El
Dorado County
Biographies
GEORGE WASHINGTON EASTON, SR.
To
the late George Washington Easton, Sr., belonged the distinction of being the
oldest pioneer of Plymouth, and throughout Amador County he was recognized as
one of the community’s best citizens. He
was born on a farm in Wisconsin on the 28th of November, 1852, his
parents being Thomas William and Lucinda Jane (Van Lone) Easton, the latter a
native of New York. In 1854 they
journeyed across the plains to California, locating first in Sacramento, whence
soon afterward they moved to El Dorado County and Thomas W. Easton engaged in
the hotel business at Brownsville. In
1873 he came to Plymouth, where he built a hotel. When this was destroyed by fire, he erected
another hostelry which he conducted successfully until the time of his
retirement from active business. To him
and his wife were born four children, a son and three daughters.
George
W. Easton, Sr., who was but two years of age when brought by his parents to the
Golden state, attended the public schools of El Dorado County and after putting
aside his textbooks went to work in the mines of Calaveras County, at one of
which he ran the hoist for seven years.
On the death of his father, he took over the management of the hotel at
Plymouth. Some years later the hotel was
again burned, and Mr. Easton then went to work in the quartz mill but retired
at the end of seven years, spending the remainder of his life in well earned
leisure. In early manhood, Mr. Easton was
united in marriage to Miss Eleanor Sallee, who was born in the state of
Missouri but was reared in California.
They became the parents of three children, namely: Mrs. Mary McCloud; George W., an electrical
engineer; and Mrs. Hazel Carlson. All
are residents of the Bay district. There
are also four grandchildren.
Mr.
Easton supported the Republican Party and during all the years of his residence
here loyally supported those measures calculated to promote the best interests
of the community. He held membership in
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows for fifty-three years and passed through
all the chairs of the subordinate lodge.
He was a man of sterling principles and straightforward manner, sincere
and constant in his social relations, and all who knew him held him in the
highest measure of esteem. His death
occurred in December, 1930, when he was seventy-eight years of age.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3, Pages 283-284. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010
Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden
Nugget Library's El Dorado County Biographies