Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 5.djvu/427

 THE EASTMAN FAMILY. 389

In I 745 this stirring pioneer w as commander of a company Vaised at Rum- ford which participated in the assault of Louisburg, on Cape Breton, and before setting out, he, with sixty-two others, signed a petition to the general assembly of New Hampshire for assistance against the French and Indians. In 1746 he erected, at what is now known as East Concord, N. H., a garrison of hewn logs, which was called " Eastman's Fort." Elere all the families round about fled on the rumor of Indian raids, which were not uncommon, or upon the sound of alarm guns from the stockade. In the French and Indian war, New Hampshire bore a conspicuous part, and Rumford contributed freely of men and means. There is now in existence a " muster-roll of the Com- pany in His Majesty's Service under the command of Capt. Ebenezer East- man, 1747."

In 1755 ^'spt. Joseph Eastman, a son of Ebenezer, commanded a company raised for the expedition against Crown Point. Nathaniel, another son of Ebenezer, was in the battle fought at Lake George in 1755. Still another Eastman was a ranger under Lieut. John Stark. For this purpose the New Hampshire troops were particularly fitted, being distinguished, says Dr. Bouton's History of Concord (upon which this article depends for much valuable information), " for bold and daring enterprise, hardihood, good marks- manship, and especially for their knowledge of Indian warfare." Joseph was in the bloody fight near Ticonderoga in 1757, and in 1760, being distinguished for "trustworthiness," \olunteered, and was selected, with two others, for the hazardous duty of bearing dispatches from Crown Point to Quebec, a distance of five hundred miles through the enemy's country. This was successfullv performed, and he was a witness to the surrender of Canada soon after.

Among the Concord men who served in the '■ Continental Army " was Lieut. Ebenezer Eastman, in Capt. Aaron Kinsman's company, at Bunker Hill, in 1775. This is supposed to be a grandson of the pioneer, whose death is recorded as occurring on July 28, 1748.

In 1776 Philip Eastman was chairman of the "committee of safety." whose province it was to look after su'^pected persons. In the latter part of the last century the name of Eastman was prominent as collectors, bridge proprietors, proprietors of Concord library, and town officers, and for many years previous to 1880 Samuel C. Eastman was city treasurer of Concord.

Both in the present and past generations, representatives of this family have been i)ronnnent members of the legal and medical professions, while the extremes of pulpit, press, and army, have each received worthy and stalwart recruits from the same source.

Some one has said, referring to the majestic figure-head of rhe " Old Man of the Mountain," which from Mt. Cannon, guards the Notch : " Men put out signs representing their different trades ; jewelers hang out a monster watch ; shoe-makers, a huge boot ; and, up in Franconia, God Almighty has hung out a .sign that in New England he makes men."

The descendants of Ebenezer Eastman, then, feeling an ancestral pride born of the heroic deeds and solid achievements of those whose blood runs in their veins to-day. deemed it proper that fitting observance should be made of the bi-centennial of his birth, and on October 19, 1881, gathered at short notice to the number of three hundred or more, at Merrimack hall, East Concord, N. H., and jterfected an "' Eastman " organization, with the ultimate object of a complete genealogical record of the whole family, which in all its branches may be reckoned by the thousands. The location was well chosen, being the site of the old patriot s home and fortification, as well as for the fact that here

•■ Each in his nnrrnw fell forever laid
 * T)k' rude foi-efather? oi' the hamlet sleep."

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