Herbert M. Sears

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Herbert Mason Sears
BornNovember 12, 1867
Boston, Massachusetts
DiedFebruary 19, 1942 (age 74)
Boston, Massachusetts
Burial placeMount Auburn Cemetery
Alma materHarvard
Known forYachting & Finance
SpouseCaroline Bartlett (m. 1891, d. 1908)
Children2 Daughters, Elizabeth Sears Warren & Phyllis Sears Tuckerman
ParentFredrick Richard Sears & Albertina Homer (Shelton) Sears
FamilyDavid Sears (grandfather), Herbert S. Tuckerman (grandson)

Herbert Mason Sears (1867–1942) was a noted yachtsman and businessman in Boston, Massachusetts. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his contributions during World War I.

Family[edit]

Caroline Bartlett Sears (center) and her daughters Elizabeth (left) and Phyllis (right), portrait by James Jebusa Shannon, 1905.

He was born into a prominent New England family, a Mayflower descendant of the Sawyer family line. He was the son of Fredrick Sears and Albertina (Shelton) Sears, and grandson of David Sears, the developer of Longwood.[1] His twin brother was sculptor Phillip Sears and his older brother was professional tennis player Richard Sears.[2]

He married Caroline Bartlett (1870-1908) in 1891, and had two daughters with her, Elizabeth (1892-1969) and Phyllis (1895-1964). Sears became widowed in 1908 after his wife Caroline would tragically take her life at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City. His daughter Phyllis would go on to marry Bayard Tuckerman Jr.,[3] a horseman and one of the founders of Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston.[4] His grandson was politician Herbert Sears Tuckerman.

Business[edit]

After graduating from Harvard, he was a partner at the stockbrokers Curtis & Motley, and later would be president of Fifty Associates, vice president of Suffolk Savings Bank, and a director of the New England Trust Company and Boston and Albany Railroad.[2]

World War I contributions[edit]

When the United States entered the war, Sears as Commodore of the Eastern Yacht Club, called the Under Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Roosevelt, and offered the use of the Eastern clubhouse in Marblehead to the Navy as a base. Roosevelt accepted and the clubhouse was used as a training station for the first year of World War I, primarily for training ashore and aviation training.[5]

USS Commodore, built and donated by Herbert Sears for the war effort

Sears, along with other members of the Eastern Yacht Club, sponsored and privately financed the construction of Navy patrol boats for the war effort known as "The Eastern Yacht Club 62 footers". The boats were designed by Albert Loring Swasey and Nathanael Greene Herreshoff, with the Sears-sponsored boat named the USS Commodore (SP-1425).[6]

In 1917, at the age of 50, he would volunteer and spend eight months at the front in France near Dixmude, serving as part of the American Red Cross. For his efforts he would receive the Croix de Guerre and the medal of Reconnaissance Francaise.[7] After returning from France, his wrote of his experience in the book Journal of a Canteen Worker: A Record of Service with the American Red Cross.[8]

Yachtsman[edit]

Steam yacht Augusta

Herbert Sears was an avid yachtsman and commodore of the Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, Massachusetts from 1914 to 1923, and continued to be a life-long prominent member.[9] He owned the steam yacht Augusta,[10] and had the sloop Alert built in 1902, which was designed by Nathaniel Herreshoff.[11]

Schooner yacht Constellation off Marblehead, MA

Sears' pride however, would be the schooner yacht Constellation,[12] designed by Edward Burgess and originally built for E.D. Morgan.[13] He purchased it in 1914, and as commodore of the Eastern Yacht Club, the Constellation would serve as the flagship, leading the fleet in all club races and regattas, and known as the "Queen of the Eastern".


Sears was painted in 1924 by John Singer Sargent in the painting "On the Deck of the Yacht Constellation".[14] In 1921, Sears created the "Sears Cup", bearing his name, for competition among juniors of Massachusetts yacht clubs.[15]

The Constellation was eventually taken out of service and scrapped, with the metal donated for the overseas war effort in September 1941.

