Thomas
Eastlack was living at 804 Pine Street with his parents and
brothers when the 1878 Camden City Directory was compiled. By the
following year they had moved to 802 Pine
Street, and they were
all still there when the census was taken in 1880. Thomas Eastlack
was then working as an engineer at an iron foundry. On August 22,
1880 he married Emma Crandall. Thomas and Emma Eastlack had two
children together, William and Ethel. Thomas
and Emma Eastlack made their home through at least 1883 at 842
South 8th Street. By 1887 they had moved to 801 St. John
Street.
During these years he worked as an engineer at the Camden Iron
Work's and at Wood's Foundry. Sadly, Emma Crandall Eastlack died
on December 22, 1891. Thomas
Eastlack and his children lived with his widowed mother Rebecca
during the mid 1890s. The 1894-1895 City Directory has them at 410
Pine Street, the 1895-1896 edition shows 417 Pine
Street. Thomas
Eastlack next appears in city directories in 1898, at 1119 Pine
Street. The 1899 Directory has an address of 1033 Pine
Street. The
1900 Census shows that Thomas Eastlack was living at 1043 Pine
Street with his two children. The
1906 City Directory lists Thomas Eastlack at 813 Dauphin Street,
occupation "Crane runner". Ethel
Eastlack married in the early 1900s, and by 1910 had two children,
Joseph and Elsie, with William Bozarth. Thomas Eastlack and his
son William lived with the Bozarths at 431 William Street in 1910. The
1914 City Directory states that Thomas Eastlack worked as a crane
operator, and that he lived at 508 Division
Street. He was still
at that address in 1920. When the 1920 Census was taken Thomas
Eastlack was still living with his daughter Ethel and her
children. Ethel had remarried in the early 1910s, and with her
husband William Champion had produced another daughter, Mildred.
Interestingly enough the 1918-1919 City Directory and the 1920
Census both state that Thomas Eastlack had returned to employment
with the Camden Fire Department. Given his age this seems somewhat
unlikely, however, taking into consideration that many younger men
had been conscripted into the Army for service in World War I and
that Thomas Eastlack worked with steam boilers and equipment most
of his life, it certainly is a possibility that he could have been
returned to service. He probably was utilized as a houseman,
charged with securing the firehouse when calls were being
responded to. Thomas Eastlack is not listed in the 1924 Camden City
Directory. Thomas
Eastlack died on September 18, 1927 of a cerebral hemorrhage at
the Camden County Hospital at Lakeland in Gloucester Township. He
was buried at New Camden Cemetery on September 21,
1927. Thomas
Eastlack's nephew, Walter
Dayton Eastlack, the son of his brother John, was a career
member of the Camden Fire Department, serving 29 years prior to
his retirement in March of 1954.
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