. Practical in ideas and going directly to the point of everything with which he had to do, he felt that he had no time to lose, even if had the means to spare, necessary to enable him to take a course in the " upper air and solar walk ';' studies, such as Sopho(3les, Quintilian, Abstract Mathematics, etc. These he regarded as mere ornamental accompaniments of the average thin-haired, dyspeptic, spectacles "professor," who generalljMjelieves in spiritualism, than as necessary to a successful Western lawyer, and he therefore brushed them aside as Ben Butler did Sunset Cox, on the
" shoo-fly " principle. Anyhow, continuing his legal studies under Col. Gilstrap until 1870, he was then admitted to the bar by Judge Burckhartt, having passed a most creditable examination. And although he did not have a course of college training, he has succeeded in his profession much better than many who have had such a course. He entered at once into the active practice of his profession. Of a vigorous mind and industrious almost to a fault, he attended closely and faithfully to the business entrusted to him, and was generally successful in his cases. Thus he grew gradually into a good practice, and soon won the confidence of the public in his ability and qualifications as a lawyer, a confidence that had always been reposed in his character as a man. Genial in mind and conversation and agreeable and popular in manliers, in 1872, two years after his admission to the bar, he had come to be regarded as the proper man for prosecuting attorney of the county. Accordingly he was nominated by the Democratic party for that office, being himself an ardent and active Democrat, and at the November election was triumphantly elected. The confidence of the public in him, neither professionally nor personally, was misplaced. He made a faithful and efficient public prosecutor, one of the ablest, as many claim, whom the county ever had. In 1874 he was re-nominated and re-elected, and filled the office with honor and abihty until 1876. Illustrating the truth of Carlisle's saying, that " the ambition of man is as boundless as space," he was still not satisfied; but now his ambition took a nobler and happier direction — matrimony. And he was successful in this also. On the 12th of October, 1876, he was married to Miss Jennie Thatcher, a refined and accomphshed daughter of W. S. Thatcher, of Atchison, Kan. Mr. Sears has been as happy in his domestic life as successful in his profession, and has, to add an additional charm to his home, a bright little boy, Charley T., now two years of age. After retiring from the office of prosecuting attorney he continued the practice of law, and has steadily advanced toward the front in his profession. He does a general practice and is quite successful with every class of cases, but especially so in the trial of criminal causes, the latter being a department of the law for which he is peculiarly well fitted, both by the natural qualities of his mind and by his experience and attainments. He is justly regarded as one of the best criminal lawyers in the circuit. On the ist of January, 1883, Mr. Sears became associated in the practice with Mr. Ben Eli Guthrie, a partnership that has proved entirely agreeable to both and to the mutual advantage of each. They have a large practice in the courts of this county, and also do considerable business in the neighboring circuit courts. Mr. Sears has always taken a public-spirited interest in politics, and is regarded as a sound and safe leader by his party in the county. He has served as chairman of the Democratic Central Committee, and has repeatedly represented his party in different conventions. He has served one term as a member of the city council, and has held other positions of local prominence. Mr. Sears is a prominent member of the Masonic order, and stands high in the esteem of a'tl who know him.
As printed in History of Randolph and Macon counties, Missouri (1884). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
WILLIAM H. SEARS.
That the law is a jealous mistress is an aphorism that lias both the sanction of age and the testimony of human experience in evidence of its truth. The profession is one of the most extensive in its range and the variety of subjects with which it deals that is known among men. i\jid it requires of its students and practitioners who seek to reach its upper courts and well in its elevated places an assiduity of devotion and constancy of effort that scarcely admits a rival of any character whatever. But the divinity which presides over it is also a generous one. She rewards her worshipers with a liberality proportioned to their ability, zealand devotion.
A striking illustration of this is to be found in the life story of the late William H. Sears, of Macon, whose death on April 5, 1908. at the age of sixty and in the full vigor of his intellectual powers, was universally regretted in the community which had for so long a period enjoyed the benefit of his professional services and his high example as a citizen. He worshiped at the shrine of Themis with the zeal of a devoted, and she poured out upon him with unstinted hand exalted rank in his profession, eminence in public life and general esteem as an upright, able and most worthy man.
Mr. Sears was a native of this county, where he was born on August 8, 1848, near the village of Callao. He began his academic training at the old Bloomington school and completed it at the Kirksville Noi-mal. After leaving the latter institution he clerked during a number of years for the firm of Goldsberger & Belcher, general merchants, and while clerking in this estalilishnient studied law in his spare hours. He was not able to secure for himself the benefit of systematic training for his profession at a law school, but was dependent on his own reading and reflection for his preliminary preparation, and possibly it was all the more thorough on that account. At any rate, he was well prepared, and when the time came for his admission to the bar he went through the necessary ordeal in a manner that was alike creditable to him and full of promise for his future career. This occurred in 1869, and in 1872 he was elected prosecuting attorney of the county. He performed the duties of the office with great aliility during his whole tenure of it, and all the while was rising rapidly toward the summit of the profession in this part of the state. His progress was steady to the end of his career, and when he died he was generally acknowledged as the equal of any lawyer in the state and the superior of most of them.
From the very nature of his mind and manhood it was inevitable that he should take a deep and abiding interest in public affairs. He was earnestly loyal to the genius of American institutions and a government of the people by the people, and he felt it his duty to do all in his power to defend what he believed in, from all assaults, and promote its welfare and augment its force by every capability at his command. He was an ardent Democrat in politics, and as a firm believe in the principles of his party he gave it his most earnest and effective support at all times. In doing this, as well as in his legal practice, he demonstrated a decided fitness for public life and a commanding ability for and knowledge of public affairs. The people of an American community are not slow, at most times, to recognize ability to serve them in a representative capacity or seek to avail themselves of it, in spite of all that has been said of the way in which election to office in this country goes by favor and the dispensation of political masters.
It was so in the case of J\Mr. Sears. In 1886, not through the favor of political besser or any kind of forced methods, but solely on account of his eminent ability, his ardent patriotism and his great knowledge of public affairs, he was elected to fill the unexpired term of Hon. William Van Cleve as state senator, and at the expiration of this was re-elected for a full term of his own. In the upper house of the state legislature he proved himself altogether worthy of the confidence and popularity which had chosen him to the office he held. He was one of the leading members of the senate and took a prominent part in all its important proceedings, ranking as one of the most judicious advisers, one of the readiest and most resourceful debaters, and one of the firmest and best informed patriots in the body. After the close of his senatorial service he was again elected prosecuting attorney. For many years he was also attorney for the Wabash railroad company and looked after its interests with a zealand ability that won him high commendation from the officers of the company.
[This passage is too damaged in the scanned book to reproduce. See the original book.]
As printed in General history of Macon County, Missouri (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Named in this biography: Ben Eli Guthrie
Their biographies name William H. Sears: Daniel E. Hughes (b. 1868)
The printed record stops around 1910. We trace your line from there down to you, with every source cited.