Troman Eason (1905–1949) Troman Eason was born in 1905 in Lick Skillet, Georgia (later renamed Ebenezar) to Henry and Addie Eason. As the eldest of fifteen children, he grew up in the South during a time of widespread racial discrimination.

In 1921, like many African American families seeking economic opportunities and relief from Jim Crow laws, the Eason family relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Troman married Agnes McFadden, and together they had five children: Leroy, Ella Mae, Delores, Barbara, and Vivian. During the 1930s, a pivotal moment occurred when Troman heard a radio broadcast featuring a Hawaiian musician named Jack, who played the Hawaiian guitar daily on a Philadelphia station.

Inspired by the unique sound, Troman reached out to the station and arranged to take lessons from the musician. Alongside his brother Willie, Troman became one of the first people to introduce the Hawaiian steel guitar to the House of God Church, where it eventually replaced traditional piano and organ music. Despite his musical influence, documentation on Troman Eason remains scarce. Other than U.S. census records and his death certificate, no known photographs of him exist, and his group—billed as “Professor

Troman Eason”—never recorded.

Troman Eason passed away on October 5, 1949, at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York, due to a ruptured gastric ulcer.