John was the second son of Obadiah and Frances (Harvey)Eastes. He married Matilda Newland on 17 Jan 1819. Their children include: Louisa Eastes, Philamon Wesley Eastes, Obadiah M. Eastes, Frances Eastes Snider, Julia Ann Eastes Jay, Francis Marion Eastes, Rachel Eastes,and Sarah J Eastes.


A land grant identified his full name as John Philemon Eastes. He had a brother named Philemon, so I wonder about that, but there it is. Both men can be proven with documentation. They even appear together in the 1820 census. Joy Eastes Pero

This information below was sent to me by Leroy Eastes.

It has been said that John was buried in the Eastes/Harvey cemetery at Mt Comfort, IN but no headstone was found in 1968.

Death Notice - Hancock County Democrat 16 February 1888

(Date of Death calculated from this information. Feb 16th 1888 was a Thursday, so the previous Sunday was the 12th.)

Died - on Sunday afternoon last, Mr. John Eastes, at the poor asylum. He had been unwell for several months past. He was the oldest person in the institution and was one of the oldest settlers of this county.


Note: It may be that John never had a headstone. His final address having been the poor asylum, he may not have had any money in his estate to purchase one. Joy Eastes Pero


..."Obadiah and Francis had 11 children, one died before reaching maturity (William Madison Eastes). The oldest child Jane was born 6 June 1793, the second child was Philamon born 27 March 1795 and the third was John born 1 February 1798, all in South Carolina. The fourth child Sarah, was born 9 March 1800 in Kentucky and the others were all born in Indiana.
Some time after John was born in February 1798 and before May 1799, Obadiah, Francis and the three small children left South Carolina on a long journey. They traveled northwest to the Wilderness Trail blazed by Daniel Boone and up though the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. At that time wagons could not be used as the trail was merely a path originally used by the migrating buffalo and the Indians. Later, a group led by Daniel Boone cleared the trail making it into a crude road to allow wagon traffic. Our party traveled by horseback and walked, carrying all of their belongings on pack horses. One story tells that while passing through a hostile Indian area, "-- the two smaller children were put in sacks one on each end and placed across a horses back. Handkerchiefs were tied over their mouths for fear the Indians would hear their crying."...

Joy Eastes Pero