John Eaton, the eldest son of Thomas, was baptized on December 26, 1590 in “Hatton, County Warwick, England…He appears to have grown up at Beausale in Hatton parish, a village about five miles northwest of Warwick” (20), “up the Avon River from Stratford, Shakespeare’s birthplace” (Eaton & Converse, 10).[1] “One can draw a circle less than 2 ½ miles in radius, just outside Warwick, which encloses more than a half-dozen hamlets mentioned in small legacies to road upkeep or churches in wills of John Eaton’s father, grandfather and great grandfather. The larger parish is that of Hatton: the main residences of this lineage were at Rowington early and Geausale (“Bewsall”) late, the latter being the village where this migrant John Eaton actually grew up. His family lacked any high pretensions in the English social structure; but they owned land and during the 1500s had sufficient legacies to warrant the drawing up of wills. John himself was a skilled artisan, a cooper, a trade which turn out to be in high demand on the sea-faring coast of New England” (10)
There is a record of John Eaton marrying Anne Crossman (1599 to February 5, 1660) in Warwickshire, England around 1618 or December 26, 1621 at Paulls Wharf London. Anne was likely the widow of Crossman, late of Ipswich, London. Their marriage license is mentioned on page 438 of the Haverhill Eatons. (North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, “History: Genealogical and biographical of the Eaton families, p. 365). However, one source claims “[John] is *not* the John Eaton who married Ann Crossman and obtained a marriage license on 26 December 1621 at Great Paull's Wharf, London, Middlesex, England. That is a long way from his home and his name is common. Genealogists do not accept this. His first wife Ann's maiden name is unknown.” (Ancestry.com) SUGGESTIONS ABOUT PARENTS OF JOHN EATON AND ANNE CROSS According to An Eight-Generation Genealogy of The Eatons of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts Volume One by William H. Eaton and Philip E. Converse, Willow Bend Books, 2004, John’s father was Thomas, and his grandfather was John. Douglas Richardson in The English Origin of John Eton (1590-1668) of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts believes he has discovered the father and grandparents of John Eaton who settled in Haverhill. He has found baptism records of most of John and Ann’s children in Hatton and has found several wills that provide him his evidence. (48) He suggests John Eaton’s grandfather is John Eton of Rowington, County Warwick who died between January 4, 1547/8 when his will was executed and November 22, 1548 when his will was proved. His wife is unknown. His will is on page 49, and he left a cow, a mattress, sheets, coverlet, a heifer, feather beds with coverings, kines, colts, heifers, a yard of land, a parcel of meadow, and some sums of money to his heirs. Richardson believes John’s father was Thomas Eaton of Rowington, Country Warwick and was born between 1527 and 1530 and died between “last day of Aprull” 1571, when he executed his will, and 6 July 1571, when it was proved. He married Isabel Baker who was the mother of his children. Her parents were Richard and Agnes Baker of Rowington. Isabelle married a second time to Thomas Nasson, a churchwarden of Rowinton. (52).
The Sixth Annual Report of the Eaton Family Association, 1891, details possible information about their ancestors. Ancestry.com has several suggestions who John’s parents were and where they lived. One suggestion is that John’s father was Thomas Eaton of Dover, Kent, England, and his mother may have been Helen, possibly Helen of Beausall in the parish of Hatton, Warwickshire,(Thomas, Thomas, John) John Eaton’s parents may have been Richard Eaton, Vicar of Great Budworth (April 1565 Stratford, England to January 14, 1616) and Anne Leverson (1530-1565) according to Keller-Rounds on ancestry.com. They married in Ludlow, Shropshire, England on January 20, 1589.
Reverend Richard Eaton’s father may have been Reverend Robert Eaton (1539 in Stratford, England to January 7, 1600 in Great Budworth, England, whose parents may have been Thomas Eaton (1520-1538) and Alice Elizabeth Charleton (1520-1607). They married on August 9, 1557 or 1564.
