Edward Eastman

Photo of Edward Eastman, from a visiting card circa 1867

Edward Eastman (February 22, 1806 - February 23, 1870) was an American merchant and bookseller from Oshkosh, Wisconsin who was the first mayor of Oshkosh, served several years as its postmaster, and spent a single one-year term in 1851 as a Free Soil Party member of the Wisconsin State Assembly.^[1]

Background and move to Wisconsin

Eastman was born February 22, 1806 in Randolph, Vermont, son of Tilton and Experience Smith Eastman. He was college educated (at an Episcopal seminary, which may explain his nickname of "Deacon"), then worked on his father's farm and helped put two brothers through college as well. One of these brothers, George B., would later become a minister in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.^[2] With his first wife, Sarah (Tracey) Eastman, he had a son George; Sarah died soon after their child's birth. He married Catharine Granger (born in 1824) on June 3, 1841. The couple would eventually have four children together.

He came to Wisconsin Territory in 1846, spending some time in Dodge County before moving on to Oshkosh later that year. He settled there, and began dealing in general merchandise for many years in partnership with L. M. Miller. He was appointed postmaster of Oshkosh by the Polk administration in that same year, and would serve until 1849, when Whig Zachary Taylor became President of the United States (postmaster being a patronage position).

In February 1847, Eastman, Miller and other locals were authorized by the territorial legislature to form a company to build a bridge across the Fox River "at Miller's Ferry" in Oshkosh.^[3] On January 12, 1848, he was appointed the first clerk of court for the Winnebago County circuit court.^[4]

Elected office

With the breakdown of the Second Party System in American politics, Eastman (who had been a Democrat in Vermont) became active in the "Union Democratic Party" movement,^[5] which eventually merge with the Free Soil Party. In 1850, he was elected to the Winnebago County seat in the Wisconsin Assembly, succeeding Democrat Leonard P. Crary, as a Free Soiler (although at least one Democratic newspaper described him as a Democrat, and listed him on their Democratic ticket with former Governor James Duane Doty, who was running as an Independent Democrat^[6]). The district had Waupaca County added to it in the subsequent redistricting, and Eastman was succeeded in that position in the 1851 election by Dudley Blodget, a Whig. (Crary and Blodget were both also from Oshkosh.)

In 1853, the new Democratic President Franklin Pierce once more appointed Eastman as Postmaster of Oshkosh. Also in 1853, Eastman supported the incorporation of the City of Oshkosh, formerly part of the Town of Oshkosh. He was elected the first mayor of the new city (on a combined Democratic and Independent ticket), and would in later years serve as an alderman as well. He came within one vote of being elected mayor once more (as a Democrat) in 1856, losing with 318 votes to 319 for Thomas A. Follett.^[7]

Later life

Eastman opened a bookstore and stationery store in the summer of 1851 (after the legislative session was over).^[8] Eastman remained Postmaster until 1861, when the newly elected Republican administration of Abraham Lincoln took office. He was among the city's best-known businessmen, and was invited to serve on the board of directors of both of the railroad companies organized in Oshkosh in 1853: the Oshkosh & Portage City, and the Winnebago.^[9] In 1854, he joined such luminaries as James Duane Doty, Mason Darling, Theodore Conkey and his old partner Lucas Miller in becoming directors of the newly re-organized Wisconsin Farmers' Insurance Company.^[10]

Eastman died February 23, 1870, at the age of 64 years and one day. He is buried in Oshkosh's Riverside Cemetery.^[11] Catherine (Granger) Eastman lived until June 18, 1897.^[12]

References

1. "Members of the Wisconsin Legislature 1848–1999 State of Wisconsin Legislative Bureau. Information Bulletin 99-1, September 1999. p. 46
2. "Personal" Oshkosh Daily Northwestern July 6, 1882; p. 4, col. 4
3. Laws of the Territory of Wisconsin, Together with the Joint Resolutions and Memorials Passed at the Annual Session of the Legislature in 1847 Madison: H. A. Tenney, Territorial Printer, 1847; pp. 68-70
4. Lawson, Publius Virgilius. History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People Chicago: C.F. Cooper and Company, 1908; pp. 191, 210, 541
5. "Union Democratic Convention" Wisconsin Democrat September 8, 1849; p. 2, cols. 1-3
6. "Regular Democratic Nominations" Oshkosh Democrat November 1, 1850; p. 2, col. 1
7. "A Close Run" Daily Free Democrat April 9, 1856; p. 2, col. 3
8. "New Book Store" Oshkosh Democrat August 22, 1851; p. 2, col. 2
9. Lawson, Publius Virgilius. History, Winnebago County, Wisconsin: Its Cities, Towns, Resources, People Chicago: C.F. Cooper and Company, 1908; pp. 507, 510
10. Private and Local Acts Passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin in the Year Eighteen Hundred and Fifty-Four. Madison: Beriah Brown, Printer, 1854; pp. 214-215
11. Description of Eastman from a virtual exhibit on the website of the Oshkosh Public Museum
12. "Mrs. Eastman Dead: Wife of the First Mayor of Oshkosh -- Her Loss Mourned" Oshkosh Daily Northwestern June 18, 1897; p. 1, col. 8

• Edward Eastman at Find a Grave