Fred B. Sears is a native of the Occident and in this realm he has spent his entire life, being imbued with the true western spirit and that enterprise and energy which has brought to the front the inland empire country and made the entire Pacific slope one of the great sections of the world. His native place is Carson City, Nevada, and the date of his birth, March 17, 1862. The parents, James D. and Marietta (Camburn) Sears, were natives respectively of New York and Michigan. The father’s family is an old and prominent New England house. He went to California in the winter of 184950 and did placer mining on the American river. A few years after he went east, married, returned to the coast and now lives in Grand Forks, British Columbia. He possesses considerable property there and is engaged in the real estate business and mining brokerage. The mother of our subject is living with him at present and her mother is still living in Michigan. She comes from an old American family of English descent.
Our subject was raised principally in southern California, studied in Inyo County and then returned to Carson City when he was sixteen. His parents went to Washington and he was variously engaged, being in the water business for ten years. Later we see him in Palouse, handling meat. Two years were spent there and he went to Spokane, where he was special police for a time after the fire and in January, 1890, he came to Wallace. He was engaged in the meat trade there for a year and in the spring of 1891 Mr. Sears went to Wardner. He conducted a first class butcher shop and had an excellent trade. Lately he came to Lewiston and opened up a fine shop here. Mr. Sears has four brothers and one sister, Jesse R., Charles F., Frank D., Justin C. Mrs. Nettie E. Barger.
At Palouse, on January 2, 1900, Mr. Sears married Miss Martha E., daughter of Joseph and Nancy Knight. The father was a well known pioneer in the Palouse country, and is now deceased. The mother lives in Palouse. Mrs. Sears has the following brothers and sisters, Henry P., probate judge in Wallace: Everett, Samuel, Mrs. Georgia Coleman, Mrs. Marie Todd. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sears, Carl F., Henry D., Mildred, aged eleven, four and two, respectively. Mr. Sears is a member of the Elks, Coeur d’Alene 331; of the K. of P., Galena No. 12; of the Junior Order of American Mechanics; of the Eagles, Wardner Aerie.
Mr. Sears is a true blue Republican and is frequently a delegate to the County conventions, where he is an influential member. Mr. Sears is a thorough western man by both birth and practice, is enterprising, up to date and popular and one of the substantial business operators in this entire Coeur d’Alene country.
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Source: An Illustrated History of Northern Idaho, Embracing Nez Perce, Idaho, Latah, Kootenai and Shoshone Counties, Western Historical Publishing Company, 1903