Joseph Searle and Mary Ann Trim married on February 25th, 1843, in the Township of Hope, Durham County, Ontario. They had 4 children born between 1844 and 1849: George (1844), Henry William (1845), Joseph (1848), and Samuel Trim (1849).
Mary Ann Trim died at some point after the birth of Samuel Trim and before 1852, when Joseph Searle married Isabella McCowan (Cummins) on April 29th, 1852; the marriage was witnessed by his brother John and his wife Elizabeth Bailey.
Joseph Searle, his second wife Isabella, and his children moved to the City of Guelph in Wellington County around 1852. Mary Ann’s parents, Francis Hooper Trim and Rebecca Wonnacott, had moved to Guelph in the 1840s or early 1850s and continued living there until Rebecca’s death in 1865; Francis Hooper Trim died around 1857. It is likely that Joseph moved his family after Mary Ann’s death to be closer to their children’s grandparents. Joseph appears in Guelph tax assessment records in 1852 and 1853 under the statute labor section. The Ontario Statute Labor act was created in 1793 and required male landowners to help build and maintain roads for a certain number of days each year based on the value of their property. Landowners could also pay others to perform their statute labour for them. Joseph Searle does not appear on the tax assessment roll as a property owner, so it is possible that Francis Hooper Trim, who did own property in Guelph, paid his son in-law to perform his statute labour.
Joseph and Isabella moved to different locations outside of Guelph between 1855 and 1866. Joseph and Isabella had two children: Mary Isabella Searle (1855 – 1919) and John Wesley Searle (1865 – 1940). Mary Isabella’s birthplace on her marriage record in 1882 is listed as Maryborough, which is in the Township of Minto, Wellington County. Minto is northwest of Guelph and includes towns such as Harriston and Palmerston. On the 1861 Canada Census, Joseph and Isabella Sorrel are listed living with Joseph’s son Henry, however, their residence is listed as being out of Guelph town limits in Georgetown. Georgetown is east of Guelph in Halton Hills. Isabella Cummins died following the birth of her son, John Wesley, in 1865. On December 19th, 1866, Joseph Searle married a third time to Jane McKee (Orton) in Guelph. Joseph’s residence at the time of his marriage is listed as Minto.
Joseph and Jane had a son, James S. Searle, in 1868. Between the birth of James in 1868 and 1870, they moved to Novi, Oakland County, Michigan, US, with James and Joseph’s son John Wesley; Novi is just outside of Detroit. In Michigan, they had two more children: Elisabeth SJ Searle (“Jennie”, 1873 – 1935) and David R. Searle (1877 – 1885). James S. died before 1880. In 1880, the family was living in Burlington, Lapeer County, Michigan, US, which is about 95km north of Novi.
It is believed that Joseph Searle died around 1883 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Lapeer County, Michigan, US.