Originally known as Grand River, the choice of the name came from the fact that the town was located on the banks of larger of two rivers in the valley.

It was renamed Searston to honor Monsignor Thomas Sears (1824-1885), a pioneering priest, born in Ventry County Kerry, Ireland, who ministered to the locals.

Its exact date of founding is unknown, however W.E. Cormack visited there in 1822 and that time it was reported that there were five families, consisting of 28 persons. How Sears arrived in Grand River, and the work that he did there is an interesting story.

The following comes from the ENL: [he] moved to Nova Scotia with his parents at an early age and grew up near Antigonish. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1855 and was assigned to parish duties on Cape Breton Island, where he acquired a knowledge of Scottish Gaelic.

He was parish priest at Port Mulgrave in 1868 when he responded to a plea for a Gaelic-speaking priest to serve in western Newfoundland, the parish of St. George's having been deprived of its priest by the death of Father Alexis Belanger.

Sears took up residence in the Codroy Valley, where there were many settlers from Cape Breton, and soon made a name for himself as a tireless advocate of government recognition of settlement on a coast that was still nominally under French jurisdiction.

He organized his parishioners to provide free labour for the building not only of churches, but also roads and schools, particularly in the Codroy Valley.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/Searston