Albert Edward Searle

Item

Title

Albert Edward Searle

Date

ca. 1870 to April 3, 1949

Description

Chairmaker Albert E. Searle was working for Stickley as early as 1896. Born in England, around 1870, Searle emigrated to the United States in 1892 and lived in Syracuse by 1893 when he was first recorded in the city directories. The Searle and Upfold families were apparently close-knit: both had members working in Stickley's factories and Albert and his brother George both married Upfold sisters.

Unfortunately, those ties were not enough to make for easy marriages as the Syracuse Newspapers reported extensively on the attempted elopement of both Mrs. Searles, the subsequent warrant issued against them by Albert for larceny, and the nightly demonstrations outside their home that ensued. Describing a crowd of nearly 500 that gathered the night before, The Syracuse Journal noted in May 1902: "their anger is directed principally at Mrs. Searle the neighbors say they have no further use for the husband since he has taken the woman back. ...The crowd begged her to come out that they might give her a coat of tar and feathers.

Although he does not appear in the list of employees published by Tucker, Searle continued to work throughout the decade as a chairmaker, and in 1910 listed his occupation as “chairmaker” in a factory, suggesting that he may have still been working for Stickley at this point. Indeed, throughout the 1920s, Searle was still living in Eastwood and was a foreman, but little other details of his career have been uncovered. He was listed as a “supervisor” in the furniture industry in 1930, and a foreman of a furniture factory in the 1940 Federal Census.