Anne Crossman’s father might have been John Crossman (born 1548 in Tremure, Cornwall, England and died November 28, 1609 in England). Her mother might have been Alice Courtenay (born about 1550 in Cornwall)
John, his wife Anne and six surviving children appear to have arrived in Salisbury, Massachusetts, in the winter of 1639-1640 when he was about fifty years old, and they probably lived in Watertown, Massachusetts, originally. The family may have passed through “Ipswich and Newbury, Massachusetts.” No record details what ship the family sailed on or when they left England.
CHILDREN OF JOHN AND ANNE EATON John and Anne had at least ten or eleven children over twenty years all born in Hatton England, of which four were buried in England: (Douglas Richardson, The English Origin of John Eton (1590-1668) of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts, 20).
John Jr. (born 1619 or 1621 in Hatton, England to 1682 married Martha Rowlandson (b. 1645) (daughter of Thomas Rowlandson from England and sister of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson of Ipswich, who graduated from Harvard University as the only member of his graduating class), Ann (born September 14, 1623 in Hatton, England to December 16, 1683; married Lieutenant George Brown of Haverhill), Ensign Thomas (born February 19, 1625 or 1626 or 1631 in Hatton, England and married Martha Kent and later Eunice Singletery), Elizabeth (born January 31, 1629 or 1630 in Hatton, England to January 21, 1683; married James Davis of Haverhill), Sarah (buried Hatton August 13, 1635), the first Daniel (baptized December 8, 1633), second Daniel (baptized February 26, 1634 or 1635 and died August 13, 1635 in Hatton, England), Ruth (baptized February 12, 1636 or 1637 in Hatton, England and married Samuel Ingalls of Ipswich on December 9, 1656), and (H)ester(baptized May 6, 1638 died and died 1649 at sixteen and never married), and Job (baptized September 29, 1639.) It seems likely that the family abided in Hatton, County Warwick, England because baptisms have been located for four children of John Eaton (1590). John Jr., son of John Eaton, occupied part of his father’s estate in Salisbury. “He seems to have had a strong passion for real estate, and extended his purchases into Maine, into Winnegance Cove, as far as 25 miles N. E. of Portland. He was one of the men imprest for her Majesty’s Service of July ye 5, 1710: the order read ‘An order to Lt.; or to Serft Bradbury to give notice to ye men to march forthwith with Capt Eaton By Order of Colo Noyes,…’ He did not marry until about 40 years of age; his wife was much younger than himself. He died January 17, 1717” (North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, “History: Genealogical and biographical of the Eaton families, p. 372).
SALISBURY & HAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS, JOHN’S CAREER, & LAND OWNERSHIP John Eaton, his wife Anne, and their children settled in Salisbury (formerly Cholcester), Massachusetts as early as “ye 26th of ye 6thmo, 1640.” “They were granted to him 2 acres, more or less for his house lott, lying between the house lotts of Mr. Samuel Hall and Ralfe Blesdale. Said to be about equally distant from the Atlantic and the Merrimac.” John had several lots of lands including Brookside Farm which remained in the Eaton family for over a century. John Eaton was a cooper who also farmed the land (known as a planter) and sold real-estate. After six years, the family moved about 15 miles up the Merrimack River to the new settlement of Haverhill, Massachusetts: “15 Miles up the river, when he received a deed of land dated Nov. 25, 1646 from Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich, for which he gave ‘the full sum of twelve pounds worth of wheat and pipe staves, 6 pounds worth of one and six pounds worth of the other.’” “In 1646 he was chosen grand juror, and one of the five prudential men of Salisbury.” (Genealogical and Family History of Western New York. Vol. 1. Front Matter).