John Searle, Sr., has also been reported to have died on 11 August 1641.
3 He has also been reported to have died in September 1641 Source: Western Massachusetts; a History, 1636-1925, page 408.
John Searle, Sr., left a will. Here is part of the will of John Searle Sr:
I John Searles being very sicke in body doe make my last will & testament in manner & fourme followings. First I give to my brother-in-law William Warriner my best coate & my cullord hatt: & whereas in some reckinges betwixt him and me he owes me betwixt three and fower poundes: if he pays fortie shillinges thereof I am content that all the rest shall be remitted: the rest of my estate I divide betwixt my wife (Sarah) & my child (John) equally: & I doe appoint that my wife shall have for use till my child come of the age of 20 yeares that portion belonging to my Sonn John Searle in consideration of his maintenance & education. Provided that before she marry again she shall give or in her behalf cause to be given sufficient security for the payment of my childes portion wch security shall be given to Mr. Moxon, my brother Tymothy Baldwin and Samuel Wright whom I doe intreat to be overseers for the performance of this my last will."
Witnesses: Henry Smyth & Elitzur Holioake.
JOHN SEARLE [Sr.]. John SEARLE married Sarah BALDWIN, March 19, 1639. He came here about that time. He was a brother-in-law of William WARRINER. He was buried September 6, 1641. He had one son born here, John, May 3, 1641, whose mother married Alexander EDWARDS and he went to Northampton with her. He was the ancestor of the many families bearing the name of SEARLE who have resided in this part of the State.
4 EDWARD CORNELIUS SEARLE- One of the best known fruit growers of New England is Edward Cornelius Searle, whose Northern Spy apples, grown in the Wolf Hill orchard, are famous throughout the United States. Mr. Searle represents the fifth generation of his family to live on the same farm.
(I) The immigrant ancestor of the Searle family was John Searle, born in England, and among the first settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts, where the records indicate that he was lot-measurer in 1637, and proprietor and taxpayer in 1638. The surname is variously spelled, Surles, Searles and Sale. John Searle married, March 19, 1639, Sarah Baldwin, whcr survived him when he died in September, 1641, as did their son, John Searle, of whom further.
(H) John Searle, son of John and Sarah (Baldwin) Searle, was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, May 30, 1641. He settled at Northampton, and died there October 31, 1718. A well-to-do farmer, he was a subscriber to the Harvard College fund, and he was admitted a freeman in 1690. He married (first) Ruth Jones [sic, Janes?], who died within five years ; he married (second) Mary North, May 10 or 30, 1675, who died November 5, 1726. Among the children of the second marriage was Nathaniel, of whom further.
(HI) Nathaniel Searle, son of John and Mary (North) Searle, was born in Northampton May 3, 1686. Nathaniel Searle was the richest settler of Southampton, the only one with a house of two rooms, and his home was used as a meeting place before the church was built. The site of his house, built about 1732 or 1735, may be located by the cellar hole, which is still discernible. He married Priscilla Webb, and he had nine sons.
(IV) Zophar Searle, one of the nine sons of Nathaniel and Priscilla (Webb) Searle, was born in 1735, in Southampton, Massachusetts, where he died March ID, 1817. He came to the section where Orlando Cornelius Searle, father of Edward C. Searle, now lives. He married Anna Clark, born in 1739, died June 13, 1816. He built houses for all of his sons, and his children were ten in number.
One of these was Cornelius Searle, of whom further.
(V) Cornelius Searle, son of Zophar and Anna (Clark) Searle, was born in Southampton, Massachusetts, February 16, 1783, and died March 6, 1837. He was a farmer who kept flocks of sheep and a herd of dairy cows. Cornelius Searle married Dolly Clark, and they had a son, Cornelius Edwards Searle, of whom further.
(VI) Cornelius Edwards Searle, son of Cornelius and Dolly (Clark) Searle, was born in Southampton November 8, 1813, and died December 31, 1886. A farmer, he started an orchard of two or three hundred trees, the nucleus of much fruit growing in that section. He married, November 26, 1840, Julia E. Searle, born September 14, 1817, died January 23, 1890. Children: Orlando C, of further mention; Payson C, who died at the age of three; Harriet E. ; Julia; and Anna, who married Abner E. Peck.
(VII) Orlando C. Searle, son of Cornelius Edwards and Julia E. (Searle) Searle, was born in Southampton, Massachusetts, June 24, 1844. He has always lived on the homestead where he was born, and has conducted an extensive dairy business supplemented with fruit-growing on a large scale. An orchard of Northern Spy apples, which he set out years ago, is still flourishing.
Mr. Searle, although greatly interested in town.
5 John Searle, Sr. married Sarah Baldwin in 1639. They had only one child, John Searle Jr. John Searle Sr. died in 1641, and Sarah Baldwin then married Alexander Edwards. Joanna Searle is the sister of John Searle Sr. She was married to William Warriner. John Searle Sr. is believed to have immigrated from Warwick, England around 1634 with his brothers Andrew & Edward and sister Joanna. Either Andrew or Edward named their daughter Joanna after their sister. (There is no Joanna Scant, it's Searle. The name was misread by early researchers and recognized as such by Savage as early as 1847 in the Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England.)