The large house that Daniel built was still standing in 2001. It was inherited by his great great great great great neice JoAnne Carras who is restoring it. The floors and some windows and doors are still original. She is removing some of the modifications done in 1929. JoAnne has an old photograph showing the original barns and other out buildings. Only the outhouse remains in 2001. 

Family record of Daniel Searls and his two wives and the children he had by each. Dates of birth, marriage and death are given for most of the children. 

Family record of Daniel Searls and his two wives and the children he had by each. Dates of birth, marriage and death are given for most of the children. Additional information about other Searls family members are given on the second page. 

Family record of Daniel Searls and his two wives, the marriage dates to each along with the children he had by each are given. Dates of birth and death are given for most of the children. Additional information about other Searls family members is given on the second sheet. Also noticeable about this sheet is that it may have been written on some sort of letterhead which was trimmed off but a small portion is still visible in the upper left section. The handwriting of at least 
two persons appears on these sheets. This family record seems to be the oldest of the three similar documents.

In a letter in 1963 by Edward C. Elmendorf, a great great grandson of John Searls and Hannah Ireland, he talks a great deal about the Searls family history. The letter is in possession of Joanne Carras and was quoted to the author by Shari Adair of Nashville. Some of those quotes include: 
  "Daniel Searls lived in a log cabin a little south of Jonathan Searles' place. Sometime after 1807 he married his niece Phebe Fisher and had six children: William, Daniel, Gilbert, Isiah, 
Solomon, Howard [?Henry] and David [that's seven names, and who is "David"]. He built a house on the Jonathan Searles place and called it 'Phebe and Eight' (or sometimes also called 'Phebe's Delight'). His first wife, Martha Smith, was the sister of Jacob, great great grandfather of Harold Smith. Hannah Ireland's parents were Adam and Martha Ireland from North Castle (Westchester county) New York". 
Daniel was a substantial farmer in New York state, probably in Greene county 
[formed in 1800]. Sometime around 1833 Daniel moved his family to Ohio. [According to the comments that someone wrote on the Searls family sheet, Daniel was living in New York's Genesee county at the time he moved to Ohio in 1832. However, no mention of Daniel has been found in the Genesee deed records]. Ohio became the seventeenth state in 1803. In 1832 the Ohio and Erie Canal was completed. The railroad reached Cleveland from Pittsburgh in 1852. 
This area of the country in 
which Daniel settled was called the Western Reserve. It was a part of the 3.8 million acres that the federal government ceded at the end of the Revolutionary War to the state of Connecticut. Judge Samuel Hinckley of Northampton (Northampton) Massachusetts, a member of the Connecticut Land Company, owned land surrounding the present-day town of Hinckley. 
In 1785 Daniel purchased the land that now makes up the town of Hinckley for a span of horses, a harness and a carriage. 
These items were valued at $700. Judge Hinckley put his other townships up for sale since the Hinckley was not considered ideal for settlers due to the hills. The county of Medina was formed in 1812 from parts of several older counties. 
According to a letter in 1934 by Anna C. Eastwood: 
 Daniel first tried to buy land in Cleveland where Superior Avenue is found now [1934] for $6 per acre. The land was not good for farming. So Daniel moved 20 miles further south to land 
located near Hinckley. He purchased 640 acres from Judge Hinckley, the original owner of land in Medina county, for $3 per acre. Daniel then bought out several adjoining farms, thus acquiring a total of 730 acres. However, the Medina county deed records show that Daniel ended up with just over 611 acres. He purchased 568.28 acres from Judge Hinckley for $2282 or just over $4 per acre. The rest he bought from John C. Lane for $500. 
Eventually at least nine of Daniel's children 
joined him in Ohio. The children of his first marriage probably decided to stay in New York as they were all over the age of 25. Anna Eastwood's letter said that, of Daniel's children, William, Gilbert, Daniel Jr., Hannah, Isaiah and Solomon all moved to Ohio. However, his son Caleb also lived in Hinckley as he was a charter member of the Hinckley First Free-Will Baptist Church. It is probably a safe assumption to say that Charity and Abigail, ages 12 and 4 respectively, also moved 
to Ohio with their parents. That would mean that of the children of his second marriage, only son James would have stayed in New York. 
