Laura Lucille Sears
Born 2 Mar. 1876 in Salt Lake City.[1] Daughter of Septimus Wagstaff Sears and Isabel Modalena Whitney.[2] Granddaughter of Newel K. Whitney and EBW.[3] Suffered a disfiguring facial injury, late 1880.[4] Attended the Grand Columbia Ball in Salt Lake City with EBW to raise funds for the proposed woman’s and Utah exhibits at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 2 Jan. 1893.[5] Served dinner at the reception for the delegates to the Utah constitutional convention, 3 May 1895.[6] With EBW, attended the meetings and activities of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association of Utah, 12–15 May 1895, in Salt Lake City.[7] Guest at the informal luncheon held at EBW’s home for Susan B. Anthony and Anna Howard Shaw, 15 May 1895.[8] Worked as a clerical assistant to EBW at the Woman’s Exponent, 1895–1900.[9] Resided with her mother; helped family members, including EBW, during times of illness or other distress.[10] Moved with her mother to Ohio and Kentucky to live near her brother Eugene and his family, late 1930.[11] Died 25 Aug. 1949 in Dayton, Campbell Co., Kentucky.[12]
[1] EBW, Diary, 2 Mar. 1876. 1900 U.S. Census, Farmers Precinct, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 65, p. 15B, Lucile Sears. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 16 Jan. 2019), L. Lucile Sears (KZLN-HHL).
[2] Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 503–504. 1880 U.S. Census, Ogden, Weber Co., Utah Territory, ED 98, p. 12, Laura O. Sears. EBW, Diary, 2 Mar. 1876.
[3] “Mothers in Israel, Pres. Emmeline B. Wells as a Mother,” Relief Society Magazine, Feb. 1916, 65. Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University Press, 2017), 162n1, 503–504.
[4] EBW, Diary, 15–16 Jan. 1881; 20 Feb. 1881; 16 and 31 May 1881; 26 July 1881; 25 Aug. 1881.
[5] EBW, Diary, 2–3 Jan. 1893. “The Columbian Ball,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 3 Jan. 1893, 8. “A Serious Breach,” Deseret Evening News, 3 Jan. 1893, 4. “Editorial Notes,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Jan. 1893, 108.
[6] “Reception to the Delegates,” Salt Lake Tribune, 3 May 1895, 7.
[7] “The Cause of Suffrage,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, 15 May 1895, 5.
[8] EBW, Diary, 15 May 1895. Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 352.
[9] EBW, Diary, 1 June 1895; 20 Nov. 1895; 30 Nov.–2 Dec. 1895; 14 Dec. 1895; 24 Jan. 1896; 21 Jan. 1897; 28 May 1897.
[10] EBW, Diary, 1 and 17 June 1895; 28 May 1897; 24 July 1900; 27–29 May 1901; 19 July 1901. “Society Notes,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, 4 Aug. 1895, 6.
[11] Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University Press, 2017), 498. 1930 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 69, p. 6B, Lucile Sears. 1940 U.S. Census, Ward 5, Magisterial District 2, Campbell Co., KY, ED 19–22, p. 1A, Lucile Sears.
[12] Kentucky Office of Vital Statistics, Kentucky Death Certificates, 1911–1962, Lucile L. Sears, 25 Aug. 1949, cert. 15490, microfilm 2137980, DGS 4225240, image 512/3083, FHL. “Lucille L. Sears,” Evergreen Cemetery, Southgate, Campbell Co., KY; Find a Grave, posted 12 May 2019, memorial no. 199074418 (http://findagrave.com, accessed 7 July 2020).