Nathaniel Eaton (bef. 1609 - abt. 1674)

Born before 17 Sep 1609 in Great Budworth, Cheshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Anne (Graves) Doughty — married 7 Oct 1642 (to 1646) in Hatton, Warwickshire, England

Descendants

Died about 1674 after about age 64 in Southwark, Surrey, England

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Nathaniel Eaton migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). (See The Directory, by R. C. Anderson, p. 102) Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

REVISION AND CONSOLIDATION OF THE BIOGRAPHY IS UNDERWAY FOLLOWING A MERGE. THERE ARE ERRORS ON THIS PAGE TO BE CORRECTED Joe Cochoit

Biography

Nathaniel Eaton immigrated to New England between 1621 and 1640 and later departed for Virginia then England.

Nathaniel Eaton is Notable.

Rev. Nathaniel Eaton, born about 1609^[1] baptized September 17, 1609 at Great Budworth, Cheshire, England^[2]the fifth son of Richard Eaton.^[3]

Nathaniel attended Westminster School, then elected scholar to Trinity College, Cambridge; matriculated as pensioner, Hilary term, 1629-30. He left Cambridge in 1632 and lived at London with his brother Theolphilus whereupon he obtained the same year a license to pass to Leyden.^[3]He was educated under Dr. Wiliam Ames at Franeker, Netherlands^[1]and while there published a Latin pamphlet on Sabbatarian doctrines in 1633.

In 1637 he emigrated to New England with his two brothers Theolphilus and Samuel.^[3]

The register book for Cambridge indicates he received two acres of land for a house lot.^[4]He was made a freeman of the colony on June 9, 1638.^[5]

Nathaniel Eaton was the first schoolmaster of Harvard College from 1637 to September 1639.^[1]Nathaniel Eaton did not do well as the head of the college;^[1]and on September 9, 1639 he was accused before the General Court "for cruell and barbaros beating of Mr. Natha: Briscoe, & for other neglecting & misvseing of his schollers." "It was ordered, that Mr. Eaton should bee discharged from keeping of schoale with us without licence; & Mr. Eaton is fined to the countrey '£66 13s, 4d which fine is respited till the next Court unless he remove the meanwhile." "The court agreed Mr. Eaton should give Mr. Natha: Briscoe £30 for satisfaction for the wrong done him, & to be paid presently."^[6]

Afterwards he fled to Virginia^[1] John Endecott wrote to John Winthrop in 1639:

"...Mr. Eaton hath ingaged himselfe to diuers within this Jurisdiccion in great sommes of money as also abused others by his base cariadges and now esceped the hands of such officers as were sent after him . . .For I ame certainly informed that hee is gon in Neles barke to Virginea."^[7]Morison in "The Founding of Harvard Collee" says "Three constables sent after him by Governor Winthrop arrested him on shore. Eaton 'acknowledged his great sin in flying, etc., and promised (as he was a Christian man) he would return' but begged leave to fetch his personal belongings from the vessel. The amiable emissaries escorted him aboard and ashore in the ship's boat. When the boat touched the beach, Eaton politely allowed two of his guardians to step ashore first, quickly ordered the boatmen to shove off, threw overboard the third constable, and scrambled aboard the ship, which promptly set sail for Virginia."After he was gone, Winthrop writes "his creditors began to complain; and thereupon it was found, that he was run in debt about £1000, most of which he had obtained by drawing bills on his brother's friends in London.^[3]In Virginia he became assistant rector of Hungar's parish in Northampton County.^[3]and sent for his wife and children who were still in Cambridge. Benoni, the eldest son remained in Cambridge while his wife and additional children set sail and were sadly lost at sea.^[3]

Nathaniel married (2nd) to Anne (Graves) Cotton, widow, the daughter of Captain Thomas Graves of Virginia^[8] on April 27, 1639. They had a son Robert born Sept. 15, 1639.^{[citation needed]} They had a son, James Eaton, born around 1643 and who died in 1679. His mother Anne Doughty refered to him in her Will of 1682 in a disposition to her grandchild Samuel Boughton. She gave her grandson a tract of land "that my deceased son James Eaton called Eaton's delight" containing 500 acres and which was devised by James to Anne in her son's Last Will and Testament of October 17, 1679 to be held in trust for Samuel Boughton.^[9] Anne died in Virginia in 1683.^{[citation needed]}