[2]In appendix A, p 555 of “The Original Haverhill Homesteads,” the author hypothesizes that “We entertained the thought that John might have been less concerned about huddling in the village with his colleagues in Salisbury—a form of land tenure where collective security was a worry—and hence free to live away from others on his planting lot, because any Indian menace would arrive from the interior, or the west, and not from the ocean to the east or the tidal marshes north and south. But he located in Haverhill to the northwest of town, or just the direction from which Indian attacks would come. And so it did, after his death in the famous Dustin episode, killing his grandson Thomas and gravely threatening his grandson Jonathan and family who had inherited his homestead.” “John Eaton was the only maverick who, in 1640, accepted his two-acre village house lot, but decided to build his actual dwelling on the six-acre planting lot he was assigned by the lottery, which lay nearly two-thirds of a mile east of the village green, on the “Great Neck” of cultivatable upland that jutted out between the huge salt marshes inside of the lengthy outer barrier strand famous in New England as Salisbury Beach” (Appendix # 13 The Original Eaton Homestead, East Salisbury, Mass). His work as a “a cooper was a craftsman who built slatted wooden containers such as barrels and butter churns. Building such containers required a great deal of skill, and traditionally, coopers learned their trade over the course of a long apprenticeship. Coopering was once a vital and widespread profession which, among other purposes, supplied manufacturers with containers [barrels] in which to store and ship their products.” (WiseGeek)
John Eaton “was a man of strong will power, tempered by a sound practical judgment, who believed in liberty of conscience and tolerance in society.” In 1645, John Eaton was listed as one of “thirty-two landholders (60). In 1646, John Eaton “was chosen grand juror and also one of five Prudential men who manage the affairs of the town.” According to the 1860 History of Haverhill,[3]in 1648, John Eaton is listed with around 40 other men to have property valued as 80 pounds. In 1652, John Eaton acquired 10 more acres of “plough land” (77). Freeholders like the Eatons paid taxes. In 1650 Thomas Eaton’s land was valued at 40 pounds. In 1667, John Eaton had ten “acres laid out to him” (106)
According to An Eight-Generation Genealogy of The Eatons of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts Volume One “John, as a mere artisan, did not compete with the large allotments to magistrates, ministers, and other higher professions, but nonetheless ranked in the upper half of the Haverhill settlers for size of entitlements, a status also reflected in the fact that he was elected a Selectman for Haverhilll in 1648. By 1659, his own eight tracts of land (house lot, meadow and planting land), were approaching 100 acres in sum, despite the fact that he had by this time hived off a half of his proprietorial claim to his son Thomas” (21).
HAVERHILL’S GEOGRAPHY AND EARLY HISTORY Captain John Smith sang the praises of this verdant land with excellent harbors that he visited in 1614 and where he “acted honorably” to the natives. However, his companion, Hunt, kidnapped natives and sold them as slaves, thus beginning the dichotomy of friendly and adversarial relationships with the native peoples inhabiting New England.
According to George Wingate Chase,[4] the author of the The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts From Its First Settlement , in 1640 to the Year 1860, the town of Haverhill in the county of Essex is located on the north side of the Merrimack River, one of the largest and most beautiful rivers in New England. The name of the Merrimac River comes from the Indian word, “strong currents.” Another possible Indian name meant “A Place of Islands.” Haverhill is eighteen miles from its mouth.
Its proximity to prominent New England towns contributed to its attractiveness to settlers: eighteen miles from Boston, twenty-two from Salem, fourteen from Newburyport, eighteen from Lowell, nine from Lawrence, and thirty from Portsmouth. On the north is Salem, Atkinson, and Plaistow, New Hampshire; on the east is Amesbury, on the west is Methuen, and the northern line of the town is the boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. (History of Haverhill, Introduction) Including about fifteen thousand acres, it is about nine miles long and nine miles wide. Within its boundaries were 1086 tilled acres, 351 acres of fruit trees, 289 acres of upland mowing, 500 acres of meadows, 1147 acres of pasture land, 2349 acres of pasture land, 528 acres of land used for roads, and 1107 acres covered with water. The soil was rich, “easily cultivated, and highly productive” (introduction). Streams abound, and fishing (especially alewives and pickerel) was abundant. Saw mills, grist mills, and corn mills were built early on. The vast forest resources thrived on hilly terrain. This land of plenty attracted hardy emigrants willing to work hard and build a new life. By 1640, 20,000 persons or 40,000 families had arrived, bringing with them tools, arms, victuals, cattle, and goats.
