A Life in 3 Journals: Shadrick Franklin Easter

P resent-day America was significantly shaped by the pivotal events of World War I, the Prohibition era, and the Great Depression. Generations of Americans lived through all these events in their lifetime, and some even recorded their firsthand experience of what it was like. Shadrick Franklin Easter kept three journals during these large-scale events. The journals grant historians and researchers a peek inside his everyday reality. One journal was from his time serving in the U.S. Army during World War I, another from his work as a Virginia State Prohibition Officer in 1925, and the last was from his tenure as a Federal-level Prohibition agent in 1929.

Easter was born on December 25, 1897, in Carroll County, Virginia,¹ to his parents, Isaac Easter (1859-1921) and Martha Marsh Easter (1881-1901), where he spent his childhood growing up in Cana, Virginia, with his younger brother Philip Thomas Easter (1900-1973).² According to his descendants, Easter attended school for a number of years; it is unknown if he finished high school. He joined the U.S. Army in 1916 at eighteen years old. The United States did not initiate conscription until 1917,³ so it can be believed that Easter entered of his own volition.

His very first entry in his diary describes his journey to being sworn into the U.S. Army, “June 20th, 1916, at 6:45 a.m. I left Winston Salem, N.C. for Columbus O.[Ohio], to be sworn in the U.S. Army.”⁴ His entry goes on to describe that he arrived in Columbus, where he took his oath on June 23rd and was assigned to a squad. But shortly after, he was transferred to the Medical Department, where he served until he was furloughed in 1920.

Easter’s army life began with a rocky start; while traveling to Del Rio, Texas, from Columbus, Ohio, he recorded that he “developed the measles on the road to S. A. Tex. [San Antonio, Texas].”⁵ Once he made it to the base and recovered, he was sent off to begin his duty at the “Casual Camp” and got acquainted with his squad and instructors. The early entries of the diary describe life in the barracks, rotating duties, responsibilities at the new hospital, schedules, names of other officers and superiors, and activities during off-time. Easter kept a handful of photographs that capture his time at the Del Rio army base from 1916 to 1917. A few photos depict the camp hospital he was stationed in, his fellow officers he served with, the natural landscapes in Del Rio, as well as a festive Christmas dinner in 1916. Another issue that Easter faced during his time in the army was scoring just a fraction of a point too low on his paperwork examinations in June of 1917. However, his superior Officer, Major Blanchard, waived the examination requirement and recommended him to graduate to Sergeant rank. The score requirement was waived on account of the war.⁶ Shortly after this, on August 10, Easter received orders to go overseas.

The journey from France to Texas was long, with many stops along the way. Easter records every major stop the unit took; San Antonio, Houston, Baton Rouge, Montgomery, Atlanta, Columbia, Charlotte, Danville, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Delaware, Jersey City, and finally Governors Island, New York.⁷ Once there, the unit got aboard a lighter that transported them to their vessel, the Adriatic. From New York, they sailed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, on to Scotland, then Liverpool, England, and finally, Le Havre, France. The unit arrived in Le Havre, France, in early September. Easter’s time stationed overseas was marked with a large amount of traveling from Havre to several cities, including London, Winchester, Southampton, Nevers, and Paris.

A significant historical event that Easter records is the day of the Armistice on November 11, 1918. He was working in Southampton, England, when the Treaty of World War I was signed. He and his squadron celebrated the signaling of the end of the war. Easter wrote that he confessed to Lieutenant Eisman during the celebrations that “he had waited 14 months for the war to end and it had.”⁸ He spent the next two years in France and England assisting with demobilization efforts and off-time activities. His diary post-armistice is filled with entries listing the cultural sites he visited, hotels he stayed at, and trouble he got into with his fellow officers.

Among the many attractions he toured were the Venus de Milo, the Tower of London, the British Museum, Madame Tussauds, and many shows at the Ambassador Theater, and the Palace Theatre.⁹ Easter also saw President Woodrow Wilson, King George, Queen Mary, and Mrs. Wilson at Buckingham Palace.¹⁰ He served in the army until he was honorably discharged from the Army Reserve on June 4, 1920, as a result of the abolition of the regular army reserve and furlough of the reserve earlier that year.¹¹

He returned to his childhood town of Cana, Virginia, after he was discharged. Due to his time overseas, he earned a large sum of money from the U.S. Army and used it to purchase a farm near Cana. On October 13, 1920, Shadrick Easter married Laura Evelyn Robinson of Carroll County, and they had four children: Ruby Aline Easter, Raleigh Dayton Easter, Evelyn Janis Easter, and Philip Franklin Easter II.¹² Unfortunately, the farm was not successful due to poor soil, and he later ended up selling it.¹³