Morison says, "According to Winthrop, Eaton succumbed to extreme pride and sensuality in Virginia, being usually drunken, as the custom is there." The records of Northampton County indicate a difference of opinion with his rector, John Rozier, who was ordered by a board of arbitrators to pay him 600 pounds of tobacco. The following year, the vestry paid him that sum as a salary. In January 1646-47, John Cogan finally brought suit against Eaton for the £100 the he had advanced to him in Cambridge; but Eaton had already fled the country, abandoning his second wife."^[3] He returned to England.^[1]

In England he received degees of PH.D and M.D. at Padua in 1647; after the restoration, he conformed to the Church and was rewarded with the vicarige of Bishop's Castle, Shropshire in 1661^[3]

His wealth secure once more, Eaton married for a third time to a woman with the given name of Mary. See Footnote #7 on page 240 of "Founding of Harvard College."^[3] Apparently his old spending habits returned once more for he was arrested for debt in 1665 being sued by Francis Buller, M. P. Eaton perjuried himself and bribed Buller's servant in order to secure his release. Within four years the Earl of Bath secured for him one of the best livings in Devonshire, the rectory of Brideford, Devonshire in 1668. Here he became "a bitter persecutor of dissenters. His extravangant living extended past his income and he was arrested again for debt in 1674 and imprisoned at King's Bench prison in Southwark. He died in jail in 1674. ^[3]Citing London Metropolitan Archives; London, England, Church of England Parish Registers, 1583-1812. March 1685 p. P92/GEO/141, Wikipedia says Nathaniel Eaton was given a burial service on May 11, 1674 at St. George the Martyr, Southwark, Surrey, England.^[8]

Research Notes

• Confessions to Rev Thomas Shepard
• Son Benoni. Nathaniel Eaton's oldest son, Benoni, "was brought up by Deacon Thomas Chesholme, Steward of Harvard College, the church finding his clothes. He became a maltster in Cambridge, married and left numerous descendants.^[3]
• Second marriage. A second marriage has been found for Nathanial to a Barbara Slater in Whitechurch, Warwickshire, England April 26, 1640.^{[citation needed]}

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} The New England Historical and Genealogical Register. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1847-. (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2018.) Franklin B. Dexter. "The Family of Gov. Theolphilus Eaton" Vol. 38, p. 31.subscription
2. ↑ "England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000." Database. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 20 February 2019. Church of England. Record Office, Chester.see at FamilySearch.org
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10} Samuel Eliot Morison. "The Founding of Harvard College" Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. (1935) pp 228-240, 377.see at archive.org
4. ↑ "The Register Book of the Lands and Houses in the "New Towne" and the town of Cambridge with the Records of the Proprietors of the Common Lands: Being the Records Generally called "The Proprietors' Records. Cambridge, Mass. (1896). p. 54.see at archive.org
5. ↑ Shurtleff, Nathaniel Bradstreet. "Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts bay in New England" W. White, Boston, printer to the commonwealth. (1853). p. 374.see at archive.org
6. ↑ John Langdon Sibley. "Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University" 1642-1689. University Press: Welch, Bigelow, & Co., Cambridge. (1873) Vol. 1, pp 1-6.see at hathitrust.org
7. ↑ "Winthrop Papers" Massachusetts Historical Society, (1929) Vol. 4, p. 142.see at hathitrust.org.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} , "Nathaniel Eaton.[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathaniel_Eaton#cite_ref-2 link
9. ↑ Maryland Prerogative Court, Wills, Liber. 4, Folio 210 Court Copy of Will Available on Ancestry$

See also:

• Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery: [1]
• Those enslaved by Presidents of Harvard: [2] Nathaniel Eaton: "The Moor"

See Also:

• John Frederick Dorman. "Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-1624/5" 4th edition, three volumes (Baltimore 2004-2007. See 2:133-135.
• George Selement & Bruce C.Woolley. "Publications of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts. Boston (1981). Vol. 58, p. 53. (not online)
• "The Records of the Town of Cambridge (formerly Newtowne) Massachusetts. 1630-1703." Cambridge, Mass. (1901) p. 33.see at archive.org
• ODNB
• ChTR36