In 1657, “the plantation of Haverhill was this year incorporated into a town, being the twenty-third town settled in the colony” and forty-ninth in the northeast (29). Over the next years, the town began to grow. The first church was established around that year (60). That same year the town voted to build a saw mill. Orchards had been planted, fields cultivated, burial grounds established, and homes built. Boundaries between Salisbury and Haverhill were disputed and eventually agreed upon. Roads were planned. Meeting houses and churches were built, and ministers hired. Eight men including John Eaton entered a seven-year agreement to hire a blacksmith around 1657 (88). By 1661 “there had been recorded nineteen marriages, one hundred and thirty-five births, and thirty deaths” (92). Oxen grazed in common pastures. Townspeople had to grant permission for additional people to settle in Haverhill. A militia group was established as early as 1648. Because wolves killed numerous sheep, a large bounty was put on their heads. Indian settlements were established. There was an effort to convert some Indians, and laws were passed not to sell Indians liquor. A school master was hired in the town for ten pounds a year. Sturgeons were fished from the river. “It is well authenticated that at one time it was nowise uncommon to stipulate in the indentures of apprentices that they should not be obliged to eat salmon oftener than six times a week!” As dams and mills were built and waters defiled by mills and bridges, “the supply of salmon rapidly diminished. “ (118-119). Shad were so plentiful that they were used as manure. It was easy to catch several hundred at one haul. The town was very careful of its timber, and men could only cut down enough wood for fire wood for the season. Two men applied to be shoemakers. All local towns were accessed taxes to pay for Harvard University. (The History of Haverhill)
The peaceful relation with the Indians changed in 1675; measures were taken to protect settlers from the hostile Indians, so a fortification was built around the meeting-house. Militia was provided with fire-arms and ammunitions. As Indian attacks on home and towns began to escalate in Hadley, Deerfield, Northfield, Medford, Weymouth, colonists killed large numbers of Indians. The death of Chief King Phillip put a severe blow on the Indian strength as did harsh weather and scarcity of resources, and for a while better relationships occurred. However, within two years hostilities recommenced. No attacks happened in Haverhill, but houses were garrisoned and patrols kept day and night, so expectations of attacks kept settlers in a state of anxiety. The entire town of Haverhill were assessed eighteen pounds in taxes to pay for the war with the Indians (The History of Haverhill).
The size of the town kept expanding. Settlers began establishing farms and building cottages. “The better sort of houses one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five years ago were two stories high, with upper story jutting out a foot or so over the lower. The roofs were generally high and steep, and hipped or ‘gambreed.’ The frames were of white oak, and much larger than used in our day, and the beams of each finished room were left considerably in sight. The windows were from two and a half to three feet long, one and a half to two wide, with squares like the figures of a diamond, set in lead lines, and from three to four inches long. These windows were sometimes entire and sometimes in halves, and opened outwardly on hinges” (The History of Haverhill, 95).
