Thomas B. (Thomas Brownfield) Searight

Born in Menallen Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, on February 20, 1827, Thomas Brownfield Searight was educated at Dr. Wilson’s Academy, Madison College in Uniontown, and Washington College, from which he graduated in 1848. He worked as a lawyer and also spent time in journalism as co-publisher and editor of the Genius of Liberty in the early 1850s.

Searight was active in public life in western Pennsylvania. State legislative records show that he served as prothonotary of Fayette County, represented Fayette County in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and later served in the Pennsylvania Senate. His career placed him close to the civic life of the region he would later describe in print.

He is most closely associated with The Old Pike, published in 1894, a rich account of the National Road filled with incidents, accidents, anecdotes, and local history. The book draws particular strength from his family’s connection to the road and from his knowledge of southwestern Pennsylvania, giving readers a vivid sense of travel and community in the nineteenth century. Searight died on April 8, 1899.