An 1837 map of the Hinckley township (found in a book produced for Hinckley's sesquentennial 1825 to 1975 celebration) shows land owned by both Daniel and Gilbert. Daniel later (1844 and 1854) sold much of his land to his children, keeping 136 acres for himself. An 1874 map of the same area shows  the farmland owned by Daniel and Gilbert as 
being owned by other members of the Searls family. In 1981 the land was part of a golf course. 
There were no roads to the tracts that Daniel purchased but they had a spring of fresh water. They cleared the land and built a log cabin house for the winter. The next year they built a frame house. In 1834 or 1835 Daniel's son Gilbert brought his new bride, Elizabeth Halstead, her parents, James Halstead and Phebe Jameson, and her two sisters, Mary Ann (age 14) and Phebe Ann (age 7) 
to Ohio to join Daniel on his farm. Daniel sold 93.5 acres of his farm to Gilbert for $500. On this acreage stood the only frame house in the area. In 1854 Gilbert bought an additional 33 acres. 
New York became the eleventh state in 1788 when it ratified the U.S. Constitution. In 1825 New York opened the Erie Canal. In 1831 New York's first railroad was opened and it ran from Albany to Schenectady. 
Inventions created during Daniel's lifetime include: the flush toilet in 
1778, the hot air balloon in 1783, Eli Whitney's cotton gin in 1793. cement in 1824, the photographic camera with photography on metal in 1826 and on paper in 1839, the coil electric generator in 1832, Samuel F. B. Morse's electric telegraph around 1835, John Deere's steel plow in 1837, the safety match in 1844 and the safety pin in 1849.

From the handwritten family record of Daniel Searls, who is Electus Searls, age 83yr 3mo, an old resident and valued citizen of Lompac (Santa Barbara) California. He was a bachelor and in his will he deeded his property to the Children's Home Society of Los Angeles, a value of $15,000. He was a native of New York and was living with a Mrs. Mary Di???ock on Laurel Avenue. From the handwritten family record of Daniel Searls, who is Asa Searls, died 11-26-1926 at age 81 (born 1845).

Historical
1775-1783: United States, England - American Revolutionary War
1775: United States - Daniel Boone begins to clear the Wilderness Road to Kentucky
1775: globe - John Harrison H4 and Larcum Kendall K1 Marine chronometers are used to measure longitude by James Cook on his Second voyage (1772-1775)
1776: Germany - Order of Illuminati founded by German philosopher Adam Weishaupt
1776: United States - United States Declaration of Independence is written by Thomas Jefferson and others then is adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia
1778: United States - James Cook becomes first European on the Hawaiian Islands
1778: Vietnam - Tây So-n Dynasty established in Vietnam
1779-1879: England, South Africa - Xhosa Wars between British and Boer settlers and the Xhosas in South African Republic
1780: Peru - Outbreak of Indigenous rebellion led by Túpac Amaru II in Peru
1781-1785: Austria - Serfdom abolished in the Austrian monarchy (first step, second step in 1848)
1781: United States, Spain - Spanish settlers founded Los Angeles
1783: Iceland - Famine in Iceland caused by the eruption of the Laki volcano
1783: Ukraine, Russia - Russian Empire annexed the Crimean Khanate
1783: United States, England - The Treaty of Paris formally ends the American War of Independence
1785-1791: Russia - Imam Sheikh Mansur, a Chechen warrior and Muslim mystic, led a coalition of Muslim Caucasian tribes from throughout the Caucasus in a holy war against the Russian Invaders
1785-1795: United States - Northwest Indian War between the United States and Native Americans
1787-1792: Russia, Turkey - Russo-Turkish War (seventh of ten), Russian victory
1787: Japan - Kansei Reforms Instituted in Japan by Matsudaira Sadanobu
1787: Sierra Leone - Freed slaves from London founded Freetown in present-day Sierra Leone
1787: United States - United States Constitution was written in Philadelphia and submitted to the states for ratification, the Bill of Rights ratified four years later
1788-1789: Brazil - Inconfidencia Mineira, conspiracy against the colonial authorities in Brazil
1788: Astralia - First European settlement established in Australia at Sydney, Australia is the only Western country with no Bill of Rights
1788: France - First French Quaker community established in Congenies
1788: United States - New Hampshire ratifies the United States Constitution as the ninth state, and by the terms of Article VII, the constitution goes into effect
1789-1799: France - The French Revolution
1789: Canada, England, Spain - Great Britain and Spain dispute the Nootka Sound during the Nootka Crisis
