Cyrus Stephen Eaton's Ancestors and Descendants
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Cyrus Stephen Eaton’s Ancestors
Information is from:
FIRST GENERATION: John Eaton and Anne Eaton
John Eaton (Dec 26, 1590) and Anne Eaton married in England around 1618 before immigrating to America. With their six children all born in England [John Jr. (1619), Anne (1623), Thomas (1631), Elizabeth (629/163), and Ruth (1637/8), and Ester (1634) ] acquired land in Salisbury, Massachusetts. It is likely they came from Hatton in county Warwick, England because of baptisms have been located for four of the children as John Eaton (1590). John Eaton’s father was Thomas A. Eaton. John had several lots of lands including Brookside Farm which remained in the Eaton family for centuries. John Eaton was a cooper who also farmed the land. He also bought and sold real-estate. ‘He was a man of strong will power, tempered by a sound practical judgment, who believed in liberty of conscience and tolerance in society.
John Sr. gave his farm to son John and retired up the Merrimac River where he died October 29, 1668 at about 73 years old. After his first wife Anne died in Feb 1660, he married Mrs. Phoebe (Dow) Eaton. John Jr. like his brother Thomas settled in Salisbury, Connecticut.
SECOND GENERATION: Tomas Eaton and Eunice (Singletery) Eaton
Thomas Eaton, son of John and Anne Eaton, lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His first wife was Martha Kent and their daughter Martha died February 9, 1657, ten days before her mother died on March 9, 1657. Thomas then married at Andover, Massachusetts, Eunice Singletery, daughter of Richard Singletery of Salisbury, Massachusetts. They had nine children. Eunice died on Octover 5, 1715. Their children were Thomas, Lydia, John, Jonathan, Job, Timothy, Ebenzer, Martha, and Ruth.
THIRD GENERATION: Jonathan Eaton and Sarah (Sanders) Eaton
Jonathan Eaton, born April 23, 1668, was the fourth son of Thomas and Eunice (Singletery) Eaton. Jonathan married Sarah Sanders of Haverhill on March 17, 1695. They had one son, James Eaton (b. March 9, 1696). After Sarah died on April 23, 1698 two years later, Jonathan Eaton remarried to Ruth Page of Haverhill on January 23, 1699. Jonathan worked as a yeoman meaning he cultivated a small piece of property. Jonathan and Ruth had four children: Nathaniel, Sarah, Jonathan, David, and Ruth. Jonathan died on January 20, 1723 shy of his 54th birthday. His second wife died twenty years later on April 2, 1743.
FOURTH GENERATION: James Eaton and Eunice (Singleton) Eaton
James Eaton, born on March 9, 1697, was the only son of Jonathan Eaton and Eunice (Singleton) Eaton but had four half siblings. He is known as being “feeble for many years.” James, a farmer, married rather late in life. His wife, the widow of Samuel Ayer, Jr, of Haverhill and mother of Samuel Ayer, was Rachel Kimball Ayer. James and Rachel had nine children between 1729 and 1748: David, Timothy, Sarah, Rachel, James, Jr., Suzanna, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, and Enoch. All but one married.
FIFTH GENERATION: David Eaton and Deborah (White) Eaton
David Eaton, the first son of James Eaton and Rachel Kimball Ayer Eaton, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on April 1, 1729, and he became the founder of the Nova Scotia family. David’s first wife was Deborah White of Coventry, Connecticut. After marrying on October 10, 1751, they moved from Haverhill, Massachusetts to Tolland, Connecticut.
Deborah White had been born in Coventry, Connecticut. She had twelve siblings and was the great-great granddaughter of Elder John White. Her father, Thomas White, was “a great grandson of Elder John White, one of the first settlers of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later of Hartford, Connecticut and Hadley Massachusetts. He sailed on the ship Lyon from England on June 22, 1632 and arrived in Boston on September 16, 1632. John White had ¾ acres on ground known as “Cow Yard Row” where the Harvard College library, Gore Hall, now stands. He was made the first selectmen in February, 1635. He moved to Hartford, Connecticut with 100 other settlers. His wife, Mary, died during the winter of 1683. Their eldest son, Captain Nathaniel White, also a public official in the legislature from Middletown, had a son Jacob White, who fathered Thomas White, who fathered Deborah White Eaton.
Deborah’s father, Thomas White, was born in Middletown, Upper Houses on August 14, 1701. He first farmed in East Middletown but in 1731 moved to the north part of Lebanon, Connecticut within the town of Andover. “His farm lay on both sides of the Hop River and was partly in Coventry.” Around 1748 he relocated to Coventry east of the Sungamug River and died around 1773. Thomas married Sarah Miller (possibly daughter of William Miller of Glastonbury. They had six children: Sarah, Thomas, Samuel, Deborah, William, and Jacob. When his wife died at 36, he remarried to Hannah Woodward, and they had seven children: Hannah, Henry, Lemuel, Elizabeth, Silas, Abigail, and Joel. The Whites were a prominent family in Connecticut.
