Easom Sharp Hickman

1828-1916

      Easom, born 25 September 1828, was the last surviving member of Edwin Temple Hickman's family.  He married Miriam O. Reid (born 7 December 1833) on 16 September 1851.  When gold fever in 1859 attracted thousands to cross the plains to Colorado, Easom and five of his Hickman brothers went to Pike's Peak to join the excitement.  He returned to Iowa near the end of 1860.  His father Edwin Temple Hickman lived with him in Adiar County, Missouri before he died, and Easom's family passed down an 1855 family Bible, in which in addition to the births, marriages and deaths of his parents, brothers and sisters,  was recorded the births of his and Miriam's children:

Milton Franklin Hickman, December 15, 1854    Iowa

Elizabeth Woods Hickman,      July  24, 1856     Iowa

Lorah D. Hickman,          October 11, 1859       Iowa

Warren Edwin Hickman, November 21, 1861    Iowa

Ida Jane Hickman,    April 29, 1864    Iowa

Homer Virgil Hickman      May 12, 1868    Iowa

Lee D. Hickman                       July 20, 1875     Missouri

       In 1879 one of his sons, Warren Edwin, went to Colorado for a year and chased bandits with his uncle, Thomas Jefferson Hickman.  He later wrote a book about his adventures, entitled An Echo From the Past.

      The following information was provided by Warren's daughter, Lerona Hickman Peck:

Easom elected to be a school teacher and attended college for a year.  He met Mariam Oldham Reed on his walks to and from the school house.  She was her father's bookkeeper and rode around the plantation taking notes for him.  When the Civil War came the Reed house was burned and they escaped with little of their wealth.  They came up to Missouri and lived close to Easom for a while.

Easom had dark brown hair and a red mustache.  Warren Edwin Hickman and Homer Hickman were born in Iowa where Easom built his house and farmed.  He was quite a good cabinet maker and during the winter months went into town to earn extra money.  The second story of his house was not completed when they moved into the upstairs bedrooms.  The boys' bed was close to the edge of the uncompleted flooring.  Homer being the baby slept on the inside.  During the night he crawled over Warren and fell to the first floor.  His head hit an overturned wash basin and other than being a little dazed was none the worse for his experience.

Easom came back from his cabinet making with two taffata silk dress lengths for his wife that had cost him $50.  Mariam missed her relatives and friends and several times made the trip with her little daughter to El Dorado Springs, a fashionable hot springs where she had relatives.

Easom was the quiet one of the family and Mariam, the spunky one.  She thought that men in buggies should turn out for women and one day she met a man who held the road and their buggy wheels locked.  She came home in quite a huff.  Easom and Mariam spent their last days with Homer, a doctor, living at Princeton, Illinois in an apartment Homer made for them as part of his house.

--Hope Hilton Papers, Ms 584, Box 1 Folder 1, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah

  If anybody has any further information, we'd be happy to add it to this page.

To learn more about Warren's visit with Thomas J. Hickman, click here.

To return to the Hickman Family index page, click here.