1789: Unites States - George Washington unanimously elected President of the United States, he serves two four-year terms
1790: Belgiu, - United States of Belgium proclaimed following the Brabant Revolution
1790: Poland, germany - Establishment of the Polish-Prussian Pact
1791-1795: globe - George Vancouver explores the world during the Vancouver Expedition
1791-1804: Haiti - The Haitian Revolution
1791: Canada - The Constitutional Act (Or Canada Act) creates the two provinces of Upper and Lower Canada in British North America
1792-1815: France - The Great French War started as the French Revolutionary Wars which lead into the Napoleonic Wars
1792: Sweden - King Gustav III of Sweden was assassinated by a conspiracy of noblemen
1792: United States - New York Stock & Exchange Board founded
1793-1796: France - Revolt in the Vendee against the French Republic at the time of the Revolution
1793: Canada - Upper Canada bans slavery
1793: United States - The largest yellow fever epidemic in American history killed as many as five thosand people in Philadelphia—roughly 10% of the population
1794: Iran - Qajar dynasty founded in Iran after replacing the Zand dynasty
1794: Poland - Polish revolt
1794: United States, England - The Jay Treaty concluded between Great Britain and the United States which returns to the U.S. the Western outposts in the Great Lakes, and, commerce between the two countries is regulated
1795: France - The Marseillaise officially adopted as the French national anthem
1795: Georgia - Mohammad Khan Qajar razes Tbilisi to the ground
1795: United States, Spain - The Pinckney Treaty between the United States and Spain granted the Mississippi Territory to the U.S.
1795: United States - Kamehameha I of the Island of Hawaii defeats the Oahuans at the Battle of Nu uanu
1796-1804: China - The White Lotus Rebellion against the Manchu Dynasty in China
1796: Africa (western) - Mungo Park, backed by the African Association, is the first European to set eyes on the Niger River in Africa
1796: Ceylon, England, Naterlands - British ejected Dutch from Ceylon
1796: England - Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination, smallpox killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year during the 18th century (including five reigning monarchs)
1796: France - Battle of Montenotte, engagement in the War of the First Coalition, first victory of Napoleon Bonaparte as an army commander
1797: France - Napoleon Invades and partitions the Republic of Venice ending over a thousand years of Independence for the Serene Republic
1797: United States - John Adams is elected to succeed George Washington as President of the United States, he serves one four-year term and his son, John Quincy Adams, will serve one term as President 24 years later
1798-1800: United States, France - Quasi-War between the United States and France
1798: Ireland - The Irish Rebellion failed to overthrow British rule in Ireland
1799: France - Napoleon staged a coup d etat and became dictator of France
1799: India - Dutch East India Company is dissolved
1799: Tonga - The assassination of the 14th Tu I Kanokupolu, Tuku aho, plunges Tonga into half a century of civil war
1800: England - The Company of Surgeons are awarded their Royal Charter and became the Royal College of Surgeons of England
1800: United States - The Inception of the Second Great Awakening for the United States
1801-1815: United States, Africa north coastal countries - Barbary War between the United States and the Barbary States of North Africa
1801: England, Ireland - The Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merge to form the United Kingdom
1801: Pakistan - Ranjit Singh crowned as King of Punjab (made up of parts of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan)
1801: United States - Thomas Jefferson elected President of the United States by the United States House of Representatives, following a tie in the Electoral College
1803: Saudi Arabia - The Wahhabis of the First Saudi State capture Mecca and Medina
1803: United States, France - The United States buys out territorial claims of France in North America via the Louisiana Purchase, this begins the U.S. westward expansion to the Pacific referred to as Its Manifest Destiny which Involves annexing and conquering land from Mexico, Britain, and Native Americans
1804-1810: Nigeria - Fulani Jihad in Nigeria
1804-1815: Serbia, Turkey - Serbian revolution erupts against the Ottoman rule, Suzerainty of Serbia recognized in 1817
1804: Auastria - Austrian Empire founded by Francis I
1804: France - Napoleon crowns himself emperor of France
1804: Haiti, France - Haiti gains Independence from France and becomes the first black republic
1805-1848: Egypt - Muhammad Ali modernizes Egypt
