THE MYRA ESAREY EVANS RESOURCE ROOM:

A reference center for the distribution of Esarey and related research publications, files, and reference materials

Special credit, thanks, and affection is extended to Patsy Van Kesteren, daughter of Myra Idora Esarey Evans, for all content presented here, and especially for her dedication to the idea that the primary goal of her mother's life's work was to share an incredibly complex and deep history of family ties with all who desire to know about it.

Myra Esarey Evans, second child of Marcus Logan Esarey and Laura Pearson Esarey, was born in 1899 in Cannelton, Indiana. She made her father's dream of researching and assembling a comprehensive Esarey Family history her life's work. Myra's work, as expressed best by its prolific results (especially given the technological and fiscal considerations it was done under) cannot in realistic assessment be considered a hobby. This was a full-time intent pursuit - a goal-driven process - augmented by relentless collection and organization of all available information. As evidenced by many many thousands of letters from informants across the country, Myra's day-by-day, year-by-year production was steady and directed towards a single goal. The results, as presented on these pages, speak for themselves.

MAJOR WORKS || SPECIFIC USEFUL RESEARCH FILES || MISCELLANEOUS FILES

MAJOR WORKS

Esarey 1935:

During his lifetime, Logan Esarey collected, preserved, and edited a great deal of family history, always attempting to make up for the family's disastrous house fire where so much assembled history was lost. By the middle 1930s (when his health failed) he had collected enough information for a volume.

This single volume, dated 1935, had genealogical charts, clippings and numerous images (up to and including Logan's death in 1942) bound together in a nearly 600 page hardbound book. From that time until now, only a single copy of this work has existed. In order to safeguard and distribute this singular family treasure, it has been scanned (late 2009) and is being distributed here on the Esarey Reunion web site.

COMPONENT FILES:

Part 1 (322 pp - Cover to p. 232 plus many pictures) (13.1 MB DOWNLOAD)

Part 2 (276 pp - p. 233 to end, plus pictures/clippings) (8.3 MB DOWNLOAD)

1935 volume images only (8.0 MB DOWNLOAD) (these images are also embedded in Parts 1 and 2).

 

Myra Esarey Evans 1949:

The assembled components for the Esarey Family history had been destroyed once, and then laboriously reassembled by Logan Esarey. After Logan's death, only one copy of the family history - the 1935 volume - existed.

To address apprehension that the assembled records might again be lost, Myra created the first edition of "Logan Esarey: His Ancestors and Their Descendants" releasing 100 copies in mimeograph form in 1949. This edition assured that never again would all the records of Esarey genealogy would be kept in one place, a goal Myra's daughter Patsy and this website strive to continue.

Entire 1949 volume: 160 pp (5.3 MB DOWNLOAD)

Myra Esarey Evans 1968:

Myra continued and greatly expanded the work begun by her father during his lifetime. In 1968, after nearly 20 more years of intensive work, Myra issued the primary edition of "Logan Esarey: His Ancestors and Their Descendants."

This mimeographed volume, totalling 1069 pages, has enjoyed great success as one of the main genealogical resources of southern Indiana. Coming as it did well before the advent of internet genealogy, and representing the almost unheard of goal of attempting to document each and every descendant of an early progenitor, this monumental volume represented a very different kind of work than the standard ancestor "lineage" genealogies of its day. The result is a broad and breathtaking portrait of the FABRIC of family interconnections generation by generation for a span of some eight or nine iterations, the simultaneous branching and intertwining of family history with the American national narrative of expansion and opportunity.

It is unclear how many copies of the 1968 volume were produced. For scores of descendant families, and for numerous emerging genealogists in the coming decades - the 1968 edition immediately became a family treasure handed down with the same care as family bibles and photo albums. But by the 1990s it had become essentially impossible to obtain copies.

Plans for a reprint resulted in a handsome hardbound volume in 2001. By 2009 the 200 copies of this reprint had also been exhausted.

Now, following the tradition that has comprised the Esarey Family history efforts from the beginning of this century-long endeavor (choosing maximum distribution and intent to share over all other concens), Myra's daughter Patsy Van Kesteren decided to make the 1968 volume available for free download here on the Esarey Reunion website.

COMPONENT FILES: (be patient; 17 MB is a very large download!)

Full text: Cover to page 734 - external pagination (16.9 MB DOWNLOAD)

Index: pages 735 to 1069 - external pagination (4.2 MB DOWNLOAD)

Images only (these are also embedded in full text): (600 kb DOWNLOAD)

Myra Esarey Evans 1975:

The 1968 volume completed the literal dream expressed by Logan Esarey's original 1935 compilation. But Myra had by no means completed her work. At nearly 70 years age she launched immediately into the next stage. Volume II of "Logan Esarey: His Ancestors and Their Descendants."

In this case, rather than the ancestory and subsequent descendant lines of Logan Esarey's father (John Clark Esarey (1841-1924), this volume's cross-cutting focus was on Logan Esarey's mother Barbara Ewing (1840-1907). Once again, a progenitor, John Ewing (born 1660) was identified and family history brought forward.

This volume thus cross-cuts and includes Esarey descendants from Logan's parents forward, as well as documenting many other cases in which Ewings intermarried with Esarey descendants.

For various reasons, this nearly 700 page volume was not made widely available after it was completed. Distributing it to a broad audience here is a welcome opportunity to preserve and extend the use of Myra's lifelong efforts.

COMPONENT FILES:

Part A (402 pp - Cover to p. 229) (5.9 MB DOWNLOAD)

Part B (94 pp - p. 230 to p. 276, plus photos) (4.6 MB DOWNLOAD)

INDEX (182 pp - p. 1 to p. 180) (2.4 MB DOWNLOAD)