Yachts Owned by Herbert Sears
Name Built Type Yard Designer Notes
Augusta 1887 Steam Yacht Herreshoff, Bristol, RI[16] Nathaniel Herreshoff Built for: J. B. Herreshoff
Hazard 1897 Gaff Sloop Herreshoff Company Bristol, RI[17] Nathaniel Herreshoff Built for Herbert Sears
Alert 1902 Sloop Herreshoff Company Bristol, RI[11] Nathaniel Herreshoff Built for Herbert Sears
Joker 1903 Sloop Dbl Rig Herreshoff Company Bristol, RI[18] Nathaniel Herreshoff Built for Herbert Sears
Skidoo 1906 Gaff Sloop Herreshoff Company Bristol, RI[19] Nathaniel Herreshoff Built for Herbert Sears
Constellation 1889 Schooner Piepgras Shipyard, City Island, NY[13] Edward Burgess Purchased in 1914
Stella II 1926 S-Class Marblehead Herreshoff Company Bristol, RI[20] Nathaniel Herreshoff Built for Herbert Sears

Notable residences[edit]

Herbert Sears' primary Boston residence was on 287 Commonwealth Ave., designed by the architecture firm Rotch and Tilden.[21][22] He had it constructed for him and his wife Caroline in 1892, and he would continue to live there until his death in 1942.[2] He also had an estate named "Woodrock"[23] in Beverly, Massachusetts at 400 Hale Street, Prides Crossing. It is now part of Endicott College and is named Reynolds Hall.[24]

Boston residence at 287 Commonwealth Ave
Reynolds Hall, Herbert Sears former Estate

References[edit]

  1. ^ "David Sears House / Somerset Club - iBoston.org". www.iboston.org. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  2. ^ a b c Tu, Special to T]E ihw TOR (1942-02-20). "Herbert M. Sears, Noted Yachtsman – Ex-Commodore of the Eastern Club, Boston, Once Owner of Schooner Constellation, Dies – Trustee and Banker, 74". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  3. ^ "Rich Heiress Marries – Miss Phyllis Sears Weds Bayard Tuckerman, Jr., at Beverly Farms". The New York Times. 1916-06-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  4. ^ "Bowery Building a Gift – Herbert M. Sears of Boston Presents It to a Daughter". The New York Times. 1916-06-01. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  5. ^ "How was Commodore Sears and the Eastern members involved in the war effort in 1917? - Eastern Yacht Club". www.easternyc.org. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  6. ^ Motorship. Miller Freeman. 1918.
  7. ^ Who's who Along the North Shore of Massachusetts Bay. Salem Press Company. 1918.
  8. ^ Sears, Herbert Mason (1919). Journal of a Canteen Worker: A Record of Service with the American Red Cross in Flanders. Privately printed, [The Merrymont Press].
  9. ^ Power Boating. Penton Publishing Company. 1921.
  10. ^ Home Journal. 1902.
  11. ^ a b "Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonn". www.herreshoff.info. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  12. ^ Sears, Herbert M. Cruise of the constellation to the West Indies, winter of 1916. OCLC 48856471.
  13. ^ a b "E.d. Morgan's New Yacht.; Launch of the Constellation Yesterday. a New Steel Schooner Designed by Mr. Burgess Evokes Admiration--Other Yachting News". The New York Times. 1889-06-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  14. ^ ""On the Deck of the Yacht Constellation", 1924". pem.org. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  15. ^ "Sears Cup". US Sailing. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  16. ^ Shipping, Lloyd's Register of (1902). Register of Yachts.
  17. ^ "Herreshoff Catalogue Raisonn". www.herreshoff.info. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  18. ^ "HMCo #595s Joker". www.herreshoff.info. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  19. ^ "HMCo #659s Skiddoo". www.herreshoff.info. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  20. ^ "HMCo #967s Stella II". www.herreshoff.info. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
  21. ^ "287 Commonwealth". Back Bay Houses. 2013-07-20. Retrieved 2020-05-30.
  22. ^ Boston Home Journal. 1903.
  23. ^ A Handbook of New England. P.E. Sargent. 1921.
  24. ^ Who's who Along the North Shore of Massachusetts Bay. Salem Press Company. 1910.
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