Francis Eaton

M, b. September 11, 1596, d. November 4, 1633

ChartsNora Miller
Last EditedApril 29, 2008

Birth*Francis Eaton was born on September 11, 1596 in Bristol, England. He was baptized in 1596 in Bristol, Gloucester, England, the son of John and Dorothy (Smith) Eaton. Nearly all of Francis Eaton's siblings died in 1603/1604, apparently due to a sickness that had spread throughout the household. He and brother Samuel did survive; Francis would name his first son Samuel.1 
Marriage*He married Sarah _____ in 1620 in England.2 
Immigration*Francis Eaton immigrated in December, 1620 to Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. Bradford tells us that on the Mayflower were "Francis Eaton and Sarah his wife, and Samuel their son, a young child," and then in 1651 reports that "Francis Eaton his first wife died in the general sickness. And he married again and his second wife died, and he married the third and had by her three children. One of them is married and hath a child. The others are living but one of them is an idiot.... His son Samuel who came over a sucking child, is also married and hath a child"

Francis took up the profession of a house carpenter. He married his first wife, Sarah, probably around 1619, and they had their first child Samuel about 1620. Sarah died the first winter at Plymouth, and Francis then remarried to Dorothy, the maidservant of John Carver, sometime before 1623. John Carver had died in April 1621, and his wife Katherine died a few weeks later, so perhaps the marriage occurred not long thereafter.

Dorothy died sometime shortly thereafter: no children are known to have been born from their marriage. Francis then married, about 1626, to Christiana Penn, and they had three children together: Rachel, Benjamin, and a child that was called "an ideote" that was still living in 1651, but whose name has not survived.

His occupation in the Colonies was that of carpenter.3 
Land*In the 1623 Division of Land at Plymouth, Francis Eaton received four shares: one for himself, one for his deceased first wife Sarah, one for Samuel, and one for his current wife Dorothy, all of whom came on the Mayflower.4 
Marriage*He married Dorothy _____ in 1623 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.5,2 
Marriage*Francis Eaton married Christian Penn in 1625 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.2 
Death*Francis Eaton died on November 4, 1633 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, at age 37. He died, apparently suffering the same fate as his siblings in childhood, dying of a disease that spread through Plymouth that autumn. Francis Eaton's estate included one cow and a calf, two hogs, fifty bushels of corn, a black suit, a white hat and a black hat, boots, saws, hammers, an adze, square, augers, a chisel, boards, fishing lead, and some kitchen items.5 
Note*

Bigraphical Note

It is believed that Francis Eaton, a carpenter, was one of the London contingent who boarded the "Mayflower" at Southampton. He was accompanied by his wife, Sarah, and an infant son, Samuel. The ancestry of Francis and Sarah, and place of origin, is unknown.
He was one of the forty-one signers of the Mayflower Compact.
Sarah died during the general sickness of the first winter at Plymouth. Francis subsequently married Mrs. Carver's maid, name unknown, but she died shortly thereafter. He married again in 1624 or 1625, this third wife being Christian Penn who had come over on the "Anne" in 1623. By her he had three children: Rachel, Benjamin, and one whose name is unknown.
Francis died during an epidemic in 1633. He lef t no will, but an inventory of his estate listed tools of his trade. His third wife subsequently married another "Mayflower" passenger, Francis Billington, and died in Middleborough, MA about 1684.
Descent from Francis Eaton has been proven through sons, Samuel and Benjamin, and daughter, Rachel.6 

Family 1

Sarah _____ d. 1621
Marriage*He married Sarah _____ in 1620 in England.2 
Children

Family 2

Dorothy _____ d. 1624
Marriage*Francis Eaton married Dorothy _____ in 1623 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.5,2 

Family 3

Christian Penn d. c 1684
Marriage*Francis Eaton married Christian Penn in 1625 in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.2 
Children

Citations:

  1. [S374] L.M. Kellogg and others, editor, Mayflower families through five generations: descendants of the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts, December 1620 (Plymouth, Massachusetts: General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1975), p. 3. Hereinafter cited as Mayflower families through five generations.
  2. [S374] L.M. Kellogg and others, Mayflower families through five generations, p. 5.
  3. [S370] Ed.) William Bradford (Samuel Eliot Morison, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 (New York, New York: Knopf Publishers, 1952), pp. 443, 446-47. Hereinafter cited as Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647.
  4. [S370] Ed.) William Bradford (Samuel Eliot Morison, Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647, p. 410.
  5. [S371] Nellie Zada Rice Molyneux, History, genealogical and biographical, of the Eaton families (New York, New York: C. W. Bardeen, 1911), p. 33. Hereinafter cited as History, genealogical and biographical, of the Eaton families.
  6. [S885] Pilgrim Biographies (Dr. Patricia Moseley), online http://home.surewest.net/moseley/bios.html#anchor379842. Hereinafter cited as Pilgrim Biographies.