George Washington Sears was born in South Oxford (now Webster) Massachusetts in 1821. He was small, frail, and of poor health most of his life. He only served briefly in the Union Army in the American Civil War before being discharged for health reasons. He wrote under the pen name "Nessmuk", mostly articles for "Forest and Stream" magazine.
If you read his "Woodcraft and Camping" you will think he was a master woodsman and the originator of "go-light" camping. Reading his other works you will discover that he was a camp mooch, and was able to travel so lightly because he availed himself of the hospitality of every tourist lodge and hunting camp he passed.
He must have indeed *known* some superior woodsmen, but I doubt he was one himself. I very much enjoy his writing, but I realize that he was not quite as he presented himself.
I have a boat of similar size, mine is a light Cajun pirogue of thin fiberglass. It is tippy, squirrelly, and has very little freeboard even when lightly loaded - it's a specialized craft made as basic transportation in very still, very shallow water. It frightens most who ride in it except very good canoeists. In spite of the slight difference in purpose, I doubt the Nessmuk canoes are much different, and they were sized at the minimum for his 100# weight. It will serve, but you are at the mercy of the wind and waves.