Francis Eaton 1596-1633 of Bristol, England and Plymouth & Duxbury, Massachusetts, and His Three Wives

Francis Eaton was baptized 11 September 1596 at St. Thomas, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, the son of John and Dorothy (Smith) Eaton. He is my 11th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family. 

St. Thomas the Martyr, Bristol

About 1618/1619 he married, first, a woman named Sarah whose maiden name is not known. Sarah and Francis had one child:

1. Samuel, born about 1620; was a “sucking child” when the young family boarded the Mayflower in 1620 to start a new life in New England; he was apprenticed as a teenager to John Cooke for a period of seven years [PCR 1:43]; married first Elizabeth whose maiden name isn’t recorded, and second his step-sister Martha Billington. I wrote about Samuel here.

It’s unclear if Francis was a Separatist or a “stranger.” He doesn’t appear in Leiden records, but he’s grouped with Leiden Church members in Governor William Bradford’s list of passengers. He was a house carpenter, which would have been a valuable skill at Plymouth. If he was at Leiden, that would explain why neither his marriage to Sarah or the baptism of their son Samuel appear in Bristol records. 

Francis experienced much heartache in his life. All of his siblings died in 1603-1604, which was the time that the plague raged in the Bristol area. [Thompson] Being a port city made Bristol particularly vulnerable to the disease and at least 3,000 people died. [Civic Annals of Bristol] As an adult Francis experienced the deaths of half the Pilgrim contingent in the first winter at Plymouth, including his young wife Sarah. His carpentry skills would have helped speed up the building of shelters, sparing more lives from being lost. Within a few years he lost his second wife. One of his children was referred to as an idiot, which must have been heart breaking. 

Francis married, second, by 1623 Dorothy whose maiden name is also unknown. She was a maid servant to John Carver and his wife who both died in the spring of 1621. [Stratton] Dorothy died by 1626; it doesn’t appear that they had children.

In the 1623 Land Division, Francis received four shares on the north side of town—presumably one for himself, one for his deceased wife Sarah, one for his son Samuel, and one for his current wife Dorothy as they were all Mayflower passengers. 

By the 1627 Cattle Division he had married, third, Christian/Christiana Penn at Plymouth. Christian had arrived in 1623 on the Anne. In that division his company received a heifer and two she goats. [PCR 12:12]

Christian and Francis had three children: 

2. Rachel born Plymouth about 1625; m. Joseph Ramsden/Ramsdell [PCR 2:94; MD 26:187-9]

3. Benjamin born Plymouth about 1628; apprenticed 11 Feb 1635/6 to Bridget Fuller for 14 years [PCR 1:36-37]; m Plymouth 4 Dec 1660 Sarah Hoskins [PCR 8:22]

4. Child born Plymouth about 1630 whose name is unknown; referred to as an idiot; still living in 1651.[Bradford 447] I can’t imagine how they coped with raising a child with a severe disability given how difficult life already was for them. 

There are sources that have Francis’ origins and second wife’s name as unknown but a 4 December 1626 English document (written in Latin) states John Morgan of Bristol was apprenticed to Francis Eaton, Bristol, carpenter, and Dorothy his wife for seven years. In the margin is written in English: The Master at New England. [Thompson]  It is possible that Isaac Allerton obtained the apprentice on Francis’ behalf while on business in England. [Greene] He may have already been married to Christian by this time, but Allerton or another agent may not have known of Dorothy’s passing.

Francis had at least some education as he signed the Mayflower Compact as well as a deed.

In 1630 Francis received a grant of 80 acres at Duxbury where he was one of the first settlers. He may not have been cut out to be a farmer as he sold off much of his land to William Brewster and others. [Healy] His grant was on the shore off what is now Massasoit Road. [Fish] He recorded three land sales in 1631 to 1633. On 25 June 1631 he sold four acres in the North Field to Edward Winslow for a "cow calf.” This was the land he was granted in 1623. [PCR 12:16]  On 30 December 1631 he sold twenty acres to William Brewster "at the place comonly called Nothingelse," for £21 12s and an 12 additional acres in the same lot to Brewster. [PCR 12:16] The signature of Francis appears in the record book on the second deed. On 8 Jan 1632/3 Francis Eaton sold his dwelling house to Kenelm and Josias Winslow for £26.  [PCR 1:8]

Francis Eaton is included in the 1628 list of Purchasers. [PCR 2:177] Plymouth Colony was quite unlucky in financial matters and struggled with debt. The group of Purchasers were 53 Plymouth freemen who bought out the interests of the Merchant Adventurers’ (the original English investors who funded the Mayflower voyage). 

