Easterbee Murder – Effingham, 1885

In 1885, a shocking and tragic crime unfolded in Effingham involving brothers John and Alexander Easterbee. Amid ongoing family disputes, the two men murdered Alexander’s wife, Leafy. Following the crime, her body was buried in the family garden.

Months later, overcome with guilt, Alexander resolved to take his own life. Accompanied by his brother John, he went to a nearby field where he dug his own grave. Alexander then shot himself in the head. John subsequently slit his brother’s throat and completed the burial.

John later confessed the events to another brother, Howard, who immediately reported the matter to authorities. John was arrested, tried, and convicted of Alexander’s murder. He was sentenced to be hanged at the Welland Courthouse. However, the sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment after he was deemed to be mentally unfit, described at the time as an “imbecile.”

The documents accompanying this account include materials from my personal collection, some of which are not available online.

I was unable to locate the homestead lot and concession for John and Leafy Easterbee. I did locate the brother (Howard) on the map for you. I was also unable to locate Leafy’s maiden name. What was unfortunate is that Leafy seems to the forgotten person in this story. Her resting place is not known, most records only refer to her as his “wife” , no charge for her murder nor tribute. On a final note, you will see in the Hansler school post in February there is an Easterbee listed. The timing would mean this was a child of one of the Easterbees but I could not locate any family tree of children of any of the brothers.

Photo: testimony of Howard Easterbee taken by Justice of the Peace George W. Hansler

Photo: Order to commute sentence to life sentence

Above photos are copyright to Pelham Historical Group

Other photos: newspaper articles, map showing Henry Easterbee,

Resources: Welland Museum, Archives Ontario, Welland Tribune, personal documents