A sad accident and death occurred in the fall of 1834; that is the belief, but the body was never found. -William Easom came out to Missouri to look at the country with a view of settling should it suit him. He stopped at a cabin south of the river near Grindstone Creek, and was going to visit the Burnses whom he knew.
The rains had raised Grand River so that it was not supposed to be fordable and he was told so. He replied. “I am a good swimmer and if I cannot ford it I will swim over.” He left the cabin with his rifle and sack, and that was the last seen of him.
The Burnses expected him, and went south of the river to make enquiries as to whether such a man had been seen. The settler’s where he had stopped told of his leaving and his remarks about swimming over. The neighbors were aroused and search made. His rifle and sack were found by a log carefully rolled up together on the south side, and it was believed that he had concluded to swim over and come back for his traps. After covering them up he had attempted to swim the raging current of Grand River near what is now known as Williams’s Ford, and there met his fate in its turbid waters.
A long search for the body proved fruitless and nothing further was ever seen or heard of William Easom.
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