HORACE T. EASTMAN, farmer and dairyman, P. O. Anna, Anna Township. The subject of this sketch stands prominent among the leading farmers of Union County, and justly merits a most honorable mention. He was born in Orleans County, N. Y., October 27, 1820, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Tanner) Eastman. The former was born in Vermont in 1793, and was there brought up on a farm and educated. At the age of nineteen years, he enlisted in the war of 1812, participating in the battles of Plattsburg and Burlington, under Gen. Dearborn, serving his country about two years. After the war was over, he learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed during his life. In 1819, he removed to Orleans County, N. Y., and in 1835 to Ohio, locating at Sandusky. He came to Illinois in 1857, and settled in Union County, and died in Anna in 1858. He was of English descent, and a son of Samuel H. Eastman, who was a native of Rhode Island, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and who died at Sandusk3% Ohio. He was a son of Ichabod Eastman, of Rhode Island, and also a soldier in the war of the Revolution. The mother of our subject was born in Vermont in 1799, and died in Michigan in 1826. She was a daughter of Josiah Tanner, a native of Massachusetts. His father, with his seven brothers, were in the United States service during the Revolutionary war. The parents of our subject had two children, he being the eldest, and the only one surviving. He was raised mostly in Ohio, and was educated in the common schools of that State. At the age of seventeen years, he left his home and commenced business for himself He worked for other parties and also with his father at the carpenter's trade, becoming an efficient mechanic. In 1845, he engaged with the Sandusky, Dayton & Cincinnati Railroad Company, and remained with them for eleven years, five years as a journeyman carpenter, and car builder, and nearly six years as master carpenter. Upon leaving the employ of the company, he was presented by the President and other officials with complimentary recommendations as to his ability as a workman, and his industry and business habits. At the time, and in connection with his duties in the railroad company, he was interested in a sash and blind factory, at Sandusky, in partnership with Samuel J. Catherman, under the firm name of Eastman & Catherman. Mr. Eastman came to Union County in December, 1856, and located at Anna, where he worked at his trade for several years. He built many of the residences and business houses of that place, including the brick mill, recently burned, also many of the finest residences and barns throughout the county. In 1861, he removed to his present farm, which he managed in connection with his trade, until 1880, when he gave up carpentering for the purpose of devoting his entire attention to his farm. He has 120 acres in a fine state of cultivation and well-improved. Formerly he was largely engaged in fruit-growing, but is at present giving his attention almost wholly to the dairy business, and is supplying with milk some of the largest hotels in Southern Illinois, among which are the European at Anna, and the Halliday at Cairo — furnishing to the latter over $200 worth of milk per month. He keeps now about thirty cows. Mr. Eastman was married in 1849 to Miss Hannah L. Snow, a native of Genesee County, N. Y. She was born in February, 1828, and is a daughter of Libeas and Mercy (Smith) Snow; her father was a native of Vermont and a marine in the war of 1812, with Com. McDonough, in the battles of Plattsburg and Lake Champlain. He lived to be eighty-four years of age, and died in Michigan about the year 1865. His wife died in Holmes County, Ohio, October 18, 1842. Mr. and Mrs. Eastman have eight children living — Julia, wife of Henry A. Walls, a farmer of Morgan County, Ill.; Fanny, wife of L. N. Davis, a farmer of this county, Elmer B., Nora, Harmon, Horace G., Kittie and Samuel. Mr. Eastman is a Republican in politics; he is probably the largest bee-raiser in the county, and has made many improvements in hives and in bee-culture generally. On the 19th day of September, 1830, the subject of this sketch was with his father and brother on board of steamer Peacock, and when off Cattaraugus Creek, N. Y., she blew up, blowing off her forward upper works, killing, scalding and drowning over seventy people, but he escaped with a few slight burns.
Extracted 02 Apr 2017 by Norma Hass from 1883 History of Alexander, Union, and Pulaski Counties, Illinois, Part V, pages 61-62.
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