When Esther Anna "Essie" Cockhill was born on 11 January 1843, in Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, United States, her father, Joseph Cockill, was 26 and her mother, Anna B. Beatty, was 24. She married Jon Greene Shastid on 2 June 1861, in Pike, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 2 sons. She lived in Branch Township, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, United States in 1850 and Perry, Pike, Illinois, United States for about 30 years. She died in 1911, in Pittsfield, Pike, Illinois, United States, at the age of 68, and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Pittsfield Township, Pike, Illinois, United States.