Richard Warren Sears
| Richard Warren Sears | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
December 7, 1863 Stewartville, Minnesota |
| Died | September 28, 1914 (aged 50) Waukesha, Wisconsin |
| Known for | Founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company |
| Net worth | USD $25 million at the time of his death (approximately 1/1457th of US GNP) |
| Spouse(s) | Anna Lydia Meckstroth (1868-1946) m. 1895 |
| Children | Sylvia Sears Gardner (b. 1896), Richard Warren Sears Jr. (1896-1945), Wesley Sears (1898-1944), Serena Sears Griess (1900-1942) |
Richard Warren Sears (December 7, 1863 – September 28, 1914) was a manager, businessman, and the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company with his partner Alvah Curtis Roebuck.
Sears was born in Stewartville, Minnesota. His father was James Warren Sears, born circa 1828 in New York, a blacksmith and wagon-maker; his mother was Eliza Burton, born in Ohio circa 1843. The family was living in Spring Valley, Minnesota by June 1870, where his father served as a city councilman and eventually sold his wagon shop in 1875. Both of his parents were of English descent. During his boyhood in Spring Valley, he befriended Almanzo Wilder, the future husband of Laura Ingalls Wilder. After learning telegraphy he entered the service of the railroad.
In 1880, he started working as a telegraph operator in the town of North Branch, Minnesota for the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway, which, at the time, leased the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad. The railroad later incorporating as the St. Paul and Duluth Railroad, and then purchased by the Northern Pacific Railroad [1] page 64. He eventually was transferred to North Redwood Falls, Minnesota by the same railroad, the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway, to become station agent.
It was in 1886 at age 23, that his career path changed forever: A shipment of gold filled gold watches from a Chicago manufacturer was refused by a Minnesota retailer, Edward Stegerson.
A common scam existing at the time involved wholesalers who would ship their products to retailers who had not ordered them. Upon refusal, the wholesaler would offer the already price-hiked items to the retailer at a lower consignment cost in the guise of alleviating the cost to ship the items back. The unsuspecting retailer would then agree to take this new-found bargain off the wholesaler's hands, mark up the items and sell them to the public, making a small profit in the transaction.
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