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Note: #639 Buried with a monument commemorating the historic fact that he was the father of the Presbyterian churches of the Niagara & Gore districts and that he served his Master faithfully & with eminent success for more than half a century. Converted when 14 years old. Attended North Salem Seminary. Studied theology with Rev. Mr. Lewis of North Stamford, CT and later with Dr. Benedict of NJ. Licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Morristown, NJ on March 18, 1800. Preached at Elizabethtown, Amity & Warwick. The oldest manuscript sermon of his had the date September 23, 1800. In May 1801 he started with friends under the leadership of Capt. Hopkins (his father-in-law) for Canada West. After 4 weeks journey across NY they crossed the Niagara river to St. Cathernes where he preached his 1st sermon in Canada the 1st Sunday in July of 1801. At the time there were only 2 Presbyterian ministers in all Upper Canada; Mr. Bethune at Williamstown, Glenary & M McDowell at Bay of Quinte. He settled in Stamford. In June 1802 he moved to a 50-acre farm near Beaver Dam and soon ordained by the Presbytery of Canandaigua at Palmyra, NY. Authorized to solemnize marriages. For the next 30 years he married about 3,000 couples. At the time no other clergy except Mr. Addison of Niagara (Church of England) was authorized to perform marriages in the Niagara district. Between 1802 & 1815 he founded & mostly supplied the churches of Louth, Clinton, Gainsboro, Grimsby, Wellandport & Vienna subsequently known as Mr. Eastman's 7 churches. In 1815 he moved to Barton for 4 years. During the War of 1812 he was living at Beaver Dam. Most of the peninsular battles were faught near his home. In the skirmish of Beaver Dam his home was pierced with so many bullets that the family took refuge in the cellar. An Indian ally decamped with the minister's horses. He was member of the first Presbytery of York about 1820. He withdrew all connections in 1833 and in May of that year assisted in organizing the Niagara Presbytery of Upper Canada which went to pieces in the McKenzie rebellion of 1836-1837. 1840 went onto the synod of the Presbyterian church in Canada in connection with the church of Scotland and after it's disruption in 1844 he entered the Free church. In his later ministry he was assisted by his son William Osgood. He preached until about 1850 whth increasing blindness until totally blind about 1856. Had a paralytic stroke about 1865
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