David Eaton and Deborah White Eaton with five children (Susannah, Stephen, Elisha, Timothy, and Elijah) migrated from Tolland, Connecticut to Nova Scotia. Sadly, Susannah died at 9, Elijah died at 1, and another Timothy died before the second Timothy was born.
The dreadful expulsion of the French Normandy peasants from Acadia and the torching of their prosperous village of Grand Pre on September 5, 1875, “left unoccupied large tracts of fertile land about and near the shores of the Basin of Minas, some of it in a high state of cultivation. A proclamation was published that said “these lands consist of upwards of one hundred thousand acres of interval plow land, producing wheat, rye, barley, oats, hemp, flax, etc. These have been cultivated for more than a hundred years past, and never fail of crops, nor need manuring. Also more than one hundred thousand acres of upland, cleared and stocked with English grass, planted with orchards, gardens, etc.” In addition to be fertile land, the adjoining lands were heavily timbered. Any farmer who came was promised plow land, grassland, and timberland. The land was above the Bay of Fundi. 330 signers consisting of 200 families from Connecticut settled a township at Mines near the river Gaspereaux consisting of 100,000 acres. 150 families were settles in the township of Canard with 100,000 acres.
David Eaton, now 33, and his wife, Deborah White Eaton, now 30, received his grant from the government on December 31, 1764, “the fourth year of the reign of King George III.” Richard Bulkeley signed the document. David Eaton was granted 666 acres. He was required to pay one shilling sterling money for every fifty acres due on Michaelmas Day. He was required to “plant, cultivate, improve, or enclose one-third part of the land granted him, within ten years, one-third within twenty years, and the remaining third within thirty years from the date of his grant, a failure to fulfill this obligation, obliging him to forfeit such lands as should not be under improvement or cultivation.” At least one family had to be settled with proper stock and material by October 31, 1765. The first deed of land given to David Eaton was dated September 7, 1765. This deed can be read on Arthur Hamilton Eaton’s book.
David Eaton is believed to have been thrifty and enterprising. The land has a lovely view of what was once fertile diked land owned by the French Acadians. David transferred ownership of the lands to sons David, Stephen, and Elisha, who each built houses. Elisha’ son James, grandson Levy, and great grandson Leverette have owned the land continuously. David’s house rebuilt after a fire was torn down 36 years after Arthur Hamilton Eaton published this research.
Deborah White Eaton died May 20, 1790, and David died three years later on July 17, 1803. They are buried an old cemetery known as Hamilton’s corner or “Jaw-bone” corner in Cornwallis. Many of their children are also buried there while others are buried at Baptist church cemetery at Upper Canard. Others are the burying ground of the congregational Church below Canning. Deborah became a communicant at the Congregational “church at Horton and Cornwallis” on May 14, 1820.
“David Eaton is said to have been a man of genial character, good form and feathers, (‘some called him a handsome man,’) and of unusual physical strength.” All that is said of Deborah is she “was of a kindly, motherly nature, hospitable and cheerful and possessed of much native refinement.”
THE SIXTH GENERATION: Stephen Eaton and Elizabeth (Woodworth) Eaton
Stephen Eaton, the oldest son, received the property of David Eaton and Deborah White Eaton’s via a transfer. Later the land was owned by Leander, son of Ward, Stephen’s nephew and son of his younger brother, John. It remained in the family almost continuously.
Stephen, the second child and oldest son of David and Deborah, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, and emigrated to Corwallish in 1765. Stephen, born January 29, 1754, would have been eleven years old, when his family took possession of 666 acres of fertile land tilled by the Acadians until their expulsion. On November 23, 1775 when he was 21, he married Elizabeth Woodworth, the daughter of Thomas and Zerviah Woodworth of Cornwallis.
They had ten children in 19 years between 1776 and 1795: Jacob, Zerviah, Rebecca, Olive who died as a two-year-old, Deborah, who lived a year and died a week after Olive, Amos, born July 28, 1785, Nathan, Elizabeth who lived 8 years, Stephen, and Nancy.
Their father Stephen died on April 20, 1838 at 84 years of age. Elizabeth died a few years later on March 28, 1841. Both were buried near their parents at Hamilton’s Corner in Cornwallis.
