Charles Mears - Early Life

Early Life

Mears was the son of Nathan Mears and his wife Lucy. Mears had an older brother, Edwin. His next brother, Nathan, was younger than him, with his sister, Lucy Ann, younger yet and the youngest sibling was Elbert (also known as "Albert"). His grandfather was Thomas Mears, a minuteman in the American Revolutionary War. Mears was born in North Billerica, Massachusetts on March 16, 1814. His mother's family had the Scottish name of Levistone; which was anglicized to "Livingston." Mears's father was, from 1821 to 1828, one of the town’s fathers. He built and operated a sawmill, owned several farms, and kept a store.

In 1795, ground was broken at Billerica Mills for the Middlesex Canal (the first canal in the United States) which opened in 1802. Mears’s father owned one of the locks on the canal. Mears and his brothers became familiar with canals, canal locks, control of water power for dams, and mill machinery because of their father’s operations on the Concord River.

Mears and his siblings were not allowed to follow their own desires, which was the New England custom of the time. Mears used to look forward to "Training Day" because then he could get "a card of gingerbread." He was ambitious, revealing his early entrepreneurial trends. He was known to have said he was willing to "run a mile for a nickel."

Unfortunately, Mears and his siblings were left orphans very early in their lives by the death of their mother in 1827 and of their father a year later. Guardians were then appointed to take care of them. They were sent to the academies of that day to finish their education. Mears went to country schools to learn his basic schooling and then went to trade school in Lowell, Massachusetts to learn the cabinet trade.