Francis Harvey Eastes was the daughter of James Harvey and Betty Mary Francis Holcombe. She was born on Aug. 14, 1774 in Edgefield, SC. She was married to Obadiah Eastes, oldest son of Elisha Estes and Jane (some same her family name was Brown, but no proof has been found.)

She was 17 at the time of her marriage. She was the mother of 11 children including: Jane, Philamon, John, Sarah, Dinah, Landon, Lucinda, Permelia, Holman, and twins James P., William M.

In 1976, the Hancock County Bicentennial Commission organized a 4th of July celebration and picnic near the old Eastes homestead at Mt Comfort. The celebration and picnic was to honor the memory of the residents who had held the first 4th of July celebration and picnic in the County in July of 1845 and to dedicate an Historical Marker.
Again, the key speaker was Reverend Victor Stoner who said in his Reminiscences of Buck Creek Township:
"We are assembled here today to commemorate an event that occurred 7 July 1845 on the Eastes farm a short distance north of Mt Comfort. Let us hear excerpts from the account as told by Dr Hervey and recorded in Benford's History of Hancock County:

This next is an excerpt from http://www.estes-eastes.org/heritage4/pafn11.htm#227 Compiled by Leroy Eastes

"There was one opinion on the occasion, and that was that the Fourth should be celebrated in the best way we could do it. We had no drums, flags, no band of music. Committees were appointed to see what could be done. When the time came for the committees to report, the arrangements had been made. Old Mother Eastes (Francis) had some fine linen sheets which she had woven years ago and which had never been used. No use fretting about a flag - take one of these sheets. Some other lady had red and blue flannel and some gentleman agreed that the flag with its proud eagle and it's stars and stripes should be put together and fastened upon a flag staff."

1850 census, Buck Creek Township, Hancock County, Indiana, "Electronic," Enumerated on Sept. 5, 1850 Page 257 Roll M432_149.

695 117 Frances Eastes 77 F 700 South Carolina
Diannah Newland 46 F Kentucky

"On 3 September 1854, Francis passed a way. The settlement of the estate was entered into the Hancock County Common Pleas Court in July 1855 and again in the April term in 1856. There were so many persons named in the will that the Court ordered the land (54 acres), to be sold and distributed among the heirs. The land was sold to James Woods , husband of Permelia Eastes, for the sum of $850.00." Notes from Leroy Eastes