THE SEVENTH GENERATION: Amos Eaton and Sarah (Harris) Eaton
Amos Eaton, the sixth child of Stephen and Elizabeth Woodworth Eaton, was born July 28, 1785. He married Sarah Harris, daughter of Lebbeus and Margaret Lucilla (De Wolf) who was born on April 2, 1887. Her brother, Alpheus Harris married Rebecca Eaton, an older sister of Amos.
Early in his life, Amos Eaton moved from Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, to Pugwash, Nova Scotia, in Cumberland County. He became a Colonel in the militia, and died at 87 a very respected man. His wife, Sarah (Harris) was the granddaughter of Nathan DeWolf, a graduate of Yale College (MA 1743). Nathan married about 1849, before coming to Nova Scotia, “where he founded an important family.”
Amos and Sarah had ten children between 1811 and 1831: Levi Woodworth, Nathan Harris, Amos, Margaret Lucilla, Stephen, Caroline A, Sarah Eliza, James Edward, Rebecca, and Alpheus.
After the French in 1746-1747 viciously attacked a British Fort, the French were finally expelled in 1755, Many United Empire loyalists migrated to Nova Scotia 1772, 1774, 1783, and 1784. Pugwash, despite its good harbor, was undeveloped. Farming opportunities, Timber, Fishing, Ship Building may have been what enticed Amos Eaton to leave his family and settle in Pugwash. Amos prospered and was deeply respected. The Eatons intermarried with other prominent families like the Black famiy, the MacPhersons, and the Cranes.
THE EIGHTH GENERATION: Stephen Eaton and Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton
Stephen Eaton, the sixth of ten children and fourth son of Amos and Sarah (Harris) Eaton, was born in Cornwallis on June 26, 1819, but moved at a fairly young age to Pugwsh in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. When he was twenty-two, he married Mary Desiah Parker on January 5, 1842. She was the daughter of Reverend Maynard Parker of Pugwash (Feb 16, 1825-Dec 28, 1883). Stephen and Mary Desiah had ten children over 16 years between 1842 and 1868: Carolina, Robert F (who lived two years), Howe, who lived less than a year, Joseph Howe, born March 26, 1849, Emma Sarah, John Russell, Harriet, who lived a year, Cyrus Black, Frederick Lane, and Charles Aubrey Eaton, born on March 29, 1868.
Because Stephen Eaton struggled financially, suffered the loss of a child, and lost their home to a vicious fire, he tried various means to support his family. After Stephen’s grandson died of diphtheria, his son John injured himself in a weightlifting contest, started hemorrhaging, and died. The youngest son, Charles, devastated that his hero had died, had listened to his father Stephen Eaton, praying by his brother’s bedside. Always eager to help family, young Charles fetched his brother’s widow and daughter Anne to return to the family homestead to live with them (Miller).
It was after a devastating fire burned their home to the ground, Steven and Mary moved to Pugwash. He farmed his land, but terrible weather conditions made crops fail or have meager harvests. Stephen traveled to Colorado to try his luck as a miner only to return to Pugwash when that failed. Soon after he returned from Colorado, he suffered a massive stroke and was an invalid for the rest of his life. Stephen found spiritual sustenance with a Baptist minister who often visited him.
One day, Charles who helped take care of the farm had his self-confidence sorely tested when he discovered his father unconscious, his mother desperately ill, and his young niece suffering from a terrible ear infection. At first he panicked but then resolved to “win this fight, come hell or high water” (Miller 11). He was able to heat up the freezing house, put goose grease in Annie’s ears, hot cloth to relieve his mother’s pain, and still get all the chores done: feeding the horses, milking the cows, and tending the rest of the livestock
He recalled, he had “tapped the immeasurable reserve of moral energy, that potent stimulus of the will-to-win which lies hidden deep in the spirit of every normal man. I am convinced that ignorance of or disbelief in existence of the spiritual reserves explains most of the tragic and unnecessary failures in life” (Miller 12).
To supplement their family income, fifteen-year-old Charley found work with the construction crew building a branch of the railroad with a route off the main line through Pugwash. Charley figured out a way to save the workers time by attaching multiple carts together that were piled high with the trees that the construction workers had chopped down. He earned $.25 per cart and felt like a capitalist. Quickly, he was promoted to be in charge of the entire dumping procedure and brought home a much-needed $20 per week to his mother. (Miller)
After his father died, Charlie aspired to attend Acadia College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Because all his work on the farm had put him behind academically, he determined to attend Amherst Academy thirty miles from home to bolster his academic preparations. He took one small trunk with him.
After Stephen died on December 18, 1883, his son Charles bought his mother Mary Desiah (Parker) and a young niece to live with him in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he attended Acadia University. Charles Aubrey Eaton went to be a Baptist minister, a US citizen, a New Jersey Congressman, and one of the signers of the United Nation Charter.
