Francis Eaton
Encyclopedia
Francis Eaton was a passenger on the Mayflower
and also a signer of the Mayflower Compact
. He traveled from England with his first wife, Sarah, and their "sucking" child, Samuel
. Unlike many of the Mayflower voyagers, the Eatons were never involved with the strict Protestants from the Leiden church, and their precise motivations in emigrating to America are not known.
Sarah Eaton died during the first, hard winter, and Francis remarried soon thereafter to a servant named “Dorothy.” Dorothy survived for perhaps only two or three years and Francis soon married his third and last wife, Christiana or Christian Penn.
Existing records indicate that Francis Eaton was a carpenter, specifically a "house carpenter" in the Bristol apprenticeship record of 1626. This would have certainly been an occupation in great demand as the colonists built needed structures of all sorts. He died young, though, in his late thirties, leaving four children, varying from about 13 years of age (Samuel) to perhaps 8 for Benjamin. Francis’ estate, not surprisingly, included many carpentry tools, as well as two hats, one white and one black.
Francis Eaton was literate, at some level, and able to sign his name. This literacy may have been connected with his religion and the Protestant belief in the power of individual Biblical interpretation.
His widow Christian remarried to Francis Billington, son of John Billington
.
Mayflower
The Mayflower was the ship that transported the English Separatists, better known as the Pilgrims, from a site near the Mayflower Steps in Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, , in 1620...
and also a signer of the Mayflower Compact
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the colonists, later together known to history as the Pilgrims, who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower...
. He traveled from England with his first wife, Sarah, and their "sucking" child, Samuel
Samuel Eaton
Samuel Eaton rode on the Mayflower with his family when he was just a suckling child . His mother, Sarah Eaton, died the first winter in the New World of 1620-1621. His father, Francis Eaton, remarried twice after that, and Samuel had one stepsister named Rachel, one stepbrother named Benjamin and...
. Unlike many of the Mayflower voyagers, the Eatons were never involved with the strict Protestants from the Leiden church, and their precise motivations in emigrating to America are not known.
Sarah Eaton died during the first, hard winter, and Francis remarried soon thereafter to a servant named “Dorothy.” Dorothy survived for perhaps only two or three years and Francis soon married his third and last wife, Christiana or Christian Penn.
Existing records indicate that Francis Eaton was a carpenter, specifically a "house carpenter" in the Bristol apprenticeship record of 1626. This would have certainly been an occupation in great demand as the colonists built needed structures of all sorts. He died young, though, in his late thirties, leaving four children, varying from about 13 years of age (Samuel) to perhaps 8 for Benjamin. Francis’ estate, not surprisingly, included many carpentry tools, as well as two hats, one white and one black.
Francis Eaton was literate, at some level, and able to sign his name. This literacy may have been connected with his religion and the Protestant belief in the power of individual Biblical interpretation.
His widow Christian remarried to Francis Billington, son of John Billington
John Billington
John Billington was an Englishman who was convicted of murder in what would become the United States, and the first to be hanged for any crime in New England. Billington was also a signer of the Mayflower Compact....
.
Further reading
- Cheney, Glenn Alan, Thanksgiving: The Pilgrims' First Year in America, (New London: New London Librarium, 2007) ISBN 978-0-9798039-0-1
- Philbrick, Nathaniel, Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, (New York: Viking, 2006) ISBN 0-670-03760-5