His father, Samuel Elijah Eastman, was a minister in the Congregational Church, and his mother, Annis Bertha Ford, joined him in 1889, one of the first women in the United States to be ordained in a Protestant church.
Suo padre Samuel Elijah Eastman era un ministro della Chiesa Congregazionalista e nel 1889 sua madre Annis Bertha Ford lo affiancò, diventando la prima donna negli Stati Uniti ad essere stata ammessa in una Chiesa protestante.