1805: England, France, Spain - The Battle of Trafalgar eliminates the French and Spanish naval fleets and allows for British dominance of the seas, a major factor for the success of the British Empire later in the century
1806-1812: Russia, Turkey - Russo-Turkish War (eighth of ten), Russian victory
1806: Europe - Treaty of Pressburg (Bratislava, Slovakia), Holy Roman Empire is dissolved as Francis II renounces his title as Holy Roman Emperor and becomes Emperor Francis I of Austria
1807: England - Britain declares the Slave Trade Illegal
1808-1809: Russia, Finland, Sweden - Russia conquers Finland from Sweden in the Finnish War
1808-1814: Spain - Spanish guerrillas fight in the Peninsular War
1809: France - Napoleon strips the Teutonic Knights of their last holdings in Bad Mergentheim
1810: Germany - The University of Berlin is founded, among Its students and faculty are Hegel, Marx, and Bismarck, the German university reform proves to be so successful that Its model is copied around the world (see History of European research universities)
1810: Mexico - The Grito de Dolores begins the Mexican War of Independence
1810s-20s: Latin America, Spain, Portugal - Most of the Latin American colonies free themselves from the Spanish and Portuguese Empires after the Latin American wars of Independence
1812-1815: United States, England - War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom
1812: France, Russia - The French Invasion of Russia is a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars
1813-1907: England, Russia, Asia - The contest between the British Empire and Imperial Russia for control of Central Asia is referred to as the Great Game
1814-16: England, Nepal - Anglo-Nepalese War between Nepal (Gurkha Empire) and British Empire
1815: Austria - The Congress of Vienna redraws the European map, the Concert of Europe attempts to preserve this settlement, but It fails to stem the tide of liberalism and nationalism that sweeps over the continent
1815: Europe - combined armies commanded by the Duke of Wellington defeat Napoleon at Waterloo (Belgium), bringing a conclusion to the Napoleonic Wars and marks the beginning of a Pax Britannica which lasts until 1870
1816-1828: South Africa - Zulu kingdom of Shaka on the southeast coast of Africa becomes the largest kingdom in southern Africa
1816: northern hemisphere - Unusually cold conditions wreak havoc throughout the Northern Hemisphere, likely caused by the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora on Indonesia, It is the largest volcanic eruption in recorded history and the most deadly as over 70,000 people died, the volcano ash caused what is called "volcanic winter" and 1816 became known as the "Year Without a Summer" because of the effect on North American and European weather where agricultural crops failed and livestock died resulting in the worst famine of th
1817: Serbia, Turkey - Principality of Serbia becomes suzerain from the Ottoman Empire, officially Independent in 1867
1819: France - Theodore Gericault paints his masterpiece The Raft of the Medusa, and exhibits It in the French Salon of 1819 at the Louvre
1819: Singapore, England - The modern city of Singapore is established by the British East India Company
1820: Liberia - Liberia founded by the American Colonization Society for freed American slaves
1820: United States - Missouri Compromise admits Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state
1821-1830: Greece, Turkey - Greece becomes the first country to break away from the Ottoman Empire after the Greek War of Independence
1821: Mexico, Spain - Mexico gains Independence from Spain with the Treaty of Cordoba
1821: Peru, Spain - Peru declares Its Independence from Spain
1822-1823: Mexico - First Mexican Empire, as the first post-independent Mexican government, ruled by Emperor Agustin I of Mexico
1822: Brazil, Portugal - Prince Pedro of Portugal proclaimed the Brazilian Independence on September 7, on December 1, he was crowned as Emperor Dom Pedro I of Brazil
1823-1887: England, Burma - The British Empire annexed Burma (now also called Myanmar) after three Anglo-Burmese Wars
1825-1828: Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay - The Argentina-Brazil War results in the Independence of Uruguay
1825: United States - Erie Canal opened connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
1826-1828: Russia, Iran - After the final Russo-Persian War, the Persian Empire took back territory lost to Russia from the previous war
1827: England - Death of William Blake, an English poet, painter, and printmaker who Influenced literature
1828-1829: Russia, Turkey - Russo-Turkish War (ninth of ten), Russian victory
1830: Belgium, Netherlands - The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands led to the creation of Belgium
