Lewis Easterday Sr. was born about 1760 in Frederick County, Maryland. He was the son of German immigrants Christian and Julianna Johanna Francisca (Spiess) Easterday.

Since he was first generation to this country it is to safe to assume that he was probably fluent in German. Some of the early records were signed as Ludwig Ostertag, this being the German version of his name. In 1822 he sent a note of permission to the clerk of Gallatin County, Kentucky for the marriage of his daughter, "Feby". He signed this note as Ludwig Yesterday. It seems that the name Easterday was pronounced "Yesterday". His first name seems to be interchangeable between Lewis and Louis. While the last name has been found as Easterday, Esterday, Osterday, Ostertag and Yesterday.

Lewis moved to Kentucky sometime between 1788 and 1790, before Kentucky became a state. 

The 31 year old Lewis married 26 year old Susanna Martin, daughter of Henry Martin, in January 1791 in Woodford County, Kentucky. Her father signed a note of consent, dated 3 January 1791, for his daughter to wed Lewis. The marriage bond was dated 4 January 1791, but a return has not been found for the actual date of marriage.

Lewis was already well settled in Woodford County when this excerpt from "Historical Sketches of Kentucky" by Lewis Collins, published in 1848, took place on 6 May 1792. This is the story of the kidnaping of John Dimint by twenty‑five Indians:

    "...they took John Dimint prisoner. They then proceeded about five miles further

     up into Woodford, and encamped in a rocky cliff of Main Glenn's creek, eight or

     nine miles from Versailles. Here they remained during the night and succeeding

     day (Sunday). The alarm being spread through the surrounding country, several

     hundred men were out during Sunday, scouring the neighborhood; twenty‑five of

     whom lodged at Lewis Easterday's, about three miles above Frankfort, on Sunday

     night. The Indians, on the same night, were induced by Dimint to go to Easterday's

     still‑house, where they were unsuccessful in obtaining whisky, but managed to

     steal the horses of the twenty‑five whites, and by a rapid movement soon crossed

     the Main Elkhorn."

    As this excerpt indicates, at the time of the Easterday's settlement, the area was still a frontier. Indian attacks were numerous and the terrain rugged. These people should be remembered as pioneers and early settlers of the state.

Another interesting event was chronicled in CHRISTIAN EASTERDAY: HIS LIFE AND CHILDREN by Howard G. Lanham, M.D.

    "For some reason, perhaps to interest his brother, Daniel, to settle in Kentucky,

      he returned for a visit to Maryland in 1793. While driving a wagon from

      Georgetown to Frederick, he pulled off the road to water his team. He asked

     a woman in a nearby house for the water. A farmer who was working in an

     adjoining field asked Lewis to send his black servant to help him bring in a

     crop of wheat before a storm came. Lewis said that the lad was in the middle

     of unhitching the team, but would help him once finished. The farmers, George

     and Amos Riley, no doubt hot‑headed Irishmen, forgot their wheat and the

     coming storm. One went after Lewis with a stick and the other ran in the house

     for a gun. Lewis was forced to hide from his pursuers in a cornfield. The black

     servant quickly hitched up the wagon while the men were distracted looking for

     Lewis and took Margaret Easterday, wife of Lewis's brother, Daniel, and her

     frightened children to safety. Lewis, having escaped his pursuers, subsequently

     requested Margaret swear out a deposition against the Rileys preserving this little

     story."

It appears that Lewis enticed his brother, Daniel, to come to Kentucky in spite of the above incident, as both brothers appear on the 1794 tax list for Woodford County, Kentucky. However, Lewis remained in Kentucky and Daniel went back East and settled in Georgetown, Maryland.

In 1795 Woodford County gave up part of its territory to establish Franklin County.

Early in their marriage Lewis and Susanna lived on a farm, known as "Luckenough", southeast of Jett in Franklin County, Kentucky.

In Frederick County, Maryland, Lewis attended the Lutheran Church. He later converted to the Baptist faith, the predominant faith in Kentucky at the time. In Franklin County, Kentucky, the Easterday's were members of the Forks of Elkhorn church from before 1800 until they were dismissed by letter in 1809. They are mentioned in the book FORKS OF ELKHORN CHURCH by Ermina Jett Darnell.

In 1809 they moved to Gallatin County, Kentucky, with other member of the church, and settled near the Kentucky River.

On 21 April 1810 the Whites Run Baptist Church was organized when it's original 13 members enrolled. Among those 13 was Susanna Easterday. On the third Saturday of May in 1810, the first meeting of the members was held at the home of Lewis Easterday. In 1811 Lewis Easterday deeded over 2 acres of land for the site of the church. The church meetings continued to be held in the members homes until a church was built.  As of 2024 the church still stands on this site.

In a deed dated 18 May 1811 Lewis purchased 560 acres on the Kentucky River in Gallatin County, Kentucky.

Lewis and Susanna returned to "Luckenough" in 1820 and sold it to Thomas Jett in 1822.

In a deed from Gallatin County, dated 11 December 1823, they purchased another 888 acres. It is uncertain just how large the Easterday land holdings were at any given time, however, it is certain that their farms covered a huge area.

Lewis and Susanna had at least 7 and perhaps 8 children:

• Elizabeth (Easterday) Craig - (1791 - 1821) aged 29
• Thomas Easterday - (1793-1935) aged 45
• Lewis Easterday Jr - (1796 - 1826) aged 30
• Jane (Easterday) Davis-Searcy - (1802 - 1858) aged 55
• Lucinda (Easterday) Baker - (1803-between 1836 and 1842) aged about 35
• Abraham Easterday - (1805 - 1826) aged 21
• Phoebe (Easterday) Craig - (1805 - 1828) aged 23
• Sarah "Sally" Easterday - dated unknown. This daughter is in question. She was mentioned in THE EASTERDAY FAMILY by Nannie Fothergill in 1923. In September 1817 the Whites Run Church received several members, including Sally Easterday. In 1820 Sarah Easterday, and others, were dismissed from the church. No other records have been found of her.

Lewis died 23 April 1835 in Gallatin County, Kentucky, at the age of 75. Many Easterday family members died at very young ages. When Lewis died only 2 of his children, both daughters, were still living. For this reason, the surname of Easterday has become extinct in the Kentucky line. However, with only a few exceptions, these Easterdays and related families remained in the Carroll County, Kentucky, area.

The graves of Lewis and Susanna are near the center of the cemetery, in a section of the very old markers, very few are still legible. He is buried in the Easterday cemetery on what was his land in now Carroll County, Kentucky. The cemetery is about a half mile from the Whites Run Church, which he deeded the land for in 1810, in the town of Easterday.

In 2024 the land surrounding the cemetery is still owned by a family member, a great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Lewis and Susanna.

In 1984 his marker was in fair condition, upright and legible. In 1987 the front of Lewis' marker was gone, apparently flaked completely off. In April 2001 the face of his marker was found on the ground about 6 feet from the remains of the marker, which still stood upright. The face was still readable, though broken in many pieces (picture here). These pieces have been carefully placed by the remaining upright marker. In 2024 those pieces are gone, probably down a groundhog hole made by the marker.