Date of Death: About November 26, 1870
Interment source:
Daughters of the American Republic, Corpus Christi Chapter.
Texas Marriage Records of Nueces County: Wills, Cemetery, Church and Bible Records.
Compiled by Mrs. C. C. Miller and Annie Laura McFadin.
Daughters of the American Revolution, Corpus Christi Chapter, 1957.
NO HEADSTONE
Biography
Unfortunately no local papers from Nueces County have been found for the period in which Easter Wheaten died. Records compiled by early historians of the Coastal Bend list Easter as dying "about" November 26, 1870. The Federal census record of Nueces County for 1870 does list a "Esther Wheaton" who is 74 years old and a native of South Carolina. She is head of a house in which dwell also Troy Egglison (a 50 year old from Louisiana who is working as a drayman) and Troy Ellis (a 16 year old from Texas). All are listed as "black". In this record it should be noted the name is given as "Esther Wheaton" and not "Easter Wheaten". At such an elderly age it is not surprising that this woman died reportedly a few months after the 1870 census was taken. A search of the 1860 census record of Nueces County reveals a "Mary Wheaton" whose age and birthplace match Esther's. Mary in 1860 is listed as "black", aged 64 years old, and a native of South Carolina. She is living next door to the Samuel McComb family and doing laundry (her occupation is given as "Washwoman"). What is interesting is that this is prior to the Civil War and would indicate that Esther/Mary is a free black woman because slaves are not listed with the regular census, but separately according to their owner. Moreover, in that census they are not given personal names. They are only numbers. Esther/Mary is reported in the 1860 census as living on her own, a single female black, who has real estate valued at $500 and a personal estate valued at $150. Her neighbor John Dowsey only has a personal value of $75, and her neighbor Mr. Samuel McComb has real estate valued more than hers, but a personal estate actually less than hers. Esther lives mostly in a neighborhood filled with people of foreign birth (Ireland, Scotland, Canada), but she is holding her own financially despite her age. In 1860 her 64 years would have made her a matriarch next to Samuel McComb at 29 years old and Elizabeth Southwick at 35.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell