Emma J. Wiggin was born around 1850 in Massachusetts to Hiram and Lucinda Wiggin. Her father was a “market man” who owned $8,000 of real estate and $4,000 of personal property by 1860. Her father died on July 2, 1861. She grew up and attended school in Boston, Massachusetts, and she married David B. Sears on February 23, 1871. They had at least two children: Maud, born around 1873; and Blanche, born around 1874. They lived in Boston, and her husband worked as a clerk and salesman. Her husband died in the 1920s, and she died sometime after 1930.

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