THE NINTH GENERATION: Joseph Howe Eaton and Mary Adelia (MacPherson) Eaton
Joseph Howe Eaton was the third of ten children of Stephen Eaton and Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton, and the older brother of Charles Aubrey Eaton, who was nineteen years younger. Joseph was born on March 26, 1846 in Pugwash, Cumberland County. He married Mary Adelia MacPherson on February 11, 1871, when he was 25 and she was 21. Mary Adelia, daughter of John Wesley MacPherson and Phebe (Ackerly) MacPherson. Joseph Howe was a prosperous man who diversified his talents, working as a farmer, the proprietor of a general store, the poster master of the town, and landowner of timber in Nova Scotia and western provinces. They moved from Pugwash River to Pugwash Junction. His 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.
Joseph Howe and Mary Adelia had nine children between 1887 and 1895. Tragically their first four children died at very early ages. Parker (Dec 27 to Feb 15, 1877) lived five years, Gertrude (Gertie) May, born on June 16, 1873, died a week after Parker when she 3 ½. Frank was born on April 2, 1877 and died March 1, 1880, as a three-year-old. John Wilber, born on March 19, 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, weeks after his grandfather Stephen died, three more daughters and a son were born: Eva Ruth Eaton (Webb), Florence Ada Eaton (Brenciaglia), Alice Gertrude (Woodworth), and finally Joseph Wilfred.
Mary Adelia was a devout Baptist and encouraged her son, Cyrus, to follow his Uncle Charles Aubrey’s footsteps into the ministry. Both Mary Adelia and Joseph Howe were strong advocates of education, and Mary Adelia reinforced Margaret King’s teaching and 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 children all had strong educations. 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, often visited his son Cyrus in Northfield, Ohio, and he died August 29, 1922.
The names following are incomplete and just focus on Cyrus S Eaton’s family.
THE TENTH GENERATION:
Frank Eaton, Frank Eaton, John Eaton, Cyrus Stephen Eaton, Eva Eaton, Webb, Alice Eaton, Florence Eaton, Joe Eaton
Cyrus Stephen Eaton (Pearl Margaret (House) Eaton (div)); Anne Kinder Eaton
THE ELEVENTH GENERATION: Children of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
Lee Eaton, Mary Eaton LeFevre, Betty Eaton Butterfield, Anna Eaton, Cyrus Eaton Jr, Farlee Eaton Hume, Macpherson Eaton
Cyrus Stephens Eaton, Jr. and Mary Margaret (Stephens) Eaton
THE TWELFTH GENERATION: Grandchildren of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
Fox Butterfield, Bob LeFevre, David LeFevre, Hester Butterfield, David Hume, Cyrus Eaton Wind Dancer, Stephen Hume, John Eaton, Mary Eaton, Cathy Eaton, Peter Eaton, Elizabeth Eaton, James Eaton
Cyrus Stephens Eaton Wind Dancer and Toni Dolan Eaton (div)
John Stephen Eaton and Elizabeth (Beth) Ferree
Catherine Lee Eaton and Michael James Murphy
Elizabeth Farlee Eaton and John Thigpen (div); William Ryeherd (div)
THE THIRTEEN GENERATION: great grandchildren of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
David LeFevre and William LeFevre, children of Bob LeFevre
Ethan Butterfield, Sam Butterfield & Sarah Butterfield Bromma -- Children of Fox Butterfield
Daniel Koburger, Lisa Butterfield, Bobby, Carlos, children of Hester Butterfield
Ben and Angus Eaton, children of Peter Eaton
? children of Stephen Hume
? children of David Hume
Josh Eaton & ? son of James Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton (Sonia Quintero), son of Cyrus Wind Dancer
Charles Eaton, Matthew Eaton, Chris Eaton (Leyla)
Colin Eaton Murphy (m. Nicole Corwall), Devon Eaton Murphy -- children of Cathy Eaton
Shantin Lee Thigpen (d. Ashley Young), Isaiah Thigpen, Sarah Elizabeth Eaton – children of Elizabeth Eaton
THE FOURTEENTH GENERATION: great-great grandchildren of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
Lucas Eaton, son of Nathaniel Eaton
Ian and Sasha, sons of Chris Eaton
Tigerlily Thigpen, Django Thigpen, children of Shantin Thigpen
Kayden Eaton, Lumen Eyre Fier Jackson – children of Sarah Eaton
Information is from:
- Genealogical Sketch of the Nova Scotia Eatons by Rev. William Hadley Eaton, D. D. of Keene, New Hampshire. (Compiled by Arthur Wentworth Eaton) https://www.forgottenbooks.com/en/readbook/GenealogicalSketchoftheNovaScotiaEatons_10607336#3
- The Eaton Family of Nova Scotia, by Arthur Wentworth Hamilton Eaton, 1929, privately printed
- Prophet in the House: A Biography of Charles Aubrey Eaton by J. Ronald Miller, 1993, Community Church Press, Chicago
FIRST GENERATION: John Eaton and Anne Eaton
John Eaton (Dec 26, 1590) and Anne Eaton married in England around 1618 before immigrating to America. With their six children all born in England [John Jr. (1619), Anne (1623), Thomas (1631), Elizabeth (629/163), and Ruth (1637/8), and Ester (1634) ] acquired land in Salisbury, Massachusetts. It is likely they came from Hatton in county Warwick, England because of baptisms have been located for four of the children as John Eaton (1590). John Eaton’s father was Thomas A. Eaton. John had several lots of lands including Brookside Farm which remained in the Eaton family for centuries. John Eaton was a cooper who also farmed the land. He also bought and sold real-estate. ‘He was a man of strong will power, tempered by a sound practical judgment, who believed in liberty of conscience and tolerance in society.
