John Eustace, son of James Eustace and Bridget Kennedy was born near Ballymahon, County Longford, Ireland on January 4, 1833. His baptismal record at St. Matthew’s Church in Ballymahon lists his sponsors as Patrick Kelly and Catherine Kennedy. (While we certain that the parents of John Eustace/Eustice were James Eustace and Bridget Kennedy, it is important to note that his death record at the Waseca County, MN courthouse lists his parents as Thomas Eustace and Mary Doyle). Could it be that Thomas & Mary were John's grandparents?

John married Annie Jewison, daughter of Christopher Jewison and Mary White in St. Catherine’s Roman Catholic Church at Mapleton, (Waukesha County), Wisconsin on March 19, 1864. Soon after the marriage John and Annie Eustice headed to Marquette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, where John had secured work in the mines. Judging from children’s birth records, the Eustices may have remained in Michigan for as long as four years, from 1865 until sometime in 1867 or 1868. Sometime in late 1868 or early 1869, John and Ann loaded Mary, age 4 and James, less than 2, into wagons and headed west toward a place then called Okamon near the shores of Lake Elysian. Annie’s parents and brothers had become established in this pioneer village in Waseca County, Minnesota during 1868. On June 11, 1869, John and Ann finalized the purchase of 80 acres in Sections 14 and 23 of Janesville Township, adjacent to land owned by members of the Jewison family. The Jewison family had finalized the purchase of their land in Sections 14 and 15 of Janesville Township on November 19, 1868. John and Ann built a log home nestled in a grove of oak trees, to protect their growing family from the harsh Minnesota winters.

John Eustice led a long and productive life and died during the night June 29, 1916 in Janesville, MN. On Wednesday, June 28th, he showed no sign of approaching illness He appeared in good health and was in his usual good humor as he attended to the matters of home life and its details, his last work being performed about sundown in his garden. Here he talked with his wife and neighbors, exhibiting, to a marked degree that spirit of buoyancy, congeniality and goodwill that was characteristic of his life. In this spirit he retired for the night. At eleven o’clock he appeared as cheerful and well as in the early evening hours. Later at night, between one and two o’clock, the heavy wind and rain awakened Ann, who arose to close the windows. She spoke to her husband, but since he made no response, she assumed he was asleep. After closing the windows, she laid down beside him but discovered the coldness of his hands. Surmising that something was wrong she immediately went the home of Mr. Scott, a nearby neighbor. Mr. and Mrs. Scott returned to the home with her where they concluded that John had passed away.

His last words were uttered at about eleven o’clock when he called to Ann and said, “Mother are you all right”?

 On Saturday morning July 1, 1916, Father T.J. McCarthy conducted a funeral Mass for John Eustice. The remains were buried in St. Ann’s Cemetery near Janesville.

 The July 5th edition of the Janesville Argus contains the following comments in the obituary:

“We wish here to pay more than a mere passing tribute to the life and character of Mr. Eustice. Everybody in this immediate vicinity knew Mr. Eustice and all were counted as his friends. He had no enemies. Whether his friends resided here or elsewhere, they all knew him to be a man in every sense that the term implies, a man who never uttered words derogatory to any person and who ever extolled the virtues of others, a man whose genial disposition. and sunny smiles were pregnant with blessings to mankind, a man whose honesty was never questioned and whose motives were never impugned, in fact a man whose loyalty to his convictions and fidelity to his friends and his faith are lasting monuments to the goodness of the life he lived. Such a life is worthy of the highest ecomiums that words or pen may bestow and that they are not exaggerated or overdrawn is abundantly reflected in his life and career.”