1830: Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador - Greater Colombia dissolved and the nations of Colombia (including modern-day Panama), Ecuador, and Venezuela took Its place
1830: France - July Revolution in France
1830: Poland, Russia - November Uprising in Poland against Russia
1830: United States - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is established on April 6, 1830
1831-33: Egypt - Egyptian-Ottoman War
1831: France, Algeria - France Invades and occupies Algeria
1833-1876: Spain - Carlist Wars in Spain
1833: England - Slavery Abolition Act bans slavery throughout the British Empire
1834-1859: Russia - Rebellion led by Imam Shamil in Russian-occupied Caucasus
1834: Germany - The German Customs Union is formed
1834: Spain - Spanish Inquisition officially ends
1835-1836: United States, Mexico - The Texas Revolution in Mexico resulted in the short-lived Republic of Texas
1836: United States, Mexico - The Battle of the Alamo
1837-1838: Canada - Rebellions of 1837 in Canada
1837-1901: England - Reign of Queen Victoria is considered the apex of the British Empire and is referred to as the Victorian era
1838-1840: Central America - Civil war in the Federal Republic of Central America led to the foundings of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica
1839-1851: Uruguay - Uruguayan Civil War
1839-1860: France, England, United States, Russia, China - After two Opium Wars, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia gained many concessions from China resulting in the decline of the Qing Dynasty
1840: New Zealand, England - New Zealand is founded, as the Treaty of Waitangi is signed by the Ma-ori and British
1844: Haiti - Dominican War of Independence from Haiti
1844: Iran - Persian Prophet the Bab announces his revelation on May 23, founding Babism, he announced to the world of the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest", he is considered the forerunner of Baha u llah, the founder of the Baha I Faith
1844: United States - First publicly funded telegraph line in the world, It is between Baltimore and Washington and sends demonstration message on May 24, ushering in the age of the telegraph, this message read "What hath God wrought?" (Bible, Numbers 23:23)
1844: United States - Millerite (followers of the teachings of William Miller) movement awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ on October 22, the non-appearance of Christ becomes known as the Great Disappointment
1845-1846: Pakistan - First Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab (Pakistan) between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company
1845-1849: Ireland - The Irish Potato Famine led to the Irish diaspora
1845-1872: New Zealand - The New Zealand Land Wars
1845: Tonga - Unification of the Kingdom of Tonga under Ta-ufa?a-hau (King George Tupou I)
1846-1847: United States - Mormon migration to Utah
1846-1848: United States, Mexico - The Mexican-American War leads to cession by Mexico of much of the modern-day Southwestern United States
1847-1901: Mexico - The Caste War of Yucatan
1848-1849: Pakistan - Second Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab (Pakistan) between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company, this war basically ends the Sikh Empire
1848-1858: United States - California Gold Rush
1848: Europe - Revolutions of 1848 in Europe as some type of revolution occurred in most all European countries (except England and the Netherlands), the revolutions were quickly put down as they were mostly unorganized peasants
1848: Russia - The Communist Manifesto published
1848: United States - Seneca Falls Convention is the first rights for women convention in the United States and leads to the battle for suffrage and legal rights for women
1850: Europe - The Little Ice Age ends around this time
1851-1852: South America - The Platine War (also known as the War against Oribe and Rosas) fought between the Argentine Confederation and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, the war was part of a long-running contest between Argentina and Brazil for Influence over Uruguay and Paraguay, and hegemony over the regions bordering the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), the conflict took place in Uruguay, on the Rio de la Plata and in the northeast of Argen
1851-1864: China - The Taiping Rebellion in China is the bloodiest conflict of the century
1851-60s: Australia - Victorian gold rush in Australia
1851: England - The Great Exhibition in London was the first International Expo or Worlds Fair
1853-1856: Ukraine, France, England, Turkey, Russia - Crimean War between France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire and Russia
1854: Japan - The Convention of Kanagawa formally ends policy of Isolation by Japan