John Sr. gave his farm to son John and retired up the Merrimac River where he died October 29, 1668 at about 73 years old. After his first wife Anne died in Feb 1660, he married Mrs. Phoebe (Dow) Eaton. John Jr. like his brother Thomas settled in Salisbury, Connecticut.
SECOND GENERATION: Tomas Eaton and Eunice (Singletery) Eaton
Thomas Eaton, son of John and Anne Eaton, lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts. His first wife was Martha Kent and their daughter Martha died February 9, 1657, ten days before her mother died on March 9, 1657. Thomas then married at Andover, Massachusetts, Eunice Singletery, daughter of Richard Singletery of Salisbury, Massachusetts. They had nine children. Eunice died on Octover 5, 1715. Their children were Thomas, Lydia, John, Jonathan, Job, Timothy, Ebenzer, Martha, and Ruth.
THIRD GENERATION: Jonathan Eaton and Sarah (Sanders) Eaton
Jonathan Eaton, born April 23, 1668, was the fourth son of Thomas and Eunice (Singletery) Eaton. Jonathan married Sarah Sanders of Haverhill on March 17, 1695. They had one son, James Eaton (b. March 9, 1696). After Sarah died on April 23, 1698 two years later, Jonathan Eaton remarried to Ruth Page of Haverhill on January 23, 1699. Jonathan worked as a yeoman meaning he cultivated a small piece of property. Jonathan and Ruth had four children: Nathaniel, Sarah, Jonathan, David, and Ruth. Jonathan died on January 20, 1723 shy of his 54th birthday. His second wife died twenty years later on April 2, 1743.
FOURTH GENERATION: James Eaton and Eunice (Singleton) Eaton
James Eaton, born on March 9, 1697, was the only son of Jonathan Eaton and Eunice (Singleton) Eaton but had four half siblings. He is known as being “feeble for many years.” James, a farmer, married rather late in life. His wife, the widow of Samuel Ayer, Jr, of Haverhill and mother of Samuel Ayer, was Rachel Kimball Ayer. James and Rachel had nine children between 1729 and 1748: David, Timothy, Sarah, Rachel, James, Jr., Suzanna, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, and Enoch. All but one married.
FIFTH GENERATION: David Eaton and Deborah (White) Eaton
David Eaton, the first son of James Eaton and Rachel Kimball Ayer Eaton, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, on April 1, 1729, and he became the founder of the Nova Scotia family. David’s first wife was Deborah White of Coventry, Connecticut. After marrying on October 10, 1751, they moved from Haverhill, Massachusetts to Tolland, Connecticut.
Deborah White had been born in Coventry, Connecticut. She had twelve siblings and was the great-great granddaughter of Elder John White. Her father, Thomas White, was “a great grandson of Elder John White, one of the first settlers of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and later of Hartford, Connecticut and Hadley Massachusetts. He sailed on the ship Lyon from England on June 22, 1632 and arrived in Boston on September 16, 1632. John White had ¾ acres on ground known as “Cow Yard Row” where the Harvard College library, Gore Hall, now stands. He was made the first selectmen in February, 1635. He moved to Hartford, Connecticut with 100 other settlers. His wife, Mary, died during the winter of 1683. Their eldest son, Captain Nathaniel White, also a public official in the legislature from Middletown, had a son Jacob White, who fathered Thomas White, who fathered Deborah White Eaton.
