General Notes

Thomas N. Eastin kept a diary of his experiences on the Overland Trail as he made his way from Henderson, KY for the "Gold Country" of California (1849-50).  A copy of that diary can be obtained from http://www.filsonhistorical.org (Filson Historical Society) . The adventurers that comprised the "Henderson Party" included James Lyne, David Herndon, Edward G. Hall, Col. James T. Wilson, Jno. M. Burbank, H.M. Gaylay, (?) Dixon, (?) Tibbets, Robert Dixon, E.T. Peabody, David Hart, Jno.T. Posey, David Buchanan, Lewis Howke, Frank Schaeffer, Thomas Ford, Ben Floyd, Francis Ball, and David Locket (The latter three gentlemen left the Company at Ft. Kearney.)  Thomas`s entries reflect a man who was a "romantic", a word he used many times in his journal when describing  beauty in nature (information says he was a Civil Engineer.) He expresses moments of brief remorse of leaving his "only child" [at that time], "aging parents", and siblings back in Henderson.
A note with Thomas`s diary promises that his son Churchill will pass it to a Mr. Thruston upon Churchill`s death, which was apparently done through the estate.

SOURCES:
Thomas Norman Eastin's diary, obtained through Filson Historical Society, Kentucky.
The 1850 census for Henderson, KY shows Zachariah and wife Anna D. (Durbin) heading a household with Thomas and Penelope's son Churchill Eastin, and other family members.  He apparently returned to Kentucky, later marrying Anna Pilcher.
______________________________________________
E-Mail orrespondence from Cinda Eastin (wife of descendant of William Eastin, older brother of Thomas) 10/2004 who tells me she has a hand-drawn family tree that was prepared in 1985 by Roy Church Eastin and states "THOMAS NORMAN EASTIN (1815-? Age 31) Civil Eng., wife ANNIE PILCHER of Louisville, Ky.  Also married PENELOPE CHURCHILL of Elizabethtown, Ky, 1846.  Settled in Spotsville, Kentucky."  She shows Thomas N. as the 9th child of Zachariah and Anna.  More recently, the 1880 Louisville, KY Census shows Thomas N. (an office clerk) and wife Anna (Pilcher) with their family and with Thomas's sister, widowed Cassandra (Eastin) Rankin in the household.
______________________________________________
E-mail correspondence from Mary A. Watts 10/15/05 as follows:
"I am `browsing` the Churchill Line. I grew up on Churchill Court in Elizabethtown Kentucky (in a house my grandparents built in the early 1920s on property purchased from Rosa Williams, who was a granddaughter of Armistead Churchill. I just finished reading Armistead H Churchill`s will in which he names grandson, Churchill Eastin (along with others) In the 1880 census, Churchill Eastin is living with his mother`s sister Nellie (Mary Ellen) Churchill, and two cousins, Rosa and Nathaniel Daniel, children of another sister, Maria. Penelope Churchill married Thomas Eastin in Elizabethtown May 3, 1845, but I can`t view the license as it was not scanned in properly." Mary A Watts