Beginning in 1843, the children of William and Anne started marrying: in 1843 Joseph married Mary Ann Trim and John married Elizabeth Bailey; in 1846 Mary married William Watson and Catherine married William Lenderbeck; and in 1847 Phoebe married Charles Abbey.
Anne Hill passed away sometime around 1850. Following her death, William Husband Searle decided to migrate west into the western territories of the United States, taking with him at least three of his younger children: Matilda, William Albert, and Henry. By 1860, he had married Abigail Loveless and was living in Oak Grove, Dodge County, Wisconsin, with Abigail, her son Thomas Hand (listed as insane) from her previous marriage, and William Searle Jr. It is not clear if this is William Husband Searle’s son or grandson.
In 1851, Phoebe Abbey and her family were still living in Hope Township; living with them was Phoebe’s sister Alice and her 1-year-old son, George. Alice married William Thompson in 1853 and had two daughters with him before his death around 1857. Alice then married Reuben DeLong on February 3rd, 1858, and they are found living together in 1861 still in Hope Township, with Alice’s daughters from her previous marriage and 2 sons from their union. George is not found on the 1861 Canada census, which may indicate that he died before 1861. However, in 1858 or 1859, Phoebe Abbey and her family moved to Oak Grove, Wisconsin, and are found living next to her father William in 1860. It is possible that George (whose name may have been George William) went with his Aunt Phoebe and is the William Searle Jr found living with William Husband Searle in 1860.
William Albert Searle married Mary Ann Nelson in Dodge County, Wisconsin on October 30th, 1852. By 1860, the couple were living in Attica, Lapeer County, Michigan, with 2 young children. Living next to them was William Albert’s sister, Matilda. Matilda A. Searle married Phillip Keating on May 9th, 1853, in Macomb County, Michigan, and by 1860 they had 3 children.
John Searle and his family moved to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, around 1854. Fond du Lac is about 40 km north-east of Oak Grove, which is where his father moved to. They continued living in Fond du Lac for a few years before moving to Franklin, De Kalb County, Illinois around 1858. John’s brother Henry married Charlotte Clarinda Porvort (Fuller) around 1860 in Illinois; it’s possible that Henry had moved from Wisconsin to Illinois with his brother John.
William and Anne’s oldest daughters, Mary, Catherine, and Alice, all stayed in the Durham County area during the 1850s. Between 1861 and 1871, Mary Watson and her family moved to Harwich, Kent District, Ontario, which is near Chatham, Ontario. Between 1871 and 1881, Alice DeLong and Catherine Lenderbeck and their respective families followed, moving to Howard, Bothwell District, Ontario, which is about 15km east of Harwich.
During the 1860s, Charles Abbey, William Albert Searle, and John’s son John Henry all fought in the US Civil War. Charles Abbey was a member of the 14th Wisconsin and died before the siege of Vicksburg, Mississippi on May 22nd, 1863. William Albert Searle enlisted on February 12th, 1863, and was discharged on July 20th, 1865. He was a member of the 8th Michigan Calvary, eventually serving as a Duty Sergeant. He spent 5 months of the war as a prisoner in the Andersonville Prison in Georgia. John Searle’s son, John Henry, enlisted with the 47th Illinois US Infantry on December 30th, 1863, and mustered out on January 21st, 1866. On October 25th, 1866, he applied for an invalid (i.e., disability) pension.
Following the war and into the 1880s, the children and grandchildren of William Husband Searle and Anne Hill continued to move about the US, including to the states of Iowa, Kansas, Texas, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Washington.
William Husband Searle continued to live in Wisconsin, and in 1880 he was living with his daughter Phoebe in Byron, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. According to a family bible, he died on August 19th, 1880, at the age of 79 years, 2 months, and 12 days.