Deborah’s father, Thomas White, was born in Middletown, Upper Houses on August 14, 1701. He first farmed in East Middletown but in 1731 moved to the north part of Lebanon, Connecticut within the town of Andover. “His farm lay on both sides of the Hop River and was partly in Coventry.” Around 1748 he relocated to Coventry east of the Sungamug River and died around 1773. Thomas married Sarah Miller (possibly daughter of William Miller of Glastonbury. They had six children: Sarah, Thomas, Samuel, Deborah, William, and Jacob. When his wife died at 36, he remarried to Hannah Woodward, and they had seven children: Hannah, Henry, Lemuel, Elizabeth, Silas, Abigail, and Joel. The Whites were a prominent family in Connecticut.
David Eaton and Deborah White Eaton with five children (Susannah, Stephen, Elisha, Timothy, and Elijah) migrated from Tolland, Connecticut to Nova Scotia. Sadly, Susannah died at 9, Elijah died at 1, and another Timothy died before the second Timothy was born.
The dreadful expulsion of the French Normandy peasants from Acadia and the torching of their prosperous village of Grand Pre on September 5, 1875, “left unoccupied large tracts of fertile land about and near the shores of the Basin of Minas, some of it in a high state of cultivation. A proclamation was published that said “these lands consist of upwards of one hundred thousand acres of interval plow land, producing wheat, rye, barley, oats, hemp, flax, etc. These have been cultivated for more than a hundred years past, and never fail of crops, nor need manuring. Also more than one hundred thousand acres of upland, cleared and stocked with English grass, planted with orchards, gardens, etc.” In addition to be fertile land, the adjoining lands were heavily timbered. Any farmer who came was promised plow land, grassland, and timberland. The land was above the Bay of Fundi. 330 signers consisting of 200 families from Connecticut settled a township at Mines near the river Gaspereaux consisting of 100,000 acres. 150 families were settles in the township of Canard with 100,000 acres.
David Eaton, now 33, and his wife, Deborah White Eaton, now 30, received his grant from the government on December 31, 1764, “the fourth year of the reign of King George III.” Richard Bulkeley signed the document. David Eaton was granted 666 acres. He was required to pay one shilling sterling money for every fifty acres due on Michaelmas Day. He was required to “plant, cultivate, improve, or enclose one-third part of the land granted him, within ten years, one-third within twenty years, and the remaining third within thirty years from the date of his grant, a failure to fulfill this obligation, obliging him to forfeit such lands as should not be under improvement or cultivation.” At least one family had to be settled with proper stock and material by October 31, 1765. The first deed of land given to David Eaton was dated September 7, 1765. This deed can be read on Arthur Hamilton Eaton’s book.
David Eaton is believed to have been thrifty and enterprising. The land has a lovely view of what was once fertile diked land owned by the French Acadians. David transferred ownership of the lands to sons David, Stephen, and Elisha, who each built houses. Elisha’ son James, grandson Levy, and great grandson Leverette have owned the land continuously. David’s house rebuilt after a fire was torn down 36 years after Arthur Hamilton Eaton published this research.
Deborah White Eaton died May 20, 1790, and David died three years later on July 17, 1803. They are buried an old cemetery known as Hamilton’s corner or “Jaw-bone” corner in Cornwallis. Many of their children are also buried there while others are buried at Baptist church cemetery at Upper Canard. Others are the burying ground of the congregational Church below Canning. Deborah became a communicant at the Congregational “church at Horton and Cornwallis” on May 14, 1820.
“David Eaton is said to have been a man of genial character, good form and feathers, (‘some called him a handsome man,’) and of unusual physical strength.” All that is said of Deborah is she “was of a kindly, motherly nature, hospitable and cheerful and possessed of much native refinement.”
THE SIXTH GENERATION: Stephen Eaton and Elizabeth (Woodworth) Eaton
Stephen Eaton, the oldest son, received the property of David Eaton and Deborah White Eaton’s via a transfer. Later the land was owned by Leander, son of Ward, Stephen’s nephew and son of his younger brother, John. It remained in the family almost continuously.
Stephen, the second child and oldest son of David and Deborah, was born in Tolland, Connecticut, and emigrated to Corwallish in 1765. Stephen, born January 29, 1754, would have been eleven years old, when his family took possession of 666 acres of fertile land tilled by the Acadians until their expulsion. On November 23, 1775 when he was 21, he married Elizabeth Woodworth, the daughter of Thomas and Zerviah Woodworth of Cornwallis.
They had ten children in 19 years between 1776 and 1795: Jacob, Zerviah, Rebecca, Olive who died as a two-year-old, Deborah, who lived a year and died a week after Olive, Amos, born July 28, 1785, Nathan, Elizabeth who lived 8 years, Stephen, and Nancy.
Their father Stephen died on April 20, 1838 at 84 years of age. Elizabeth died a few years later on March 28, 1841. Both were buried near their parents at Hamilton’s Corner in Cornwallis.