From 1925 to 1928, Easter worked as a Virginia State Agent and a Revenue Officer during the Prohibition era. In Virginia, the Prohibition was instituted at the state level in 1916 and was later nationalized by the 18th Amendment in 1919.¹⁴

Easter kept a 131-page journal that was dedicated to recording the names of individuals he arrested in Virginia who were found in possession of alcohol and the components to manufacture alcohol. The entries include the name, age, date of arrest, the location, description of cars (if present), how much alcohol was confiscated, and how much remained on the premises. Some entries include a record of conversation if something significant occurred upon arrest, such as Easter’s interaction with Joseph Jake on September 11, 1925; Jake said:

‘don’t get hard, I’ll show you something.’ I said ‘you are under arrest and you’ll have to go to jail’ he said ‘I ain’t under arrest, you can’t pack something on me I ain’t done.’ I laid my hand on his right arm and had my gun in my right hand and he jerked loose and drew his hand back as if to strike me and I knocked him down.¹⁵

The journal is filled cover-to-cover with arrest entries. A hard end date when he last used it is unclear. Near the end of the journal, entries are dated going back-and-forth between May, June, and August of 1925. Easter could have added in entries to whatever blank space he could find once the notebook was entirely used. He would continue working as a State Prohibition officer until 1928. According to a letter between Easter and his supervisor, on December 3, 1928, Easter resigned from his state officer job because he accepted a position with the Federal Prohibition Department to work as an agent.¹⁶

The journal that Easter kept for his new Federal job had a new use: to document his undercover interactions with individuals whom he purchased or attempted to purchase alcohol so their identities could later be used for arrests. He was even outfitted with an undercover driver’s license with the name “W. B. Crawford” to complete his sleuth-work.¹⁷ His main job responsibilities were gathering information.

He learned who sold alcohol from chefs and cooks at several restaurants, workers at gas stations, individuals at pool rooms, and general word of mouth. He documented a plethora of information regarding the scene, the place, and the person(s). For example, in each entry, he recorded the date and time of each interaction, the physical description of the person, an estimated age, the dollar amount he bought the alcohol for, and the conversations that took place before and after purchasing the alcohol. On December 11, 1928, Easter logged a purchase from a man and described him with, “medium dark hair, blue eyes, light check cap, light brown coat, 2 gold teeth upper right show when he smiles.”¹⁸

A key detail Easter recorded in depth is the suspect’s movement, such as the direction the individual walked when retrieving the alcohol for Easter, and how much time they were gone to retrieve the alcohol/whiskey. The journal also kept a record of his daily work schedule, the gas use of his government car, and the officer who worked with him, typically Sergeant Wilcox. Stationed throughout Virginia, Easter’s rounds included Richmond, Harrisonburg, Staunton, Kent, South Boston, Amelia, Winchester, Charlottesville, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Mosley, Clayville, Danville, Martinsville, Halifax, Ashland, and Powhatan.

There is no record of when his time as a Federal Prohibition officer ended; his journal’s final entry is dated January 17, 1929,¹⁹ and his descendants record that his family was greatly affected by the Great Depression in 1932.²⁰ The nationwide economic recession began in October of 1929 and was only alleviated in 1942 when the United States joined the Allies in World War II, which resulted in the creation of many well-paid defense jobs.²¹ This stretch of time would be a difficult period in Easter’s life. Job scarcity made it challenging to support a family of five. To make ends meet, he held many jobs, mostly manual labor.

In 1932, he drove a taxi in Richmond. In 1934, he cut wood for a local doctor’s farm in Stephens City, Virginia. The next year, he worked at a log mill in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and on a Works Progress Administration program, where he helped build a new road from Kernstown to Stephens City.²² In 1936, Easter and his wife, Laura, bought a gas station that the family ran for less than a year. In 1937, he worked at M. J. Grove Lime Company Quarry but got laid off the very next year due to the poor economy. Easter eventually turned to work in the apple orchards in Stephens City.

The Easter family moved to Winchester, Virginia, in 1942, and Shadrick suffered a stroke and was no longer allowed to do hard labor. He got a job at O’Sullivan’s Rubber Plant in Winchester for a few years. But his last job would be at the American Viscose Corporation, a rayon plant, from 1960 until his retirement. Shadrick Franklin Easter would pass away on August 17, 1963.²³