Eastin, John M.

Born: 1808-02-12 Kentucky

Died: 1892-04-05 Charleston, Illinois

Flourished: Coles County, Illinois

In 1828, Eastin married Jennie Reed and they settled in what would later become Coles County, Illinois. In 1832, Eastin volunteered for service in the Illinois Militia during the Black Hawk War. He ran unsuccessfully as a Whig in an 1837 election for state representative. As early as 1842, Eastin was a partner with Byrd Monroe in a Charleston general store and he owned the “Tecumseh House,” a Charleston tavern. In 1860, Eastin lived in Charleston, where he worked as an editor and publisher of the Charleston Ledger, and he owned $25,000 worth of real estate and $15,000 worth of personal property.

Gravestone, Old City Cemetery, Charleston, IL; The History of Coles County, Illinois (Chicago: Wm. Le Baron, Jr., 1879), 231, 300, 323; Ellen M. Whitney, comp., The Black Hawk War, 1831-1832: Illinois Volunteers, vol. 35 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1970), 1:310; Theodore C. Pease, ed., Illinois Election Returns, 1818-1848, vol. 18 of Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library (Springfield: Illinois State Historical Library, 1923), 305; Charleston Courier (IL), 11 January 1843, 4:1, 3; 15 April 1843, 1:1; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Charleston, Coles County, IL, 215.