THE SEVENTH GENERATION: Amos Eaton and Sarah (Harris) Eaton
Amos Eaton, the sixth child of Stephen and Elizabeth Woodworth Eaton, was born July 28, 1785. He married Sarah Harris, daughter of Lebbeus and Margaret Lucilla (De Wolf) who was born on April 2, 1887. Her brother, Alpheus Harris married Rebecca Eaton, an older sister of Amos.
Early in his life, Amos Eaton moved from Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, to Pugwash, Nova Scotia, in Cumberland County. He became a Colonel in the militia, and died at 87 a very respected man. His wife, Sarah (Harris) was the granddaughter of Nathan DeWolf, a graduate of Yale College (MA 1743). Nathan married about 1849, before coming to Nova Scotia, “where he founded an important family.”
Amos and Sarah had ten children between 1811 and 1831: Levi Woodworth, Nathan Harris, Amos, Margaret Lucilla, Stephen, Caroline A, Sarah Eliza, James Edward, Rebecca, and Alpheus.
After the French in 1746-1747 viciously attacked a British Fort, the French were finally expelled in 1755, Many United Empire loyalists migrated to Nova Scotia 1772, 1774, 1783, and 1784. Pugwash, despite its good harbor, was undeveloped. Farming opportunities, Timber, Fishing, Ship Building may have been what enticed Amos Eaton to leave his family and settle in Pugwash. Amos prospered and was deeply respected. The Eatons intermarried with other prominent families like the Black famiy, the MacPhersons, and the Cranes.
THE EIGHTH GENERATION: Stephen Eaton and Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton
Stephen Eaton, the sixth of ten children and fourth son of Amos and Sarah (Harris) Eaton, was born in Cornwallis on June 26, 1819, but moved at a fairly young age to Pugwsh in Cumberland County, Nova Scotia. When he was twenty-two, he married Mary Desiah Parker on January 5, 1842. She was the daughter of Reverend Maynard Parker of Pugwash (Feb 16, 1825-Dec 28, 1883). Stephen and Mary Desiah had ten children over 16 years between 1842 and 1868: Carolina, Robert F (who lived two years), Howe, who lived less than a year, Joseph Howe, born March 26, 1849, Emma Sarah, John Russell, Harriet, who lived a year, Cyrus Black, Frederick Lane, and Charles Aubrey Eaton, born on March 29, 1868.
Because Stephen Eaton struggled financially, suffered the loss of a child, and lost their home to a vicious fire, he tried various means to support his family. After Stephen’s grandson died of diphtheria, his son John injured himself in a weightlifting contest, started hemorrhaging, and died. The youngest son, Charles, devastated that his hero had died, had listened to his father Stephen Eaton, praying by his brother’s bedside. Always eager to help family, young Charles fetched his brother’s widow and daughter Anne to return to the family homestead to live with them (Miller).
It was after a devastating fire burned their home to the ground, Steven and Mary moved to Pugwash. He farmed his land, but terrible weather conditions made crops fail or have meager harvests. Stephen traveled to Colorado to try his luck as a miner only to return to Pugwash when that failed. Soon after he returned from Colorado, he suffered a massive stroke and was an invalid for the rest of his life. Stephen found spiritual sustenance with a Baptist minister who often visited him.
One day, Charles who helped take care of the farm had his self-confidence sorely tested when he discovered his father unconscious, his mother desperately ill, and his young niece suffering from a terrible ear infection. At first he panicked but then resolved to “win this fight, come hell or high water” (Miller 11). He was able to heat up the freezing house, put goose grease in Annie’s ears, hot cloth to relieve his mother’s pain, and still get all the chores done: feeding the horses, milking the cows, and tending the rest of the livestock
He recalled, he had “tapped the immeasurable reserve of moral energy, that potent stimulus of the will-to-win which lies hidden deep in the spirit of every normal man. I am convinced that ignorance of or disbelief in existence of the spiritual reserves explains most of the tragic and unnecessary failures in life” (Miller 12).
To supplement their family income, fifteen-year-old Charley found work with the construction crew building a branch of the railroad with a route off the main line through Pugwash. Charley figured out a way to save the workers time by attaching multiple carts together that were piled high with the trees that the construction workers had chopped down. He earned $.25 per cart and felt like a capitalist. Quickly, he was promoted to be in charge of the entire dumping procedure and brought home a much-needed $20 per week to his mother. (Miller)
After his father died, Charlie aspired to attend Acadia College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Because all his work on the farm had put him behind academically, he determined to attend Amherst Academy thirty miles from home to bolster his academic preparations. He took one small trunk with him.
