F. C. Searl, named after the Spanish conquistador Fernando Cortez, was born in Vernon Township, Scioto County, Ohio, on 18 July 1825. In April 1870, when Judge Searl spoke at the celebration of the Ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, he was no longer on the bench, but in private practice. Nelson W. Evans, in his biographical account, noted that Searl's "father was pro-slavery and young Searl would take the side of anti-slavery. He was an abolitionist at eight years and had reasoned the matter out for himself." Searl, along with Milton Kennedy and Joseph Ashton were among the first to identify with the Republican Party. He was elected Scioto County Probate Judge in 1860 as a Republican and with the outbreak of the Civil War, Judge Searl would serve as Chairman of the Military Committee of Scioto County, supervising "the enlistment of volunteers and as friend of the negroes, he believed in recruiting them for service and did so. He put them in service and secured them bounties from $150 for single men to $250 for married men." In 1864, he himself enlisted in Company F of the 140th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, serving as a First Lieutenant.