Alfred Robert 'Alf' Eesley
also known as Alf; the 'Alf (Albert Robert)' caption in the 'Eesleys circa 1900' PowerPoint was a transcription error — his given name was Alfred Robert, not Albert Robert
b. 1867-07, Michigan, United States
d. 1954
His given name was Alfred Robert Eesley — per Dale Eesley’s FamilySearch tree (ID LZTC-RC2), not Albert Robert. The “Eesleys circa 1900” PowerPoint caption’s “Alf (Albert Robert)” compressed Alfred → Alf → Albert through ordinary handwriting and memory, not from any record. There were two Albert Roberts in this generation, not three: Sr the father and Bert (born Robert Albert) the son. Alf was a third son with a similar-sounding but distinct first name.
The life on the page
He was born in July 1867 in Michigan — the family’s Michigan years, between the Ontario start and the eventual Toronto retirement of his parents. He was the fourth-eldest of the ten children (after John Franklin, Hannah Goldie ‘Anna’, and William). He outlived almost all of his siblings, dying in 1954 at age 87 and being buried at Pleasant Cemetery, Mount Sterling, Madison County, Ohio — meaning he ended his life in central Ohio rather than the Toronto where most of his sisters and his physician brother settled.
He appears in the 1899 Eesley family group portrait as one of the seated row. The portrait’s “Eesleys circa 1900” caption identifies him as “Alf (Albert Robert)” — the transcription error this archive has now corrected against the structured record.
He is not named individually in William Eesley’s c. 1916 obituary’s list of six miller-brothers — which gives them as “John R., William, Robert, A. R., C. L., and Garfield.” The most parsimonious reading is that the “Robert” in that list is Alf — the obituary’s compiler used “Robert” as a third name distinct from “A. R.” (Bert’s newspaper convention).
He is Chuck’s great-great-uncle on the paternal side.
Sources: Dale Eesley / FamilySearch — Alfred Robert Eesley (LZTC-RC2); the “Eesleys circa 1900” PowerPoint caption (family compilation, transmitted by Chuck Eesley 2026); the 1899 family group portrait caption; William Eesley obituary, c. 1916.
