Edmund Sears
Descendants of Edmund Sears claim in a family history that ship captain Edmund Sears was unloading his vessel in the vicinity of the Boston Tea Party on December 17, 1773, and went on board to help destroy tea.
According to family members, when he returned home that evening, he went straight out of the room without speaking to anyone, seized the family tea pot and caddy, and threw them into the garbage, proclaiming that from that time onward, none of his family were to drink tea.
This story, published in 1890, likely came from the diary of Edmund Sears’ great-granddaughter Sarah Augusta Mayo. It was Sarah Augusta herself that called Edmund an eyewitness to the “destruction of the tea,” rather than a participant.
No records exist of any involvement in the Revolutionary War for Edmund Sears, and it was reported by family members that he remained a sea captain for many years after the war’s end.
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