EASTHAM Family History

WELCOME!!  We are Americans, researching the EASTHAM Family of Preston, Lancashire, England.

Our immigrant ancestors were JOHN MOSES “Jack” EASTHAM and MARGARET “Maggie” MARSDEN, both of Preston.  The photo at left was taken in Preston Park in 1903, while they were still courting.

Jack and Maggie married in Preston in 1906, but soon made the decision to go to America.  Jack came over first in November of 1909, with Maggie following shortly after in April of 1910.  They initially settled in the area of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, lived for a while in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and finally settled in Chicago, Illinois in early 1929.

We hope to explore their ancestry and their lives, and connect with their relatives.

If you have would like to connect, or if you have information or photos you would like to share, please leave a COMMENT, and I will reach out to you, or you can send an email to  eastham.genealogy@gmail.com.  We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Here’s a little information about how our tree began and grew:

The Family of JOHN MOSES “Jack” EASTHAM

 By Sue Wyatt, Jack’s granddaughter

Greetings!  This web site is a record of what has been learned about our EASTHAM ancestors.  It does NOT yet cover other lines, like the MARSDEN family to which Jack’s wife Maggie belonged, or her mother’s HARLING line, or the COOK(E) family to which Jack’s mother belonged, or the families of his other ancestors. (That may happen some day, because I have that information, but in the meantime, if you’re interested, just email me at eastham.genealogy@gmail.com.)

I’ve been researching our EASTHAM roots for over twenty years, but my interest in our family began when I was only four years old. My mom (Marge Eastham Egan), my sister Cathie, and I went to Chicago to live with Grandma Eastham and Aunt Dorothy and Jan for a few months after Grampa Eastham died.  Every morning, Gram and Cathie and I would have English tea together and, after Gram had given us our daily Carter’s Little Liver Pills and some breakfast, we would listen to Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts or some other show on the radio, and we’d chat.  On several occasions, I plied Gram with questions about her life.  Where were you born? Why do you talk like that? (She had a definite Lancashire accent!) What did you do when you were a kid?  Did you have brothers and sisters?  Etc.  Surprisingly, I clearly remembered all her answers, so that when the urge to learn more about our family hit me, my starting point was the information she had given me so many years before.  Gram was 72 years old when we talked in 1954, but she was 100% correct in everything she told me.  She had an excellent memory!

When I first started researching in 1996, I could find absolutely nothing ‘online’ about our English Eastham family, nor could I find any published ‘paper’ family histories.  From all appearances, I was the first person ever to attempt a history of the Lancashire Eastham family.  Thankfully I could rent microfilms of British documents and buy history books and other resources.  Many, many fascinating hours were spent in research facilities looking at microfilm of parish registers and other official documents, piecing together a little of our ancestry.  Aunt Dorothy’s memories were of invaluable assistance, and my dad, Joe Egan, helped, too.  (Gram, Uncle Les, Uncle Al, and Mom had already passed away, and Uncle Tommy wasn’t available.)

I put the data into my computerized family tree program and uploaded the file to the internet to share with other researchers in the hope that we could help each other along.  The only problem was that in 1996, no one else was researching the English Eastham family!

A few years later, though, cousin Dave Eastham joined in. We all owe Dave a huge debt of thanks for the effort and money he invested to obtain so many official birth, marriage and death certificates from England, photos of tombstones in the Preston cemetery, and much more.  He made contact with English cousins and got information about collateral families from them.  He even made a trip to England to do some research for us!  THANK YOU, DAVE!!

Cousin Janet Kruger joined in a few years after Dave, and she contributed, as well – she continuously hunted for more documents as they came online, and she helped us correct some errors with her great eye for detail. Anything posted here with regard to the Kruger/Krueger Family is Janet’s work.  We were so sad when Janet passed away earlier this year.

Over the last 10 or so years, English, Canadian and Australian cousins have begun contributing to our fund of knowledge about the family, and it has been fun to correspond with them and share photos.  With everyone’s help, we’re getting a strong picture of who our extended family is.  Perhaps you can contribute, too!  I hope you’ll enjoy learning a little about our quintessentially British family!

Sue Wyatt, eastham.genealogy@gmail.com

August 2017, Aqaba, Jordan

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© Sue Wyatt and EASTHAM Family History Web Site, 2017.  Permission to use and/or duplicate original or personal photos or information published at EASTHAM Family History and not otherwise available through a public or commercial source is prohibited without specific written permission from Sue Wyatt and any family member(s) who may have an interest in said material. 

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