Family:Michael Easterly and Anna Vogel (1)

Family History

Early Easterly Family History

Strangers in a New Land

Now, let’s get back to the question of how and why our ancestors arrived in this place? My thoughts are that they were deposited, possibly as refugees of war, in the vicinity of an established town or village, where there was sufficient vacant land for these strangers to build shelters, plant and tend crops, and care for their livestock. In addition, their new home would have to be close enough to the “adopted” town to allow them to buy basic supplies, yet far enough away such that the established residents did not feel threatened by their presence.

The established residents referred to these newcomers as “the Oesterles,” which means “the men of the East.” The first question is East of what? I would think that there must have been a natural geographical distinction of areas such as a stream or river, a mountain, opposite side of a valley, etc. The residents’ term of reference also suggests that these newcomers were foreigners who spoke a different language.

For the next 1300 years “the Oesterles” lived and prospered in the region of the Palatinate, the Alsace-Lorraine area along the Rheine River, as it proceeded toward the North Sea, hundreds of miles away. They became known as French, Belgian, and German, depending largely on which side of the Rheine they lived. The established residents eventually accepted them, perhaps because of an act of distinguished community service, such as helping defend the area against invasion. Inevitably, marriages occurred, bringing the groups closer together. Over several generations, the foreigners accepted the townspeople’s reference to them as “Oesterles,” and their original surnames faded, evolving into Oesterle, Oesterlin, Osterlin, ‘Estree, de Sterling, and other variations.

Our earliest known ancestors from this area were three brothers, Jacob Oesterlin, Hans Georg Oesterle and Conrad Oesterlen, who came to the North American colonies in 1738 and 1743. This information is established by the limited information available in ships’ manifests. Although numerous cousins, both French and German, are still residents of the area, we are unable to link our direct ancestors, Jacob, Conrad, and Hans Georg to a specific family.

In 1066 one of the descendants of the original Oesterle settlers was selected to go with William the Conqueror across the English Channel to invade and conquer England in the Battle of Hastings. His name was William de Sterling. His descendants were traders, who were credited with creating the Sterling Coin as the English monetary system in order to facilitate ease of trade between England and the European mainland.

Descendants of Sir William de Sterling were English, Irish and Scottish. One of his descendants was appointed an English Baron in 1611. Another descendent during this time period was a Scottish Knight named Sir John Easterly. In addition, a John Easterly is on record as having owned land in Virginia in 1695 (about 40 years before Jacob, Conrad, and Hans Georg arrived in North America). Therefore, it appears that our name became Easterly long before going through the translation process as immigrants in the British Colonies.

To this day we go by many names, including Oesterle, Oesterlen, Oesterlin, Oster, Estre, Sterling, Stirling, Sturling, Easter, Easterly, Easterley, and Easterling. We’re all cousins.

“...the search goes on.”

Walter F Easterly [Source: EasterlyFamilyPages.net, screen captures from 2004]

1.   Germany. Germany Marriages, 1558-1929: index. (FamilySearch MyHeritage).

   Name: Anna Margretha Vogel
   Gender: Female
   Marriage Date: 1. Mrz 1698 (1 Mar 1698)
   Marriage Place: Evangelisch, Blankenloch, Karlsruhe, Baden
   Spouse: Hannss Michel Oesterli
   FHL Film Number: 1272867