DEATH OF ANNE, SECOND MARRIAGE OF JOHN EATON TO PHOEBE DOW AND DEATH OF JOHN After John Eaton’s first wife Anne from England died February 5, 1660, John married Mrs. Phoebe (Dow), widow of Thomas Dow of Newbury, Massachusetts on November 20, 1661. He “spent the last 22 years of his life in Haverhill manufacturing barrel staves and keeping a farm” (22). John Eaton had a will drawn up on August 6, 1668. It details what he gifts his wife, his sons John and Thomas, his daughters Hester Davis, Ruth Ingalis, Ann, Elizabeth, Ruth and grandchildren John Davis, John Ingalls, as well as grandsonThomas who received his musquet, Sword & bandaleeros, and a little gunne. In his will John gave to his children and eleven grandsons separate lots of land. In the fall of 1647, John Sr. transferred his farm to son John Jr. in his earlier will dated September 12, 1647. He made his son Tho Eaton & Georg Brown to be his Executors of his last will and testament. (An Eight-Generation Genealogy of The Eatons of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts Volume One by William H. Eaton and Philip E. Converse, Willow Bend Books, 2004).[5] He retired up the Merrimac River. He died in Salisbury on October 29, 1668, at about seventy-seven years old and is buried in the Pentucket Cemetery in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His widow, Phoebe Dow died November 3, 1672. (North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, “History: Genealogical and biographical of the Eaton families, p. 368).[6]
An inventory of his estate was apprised by James Davis, Sen. And Henry Palmer on the November 2, 1668, less than a month after his death. His possessions included wareing clothes, bedding, brass, pewter, pott skillet spit & mortar, trammels & iron ware, bedstead & chayer, warming pan, chest, 2 tables, trunk, box, lumber around house, military armes, 2 sylver spoones, axes, sckythe, how & Pitch fork, books, share, plough, yroms, cart, Indian corn (60 bushels), Otes 15 bushels, wheat four bushels, rie six bushels, halfe an oxe, a steere, a calfe, 4 swine, a grinstone, house & house lott, ox common, 8 acres of land in the upper & lower plaine, 25 acres of 2d Division of upland, 3d division of upland, 5 cow commonages, 2 acres of meadow at ye hart meadow, a ¼ acre at ye pond meadow, 1 ¾ acre of meadow in two places, 5 acres of 2d & 3d division meadow, ¾ of an acre of upland, the right of ye 4th division of upland. Worth over 200=00=00. (I assume that means over 200 pounds)[7] (24).
Thomas Eaton, son of John became the head of many descendants called the Haverhill Branch of the Eaton family. Another son, John Jr., settled in Salisbury, Connecticut and became head of the Eaton Salisbury Branch. John Jr. was very wealthy and divided his land among five sons, giving Ephraim “the division of land above the mill being 90 acres.” A grandson Joseph Eaton was a carpenter, was fond of hunting and trapping, and was promoted to Captain in the militia.
FAMILY TRADE SKILLS John’s skills as a cooper were passed on to his elder son John and two of his grandsons. Another grandson became a carpenter who built houses. Their prowess with wood-working enabled them to make a living and assist the community. (Appendix A. #15. “Our New World Eatons; Workers in Wood”). The author suggests that John drifted away from coopering “because a sandbar blocked most maritime shipping from advancing some miles up that large river.” Other family members over the generations had woodworking specialties of the period such as carpenters, house wrights, boatwrights, chairmakers, joiners (cabinet makers) and carvers” (556). “The Haverhill branch did in time achieve a new ‘signature’ skill that affected members of several subsequent generations. Capt. Timothy Eaton (1731-1811) became a wealthy man from a major foundry that he launched in Haverhill, and a number of scions became workers in metal, especially in fine metals, as witnessed by several silversmiths, verging off into such specialties watchmaking and jewelry. Indeed, this tradition may even have radiated in one line to blacksmithing, and in another to the use of mercury in feltmaking as part of the hatter’s trade.”
“There also remains in the fourth generation, where among those six Eaton scions with any known skills beyond farming or fishing, we find two house wrights, a cooper and in addition, the delightful case of Benjamin, who is styled variously as a cooper and a carpenter and a house wright, all learned at his father’s knee” (557).
[1]An Eight-Generation Genealogy of The Eatons of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts Volume One by William H. Eaton and Philip E. Converse, Willow Bend Books, 2004
[2]Genealogical and Family History of Western New York. Vol. 1. Front Matter
[3] George Wingate Chase, The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts From Its First Settlement , in 1640 to the Year 1860, published by the author, 1861
[4] George Wingate Chase, The History of Haverhill, Massachusetts From Its First Settlement , in 1640 to the Year 1860
[5]An Eight-Generation Genealogy of The Eatons of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts Volume One by William H. Eaton and Philip E. Converse, Willow Bend Books, 2004
[6] (North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, “History: Genealogical and biographical of the Eaton families
[7] (An Eight-Generation Genealogy of The Eatons of Salisbury and Haverhill, Massachusetts Volume One by William H. Eaton and Philip E. Converse, Willow Bend Books, 2004).