Francis Eaton of Duxbury was taxed the minimum amount of 9 shillings on 25 March 1633. [Winsor] This was the last record of Francis until the November 1633 inventory taken after his death. 

Governor William Bradford wrote "Francis Eaton, and Sarah his wife, and Samuell, their sone, a young child" were Mayflower passengers. In his 1651 Increasings and Decreasings he wrote of Francis that "his first wife dyed in the generall sicknes; and he maried againe, and his 2 wife dyed, and he married the 3 and had by her 3 children. One of them is maried and hath a child; the other are living, but one of them is an ideote. He dyed about 16 years ago. His son Samuell, who came over a sucking child, is allso maried, and hath a child.” [Bradford/Ford, 2:400, 410]

He might be the unnamed person referred to by Bradford as an ingenious man, a house carpenter who was so helpful since they didn't have a ship’s carpenter. [Johnson]

Francis died, apparently from an infectious fever that killed more than 20 people at Plymouth, before 8 November 1633—likely between 25 March and 1 July 1633. He was last mentioned as living in the 25 March 1633 tax list. He was not allocated mowing ground on 1 July 1633 but a location was granted to “Mr Williams that which Fr Eaton cut last year.” [PCR 1:15] He was just 37 years old and left behind a wife and four children. 

Francis died intestate. His estate inventory was taken 8 November 1633 and included one cow and a calf, two hogs, 50 bushels of corn, a black suit, a white hat, a black hat, boots, a gun & powder horn, four pewter platters, a pewter salt, fishing lead, over £19 worth of boards, and many carpentry tools including hammers, adze, bevel square, augers, planes, chisel, lathe, and saws. His inventory, which did not include real estate, totaled £64 8s 7d. [Wills 1633-1686, vol 1-4, State Archives/Boston, pages 17-18]

Added to the inventory was a long list of debts owed by Francis Eaton at the time of his death which exceeded the value of his personal estate. He owed money to Mrs. Fuller for physick [medical care], which interests me because Bridget Lee Fuller is my 11th great-grandmother. Her husband Samuel Fuller, the Colony’s doctor, had died in August or September of that year and Bridget herself was a healer and midwife. 

He also owed his maidservant £1 1s, someone named Webb for 12 days work while he (Francis) was ill and £1 10s for work done by Francis Billington, the man who would marry his widow. He owed Isaac Allerton a whopping £105 and more than £21 to Mr. Bradford and partners, perhaps related to them all being Purchasers. He owed £4 to Mr. Hatherley, who was one of the London Purchasers. Was Francis a poor manager of money? Or was he dreaming big and going into debt to potentially make a good deal of money? Why was he selling off his land? Whatever the reason for his debt, his early death gave cut short his chance to rectify the situation.

The inventory was presented at court on 25 Nov 1633, when it was declared that Francis Eaton died insolvent and Mr. Thomas Prence and Mr. John Doane should administer the estate and pay the creditors as far as the estate will make good and the widow be freed from any claim. [Van Antwerp & Wakefield]

Creditors got two thirds of the 40 to 45 remaining acres of his Duxbury land and his widow received her one third dower. [Healy] 

In July 1634, Christian married, second, Mayflower passenger Francis Billington [PCR 1:31], whose father John was hanged for murder in 1630. She and Francis had nine children together. She died circa 1684, probably at Middleborough. Francis and Christian are my 9th great-grandparents; I descend from their son Isaac.

In 1639 Christian Billington made a deed to Jonathan and Love Brewster, sons of William, for her “one third” dower from Francis Eaton’s estate. This deed was more than likely invalid since the land would automatically pass to Francis’ son Samuel upon Christian’s second marriage. This theory is supported when, in June 1647, Samuel Eaton deeded his mother Christian’s one third to Love Brewster, son of William. [Healy]

Sources:

Lee Van Antwerp and Robert Wakefield, Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Vol. 9, Family of Francis Eaton, GSMD, 1996

Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony, Its History and People, 1986

Neil D. Thompson, The American Genealogist, ”The Origin and Parentage of Francis Eaton of the Mayflower," 72(1997):301-309

David L. Greene, The American Genealogist, “Notes on Eaton,” vol 72

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation, 2006, edited by Caleb H. Johnson

Lamont “Monty” Healy, Duxbury Clipper, “Elder William Brewster and the Nook,” 3-part series, June 26, July 24 and August 28, 2013

Henry A. Fish, Duxbury Ancient & Modern, 2012, Duxbury 375th Anniversary Revised Edition, based on 1925 edition

Justin Winsor, History of the Town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, with Genealogical Registers, Crosby & Nichols, 1849

Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins, 1995