After Stephen died on December 18, 1883, his son Charles bought his mother Mary Desiah (Parker) and a young niece to live with him in Wolfville, Nova Scotia where he attended Acadia University. Charles Aubrey Eaton went to be a Baptist minister, a US citizen, a New Jersey Congressman, and one of the signers of the United Nation Charter.
THE NINTH GENERATION: Joseph Howe Eaton and Mary Adelia (MacPherson) Eaton
Joseph Howe Eaton was the third of ten children of Stephen Eaton and Mary Desiah (Parker) Eaton, and the older brother of Charles Aubrey Eaton, who was nineteen years younger. Joseph was born on March 26, 1846 in Pugwash, Cumberland County. He married Mary Adelia MacPherson on February 11, 1871, when he was 25 and she was 21. Mary Adelia, daughter of John Wesley MacPherson and Phebe (Ackerly) MacPherson. Joseph Howe was a prosperous man who diversified his talents, working as a farmer, the proprietor of a general store, the poster master of the town, and landowner of timber in Nova Scotia and western provinces. They moved from Pugwash River to Pugwash Junction. His 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.
Joseph Howe and Mary Adelia had nine children between 1887 and 1895. Tragically their first four children died at very early ages. Parker (Dec 27 to Feb 15, 1877) lived five years, Gertrude (Gertie) May, born on June 16, 1873, died a week after Parker when she 3 ½. Frank was born on April 2, 1877 and died March 1, 1880, as a three-year-old. John Wilber, born on March 19, 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, weeks after his grandfather Stephen died, three more daughters and a son were born: Eva Ruth Eaton (Webb), Florence Ada Eaton (Brenciaglia), Alice Gertrude (Woodworth), and finally Joseph Wilfred.
Mary Adelia was a devout Baptist and encouraged her son, Cyrus, to follow his Uncle Charles Aubrey’s footsteps into the ministry. Both Mary Adelia and Joseph Howe were strong advocates of education, and Mary Adelia reinforced Margaret King’s teaching and 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 children all had strong educations. 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, often visited his son Cyrus in Northfield, Ohio, and he died August 29, 1922.
The names following are incomplete and just focus on Cyrus S Eaton’s family.
THE TENTH GENERATION:
Frank Eaton, Frank Eaton, John Eaton, Cyrus Stephen Eaton, Eva Eaton, Webb, Alice Eaton, Florence Eaton, Joe Eaton
Cyrus Stephen Eaton (Pearl Margaret (House) Eaton (div)); Anne Kinder Eaton
THE ELEVENTH GENERATION: Children of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
Lee Eaton, Mary Eaton LeFevre, Betty Eaton Butterfield, Anna Eaton, Cyrus Eaton Jr, Farlee Eaton Hume, Macpherson Eaton
Cyrus Stephens Eaton, Jr. and Mary Margaret (Stephens) Eaton
THE TWELFTH GENERATION: Grandchildren of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
Fox Butterfield, Bob LeFevre, David LeFevre, Hester Butterfield, David Hume, Cyrus Eaton Wind Dancer, Stephen Hume, John Eaton, Mary Eaton, Cathy Eaton, Peter Eaton, Elizabeth Eaton, James Eaton
Cyrus Stephens Eaton Wind Dancer and Toni Dolan Eaton (div)
John Stephen Eaton and Elizabeth (Beth) Ferree
Catherine Lee Eaton and Michael James Murphy
Elizabeth Farlee Eaton and John Thigpen (div); William Ryeherd (div)
THE THIRTEEN GENERATION: great grandchildren of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
David LeFevre and William LeFevre, children of Bob LeFevre
Ethan Butterfield, Sam Butterfield & Sarah Butterfield Bromma -- Children of Fox Butterfield
Daniel Koburger, Lisa Butterfield, Bobby, Carlos, children of Hester Butterfield
Ben and Angus Eaton, children of Peter Eaton
? children of Stephen Hume
? children of David Hume
Josh Eaton & ? son of James Eaton
Nathaniel Eaton (Sonia Quintero), son of Cyrus Wind Dancer
Charles Eaton, Matthew Eaton, Chris Eaton (Leyla)
Colin Eaton Murphy (m. Nicole Corwall), Devon Eaton Murphy -- children of Cathy Eaton
Shantin Lee Thigpen (d. Ashley Young), Isaiah Thigpen, Sarah Elizabeth Eaton – children of Elizabeth Eaton
THE FOURTEENTH GENERATION: great-great grandchildren of Cyrus Stephen Eaton
Lucas Eaton, son of Nathaniel Eaton
Ian and Sasha, sons of Chris Eaton
Tigerlily Thigpen, Django Thigpen, children of Shantin Thigpen
Kayden Eaton, Lumen Eyre Fier Jackson – children of Sarah Eaton