JOSEPH HOWE EATON AND MARY ADELIA MCPHERSON Parents of Cyrus Stephen Eaton and Grandparents of Cyrus Stephen Eaton, Jr. Great Grandparents of Cyrus, John, Cathy, & Elizabeth Eaton Great-Great Grandparents of Colin Eaton Murphy & Devon Eaton Murphy
BIRTH, MARRIAGE, CAREER Joseph Howe Eaton was the third of ten children of Stephen Eaton and Mary Desiah Parker, and the older brother of Charles Aubrey Eaton, who was nineteen years younger. Joseph, born on March 26, 1846 in Pugwash, Cumberland County, married Mary Adelia MacPherson on February 11, 1871 in Amherst, Nova Scotia, when he was 25 and she was 21. She was born around 1853. Mary Adelia was the daughter of John Wesley MacPherson (born 1829) and Phebe Ackerly (born 1830). Joseph Howe was a prosperous man who diversified his talents, working as a farmer, proprietor of a general store, poster master, and landowner of timber in Nova Scotia and western provinces. The family moved from Pugwash River to Pugwash Junction.
According to the 1871 Canada Census, Joseph (22) and Adelia (18) lived with his parents Stephen and Mary Eaton and their children Cyrus (13), Frederick (7), and Charles (3). They were Baptists. In another 1871 census, Adelia McPherson lived with her parents John W. McPherson and Pheby with siblings Hannah, William, John W, Fletcher, Fletchon, and Ada. Their nationality is Scotch and religion is W Methodist. That is year they were married so both families recorded Mary Adelia as living in their household.
CHILDREN Joseph Howe and Mary Adelia had nine children over thirteen years.
Tragically, the first four children of Joseph Howe and Mary Adelia died at very early ages. Frank Parker (Dec 27, 1871 to Feb 15, 1877) lived a few past his fifth birthday. Gertrude (Gertie) May, born on June 16, 1873, died a week after Parker when she three and one half. Frank was born on April 2, 1877 and died March 1, 1880, as a three-year-old. John Wilber, born on March 19, 1881, also succumbed to diphtheria on September, 1889, while his younger brother Cyrus hovered outside the house peering into the window but not allowed to be near his contagious brother. After Cyrus was born on December 28, 1883, the day his grandfather Stephen died, three more daughters and a son were born: Eva Ruth Eaton (b. August 30, 1885, m. Truman Webb, d. July 7, 1972), Florence Ada Eaton (b. July 5, 1888; m. Rufus Kaye 1932; d. April 13, 1958) Alice Gertrude (b. Nov 21, 1889; m. Frederick Woodworth; d. April 3, 1993 Palm Beach, Florida), and finally Joseph Wilfred Eaton (b. Feb 28, 1885; m. Eleanor Gray; Jan 1, 1928) who died in 1929 of tuberculosis in Switzerland.
Mary Adelia was a devout Baptist and encouraged her son, Cyrus, to follow his Uncle Charles Aubrey Eaton’s footsteps into the ministry. Mary Adelia reinforced teacher Margaret King’s encouragement to read literature, history, philosophy, and religion. The children helped with chores from an early age, were trusted with responsibility, and expected to help. Their son, Cyrus, was trusted to sell goods in the General Store and run the cash register, manage the post office where he voraciously read all the newspapers, and help with the farm, caring for cattle and driving the wagon to get the grains ground at the mill. Education was a priority. Joseph Howe was known for being an able businessman and for caring for the welfare of the people in his community. “His home for many years was maintained with elegance and with the most unbounded hospitality.” The Eatons of Pugwash were influential in Cumberland Country. Joseph Howe moved to Toronto, Ontario later in his life.
EDMONTON, CANADA According to the 1911 Census, Joseph Howe Eaton, his wife Mary, and son (Joseph) Willard were living in Alberta, Canada. His occupation is listed in real estate. On July 29, 1915, Joseph Howe Eaton received a Homestead Grant in the Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, Canada Homestead Grant Registers in Volume 1862 (1911). The date of application was June or July 24, and the Deed of Grant was July 29, 1915. The application fee was $10. In 1916 Census, they are listed as living on 109, 27, 82 Street in Edmonton. His occupation is listed as Merchant and his religion as Baptist. Joseph was s67 at the time, (Mary) Adelia as 62. They were living with their daughter Alice (25) and her husband Fredrick I Woodworth (30).
2ND MARRIAGE, DEATH, AND BURIAL His first wife, Mary Adelia died, on August 29, 1922. In 1923 Joseph worked near his son, Cyrus Eaton and visited often to Acadia Farms in Northfield, Ohio. In the US City Directories, he was listed as working for Western Southern Life Insurance on East 26th and as President of the Eaton Axle and Spring Company on Devonshire Drive.
Joseph Howe Eaton married again to Sarah Reeves on July 23, 1924 in Cleveland, Ohio. Joseph was seventy, and Sarah was sixty-six. Previously, she married first James Reeves and then Charles H Stipes. Sarah Ann Reeves (born August 12, 1854 in Germantown, Kentucky) was the daughter of James Cleave and Mary Ireland and the sister of Mary Grace Cleve, the wife of Augustus Farlin House. Mary Grace Cleve was the mother of Cyrus S. Eaton’s wife, Margaret Pearl House. The Eaton and House family must have often spent time together, so it is not odd that Joseph’s second wife was the aunt of his son’s wife.
Joseph died May 26, 1932 in Toronto, Ontario. Sarah Reeves Eaton died at home on October 29, 1936 four years later in Cleveland. At the time, she was living on 7714 Lexington Street and was eighty-two. She is buried in Lake View Cemetery. Both Joseph Howe Eaton and his first wife Mary Adelia McPherson Eaton are buried in the Northfield, Macedonia Cemetery.