Easton family accounts and business records (RLC.Ms.031)

Biographical note

James Coggeshall Easton (1803-1861) was the son of Mary Ann “Nancy” Spooner and Captain James Coggeshall Easton (1772-1851) of Newport, Rhode Island. James C. Easton worked in Newport as a merchant and craftsmen. The core of his business was making and mending shoes and boots, but that was supplemented with a range of goods for sale including various vegetables, butter, oil, leather, seaweed, and sand. He also provided services such as plowing, carting, mending clothes, and the leasing of horses and carts for day labor. He married Eliza Franklin (1804-1871) and had the following children: William Henry (1834-1910), Ann Frances (1835-1928), Elizabeth C. (1838-1919) and Albert I. (1851-1893). James C. Easton died on February 18, 1861, and is buried at Island Cemetery in Newport. William H. Easton (1834-1910) was the son of James C. and Eliza Easton and also worked in Newport. He worked as a pork packer and sausage manufacturer. He opened a firm with George W. T. Tilley (1838-1898), named William H. Easton & Company, which was located on West Broadway in Newport. Tilley married Elizabeth C. Easton (1838-1919), the brother of William H., and was a member of the firm until his sudden death in 1898.