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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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James
Eastman It
is an axiom demonstrated by human experience that industry is the keynote of
prosperity. Success comes not to
the man who idly waits, but to the faithful toiler whose work is characterized
by sleepless vigilance and cheerful celerity, and it was by such means that
James Eastman, late of Newton, Jasper County; forged to the front and won an
honored place among the substantial citizens of the locality of which this
volume treats. He was widely and
favorably known as a man of high character, and for a number of years his
influence in the community was marked and salutary. Mr.
Eastman came to us from England, where his birth occurred in 1832, and when
sixteen years of age he immigrated to America, arriving on the shores of the
United States, but later he went to Canada, and remained at Toronto for five
years, then he went to the state of New York, where he spent four years.
In 1855 he was united in marriage with Martha Hadley, of Machias, New
York, in which place she was born in 1837, the daughter of John and Paulina
Hadley, of that place. After their
marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Eastman came to Jasper County, Iowa, and located in
Newton in the spring of 1856, and there, Mr. Eastman remained until his death.
Owing to failing health he retired from active work about four years prior to
his death, which occurred on February 20, 1907, at the home where his widow now
resides, No. 600 East Temperance Street. His remains were interred in Newton Cemetery.
He was among the old settlers and was for years a prominent character here; he
was influential in the development of the city and County and played well his
part in the same. He devoted his life to contracting both in stone and woodwork,
and was very successful. Many of the finest and most substantial buildings which stand
in Newton today are monuments to his skill as a builder. His services were in
great demand owing to his adroitness in his chosen line of endeavor and his
honesty in all his contracts. He
left considerable valuable property to his widow, including a modern and
substantial home in Newton. Mr.
Eastman was a prominent member of the Congregational Church having united with
that church when a young man. He
was also an active and worthy member of the Masonic lodge and the United Workmen
of Newton. Politically, he was a stanch Republican, taking a leading part in the
affairs of his party. To
Mr. and Mrs. James Eastman six children were born, as follow; Eva died in Newton
when seven years of age; Clarence also died here when ten years of age; Bertha
married Harry Moore, of Newton; they moved to Oklahoma, where the wife died,
leaving two children, Marian and Florence, who remain with their father, he
being a very prosperous farmer there. George Eastman is a large contractor in
Omaha, Nebraska; he married Winnie Quinlan, of Newton, and they have one son,
Clarence. Florence Eastman married
Arthur Joy, of Newton, and they have two children, Lucile and Morris, both
attending school at Newton. James
H. Eastman married Maud Joy, of Newton, and they have three children, Joy, Harry
and Arthur, also attending school at Newton. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 582. |
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