Feb. 20,1781 - Feb. 25,1870

 

Asa Eastwood was born in the Eastwood home in Allentown, Monmouth County, New Jersey, on February 20, 1781, the third son of Lewis and Virginia Mary Eastwood. Virginia Mary, had previously blessed Lewis with the births of their eldest son, Lewis Jr., and John, who was born two years prior to Asa. Asa's closest younger brother, Enos, was also born at home in Allentown, about a year after Asa's birth. The Eastwood family moved north to Goshen, New York after Enos' birth, in the summer of 1785. The births of brother Benjamin and sister Catherine followed in New York during the next two to three years.

Asa's father, Lewis was a currier (one who dresses tanned hides) and tanner ( refer to Eastwood history page - The Tanning Business - History ). While in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Lewis began to firmly establish his career as a tanner.

[- New Jersey Deed Records show that on April 4, 1785, Lewis and Mary Eastwood of Allentown, Monmouth County, sold their tanyard {tannery} for the sum of 440 pounds].

*According to the “History of Orange Co. NY” by Ruttenber & Clark- "Lewis Eastwood lived in the town of Warwick in September, 1785 when his land was assessed at the value of 5 s. 3 p.  Of the seventy families living in District 9 (evidently comprised of the southern portion of the present town of Goshen, the Florida (?) neighborhood of Warwick, and southward to the vicinity of Mount Eve) his land was among the least valuable".

As noted in the diary of Asa Eastwood:
“My father moved from Allentown, New Jersey when I was a child, to Goshen, State of New York, from there to Schenectady, from thence to Balstown, from thence to Lolenburgh, from thence to Kinder Hook, from thence to Harperfield, from there to Catskill, from thence to Red Hook. Living in some place from several years and in other for several months only, in the former place he carried on his trade in an extensive manner which was that of Tanner and Currier in Balston.” *{New York}.

In addition to Lewis’ itinerancy, he professed to have little faith in "public education" and believed that 'experience was the best teacher'; subsequently, his children were all "home schooled". This is a fact that Asa bemoans in several entries in his diary. However, what Asa might have missed in a formal education, was more than made up for by his busy, young life (validating his father's beliefs). His writings (diary, letters, political and legal papers) display an education far superior to the majority of the people raised and schooled during the times.

*Author's Note: In deference to the "home schooling" from Lewis and Mary, the author must point out that Asa's aforementioned diary is now housed at Syracuse University's ______ and has been the historical reference for numerous newspaper articles, historical papers, et al. Additionally, during Asa's long and esteemed career, he was both appointed and elected to countless public offices at the municipal, county, state, and national levels. While serving as Constable and Justice of the Peace under appointment of New York Governor Clinton, he was elected as a delegate to the State Convention to revise the new US Constitution. He was next elected to the New York State Legislature. where, upon arrival, he was granted "Freedom of the City" by New York Mayor, Stephen Allen. His last elected office was to the NY State Assembly in November, 1832. During his political career, he also was elected "Sachem" (leader) of New York's famed Tammany Society (Tammany Hall) and was a founder and early leader of the New York Freemasons (Masonic Order). It was the age difference between Asa and the "American Founding Fathers" that prevented their personal and professional intimacy, not his lack of formal schooling. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the tutelage of both former US Vice Presidents, Aaron Burr and George Clinton (New York's first and longest serving Governor). The author has been unable to undercover any links to George Washington (Virginia), Paul Revere (Boston), or Benjamin Franklin (Philadelphia), however they were all US Freemason founders and leaders, but all matters pertaining to the ancient order are shrouded in secrecy.

The Village of Goshen is about 50 miles northwest of New York City. The village still exists and is located within the current Town of Goshen, which was formally established in 1789 (four years after the arrival of the Eastwoods). The new proximity to the busiest seaport in the colonies provided Lewis with a variety of business opportunities which required him to visit the harbor on a regular basis. When he visited, he was usually accompanied by his four sons. The boys were now growing up around the ships in the harbor and were instilled with a love and respect for the sea which they retained throughout their lifetimes. Sadly, it would also prove to be the cause of the demise of the eldest son, young Lewis Jr. at the tender age of nine.
The records of the John Street Methodist Church in New York City states that “Lewis Eastwood, ... died of a fall from the mast onto the Quarter Deck on Dec. 2, 1786”. The death was a tragedy for Lewis and his young family but it failed to dissuade his next three sons, John, Asa, and Enos, from their adolescent dreams of a life on the sea. Less than three years later, tragedy again visited the Eastwood family when Virginia Mary took ill and died.
*My assumption that Virginia Mary’s Date of Death is around 1790 is based on the entry in Asa Eastwood’s diary which states:
“My mother died when I was about nine years of age, and my father married in about a year thereafter”.

My research seems to indicate that Lewis was the first of the Eastwoods in America to remarry. He married his first wife, Virginia Mary, in 1776. The widower married his second wife, Lucy, in New York City, 1791/92.

       This is a contemporary drawing of the first Tammany Wigwam in New York City - 1812.     Originally, the Tammany Society was organized as a men's social club, where the educated, intellectuals of the region would meet to exchange thoughts and ideas among peers. "Wigwam" is derived from the group's original interest in the customs and culture of the Native Americans and initially adapted many of them into the Tammany Society's procedures and 'rituals'. The first (and only - 'in name') 'Wigwam" was located on the corner of Nassau and Frankfort Streets in downtown New York City. In reality, by 1812, The "Tammany Society" and "Tammany Wigwam" were both already usually referred to as "Tammany Hall". Aaron Burr had effectively converted the "direction" of Tammany from social, intellectual, to political for the US Presidential Election in 1800. Burr had served several terms in the New York State Assembly in the 1780's and 1790's, was the Attorney General of New York (1789-90), and a Senator from New York (1791-97). During John Adams's term as the second US President, national parties became clearly defined. Burr associated himself with Thomas Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party which was the upcoming party opposing the Federalist party which had been in control during the new government's formative years, As a key player in New York politics (the center of the new nation's government at that time), he had recognized the importance of a central political base ("machine") and the Tammany Society evolved into such and proved to be the organization behind the election of Thomas Jefferson as the third (and really first popularly elected) President of The United States. Burr, though Jefferson's strongest ally at the time, tied Jefferson in the vote of the Electoral College and accepted the Vice Presidency after 3 tie-breaker votes by the US House of Representatives, and served from 1801 until 1805.

Asa Eastwood was elected "Sachem" ('leader' - another term retained from original "Native" terminology) of Tammany Hall on May 13, 1823, a most prestigious political position in early US democratic history. He was a devout member of Jefferson's Democratic-Republican Party until 1856. At 75 years of age, due to his ardent opposition to slavery, and especially its expansion, he joined the ranks of Lincoln's Republican Party, and remained until his death in 1870.