Theophilus EATON, Governor

1591 - 1658  (~ 66 years)

• Name	Theophilus EATON
  Suffix	Governor
  Birth	Aug 1591	Stony Stratford, Bucks, England
  Gender	Male
  Baptism	Aug 1591
  Freeman	1612	London, Middlesex County, England
  Membership	1612	London, Middlesex County, England
  	Fellowship of East-Land Merchants
  Immigration	26 Jun 1637	Boston, Massachusetts
  	after crossing the Atlantic on the ship Hector.
  Occupation	Merchant; Ambassador to Denmark; Governor, New Haven Colony
  Death	7 Jan 1657/58	New Haven, Connecticut
  Notes	For a comprehensive look at Theophilus Eaton, especially in the context of the New Haven Colony, see source 93 (G.L. Davis, Theophilus Eaton "New England's Glory" 1637 - 1657). Theophilus Eaton is best known as a founder, along with John Davenport, and original governor of the New Haven Colony. Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia Christi Americana, published in 1702, memorialized him and wrote a biography that included some of his ancestry. Theophilus and his first wife Grace lived for two years in Copenhagen, when he was the representative from King James I to King Christian of Denmark. On 5 Aug 1624, King Christian at Fredericksburg, wrote a letter to James I, saying: "By these presents we would inform your Majesty that we have constituted the bearer, Theophilus Eaton, as agent to conduct our business in your Majesty's kingdom." The company constituted to trade in the Baltic was called the Eastland Company, of which Theophilus Eaton had become the deputy governor. When he and Grace returned to England from Denmark, they bought a home just off Lombard Street in the Parish of St. Nicholas Acon. His mother and her children evidently continued to live in London in the home that Theophilus had provided for them earlier. On March 4, 1629, a charter was issued by the Crown for a new corporation called the Company of the Masachusetts Bay in New England. This document was brought to Boston with it's first English settlers in 1930 and for fifty years served as the constitution of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Theophilus Eaton was one of the investors, or patent holders, in this company. Because of political turmoil and religious persecution of Puritans in England, Theophilus Eaton and Reverend John Davenport organized a group of people who wished to leave the country. These were mostly wealthy and influential people, from the parishes of St. Stephen (Davenport's parish), St. Antholin and St. Lawrence Jewry. Also, because of persecution of ministers in Kent, many from this area joined in the group that was to emigrate. In 1636 they chartered the 250-ton ship Hector, intending to leave in the fall, but the crown impressed the Hector for its own use. On January 19th, 1637, the owners petitioned for the ship's release, but it was not available and ready to sail until the third week of April. While waiting for their departure, the second child of Ann and Theophilus died of a sudden illness and was buried at St. Stephen's on March 15, 1637 (1636 old style). On July 2, 1634, their infant son Jonathan had been buried there. The older daughter from Theophilus Eaton's first marriage with Grace Hiller was also buried in the St. Stephen churchyard, on September 8, 1630. The Hector arrived at Boston on June 26, 1637. The Eaton family that debarqued in the Massachusetts Bay Colony consisted of Theophilus and his wife Ann, their three living children (Samuel, Theophilus and Hannah), Theophilus' daughter Mary, Ann's children David and Thomas Yale, and her daughter Ann Hopkins with husband Edward Hopkins, Theophilus' mother Elizabeth Eaton, and Theophilus' brothers Samuel and Nathaniel, who was appointed the first headmaster of the school that later became known as Harvard College. Theophilus brought with him the account books of the Massachusetts Bay Company. For a number of reasons, Theophilus and most of his party of immigrants decided to look for another site within the limits of the grant made to them by Robert Rich, Earl of Warwick. Being pursuaded of the good land and harbor at the mouth of the Quinnipiac River, several men, including Theophilus, traveled along the coast by boat to this location. The trip took two weeks. The harbor was thought to be the best in the region and the Quinnipiac Indians who lived there were friendly and agreeable to a settlement of Englishmen, probably because they needed protection from the Pequots. Five men remained at Quinnipiac over the winter while Theophilus returned to Boston. Cotton Mather described a serious health crisis that afflicted Theophilus during these travels and the attempts of a surgeon to heal an open abcess in his chest. On March 12, 1639 (the 12th day of the first month, Anno 1638), John Davenport and Theophilus Eaton wrote a letter of appreciation to the Governor, Deputy, Assistants, and the Court. In this letter they explained why they planned to settle in a different location. The Eaton-Davenport group finally set sail for Quinnipiac on Friday, March 30, 1638, aboard the Pinnance, a sloop. They were two hundred and fifty persons, including servants. It had been a long and cold winter, with deep snow on the ground from November 4th to March 23rd. Theophilus was the principal person behind the laying out of the town of Quinnipiac, soon to be called New Haven. He hired John Brockett, a surveyor to lay out the town plan, the first and oldest in the country. The New Haven Green, envisaged by Theophilus Eaton, is still the largest central square of any city in the United States. He was the first of seven pillars who formed the nucleus of the organization of the First Church of Christ (Center Church) of New Haven and who received the other planters into their fellowship. In June 1639, Theophilus is #1 in the list of members of the church. "No character in the annals of New England is of purer fame than that of Theophilus Eaton, governour of the colony of New Haven from its settlement to his death, by twenty annual elections. That his talents were adequte to the station, might be confidently concluded from the fact of his prior service, several years, as representative of Charles I, at the court of Denmark; and the long administration of an infant state without a rival, is irrefragable proof of his prudence and virtue." (John Winthrop) Epitaph: "Eaton! so famed, so wise, so meek, so just, The Pheonix of our world here hides his dust. This name forget, New England never must, To attend you, syr, under these framed stones, Are come your honored son and and daughter Jones. On each hand to repose yr weary bones." [1, 2, 3]
  Person ID	I1074	Ellingboe
  Last Modified	12 Jul 2012

  
  

  Family ID

  F89

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  Davenport Window with Theophilus Eaton The Davenport Window at the First Church of Christ (now Center Church)in New Haven depicts the first Christian service conducted in New Haven on Sunday, April 25, 1638. The Reverend John Davenport appears in the center preaching to the other colonists who include the co-founder of the New Haven Colony, Theophilus Eaton, who stands to the left,…

  
  

• Sources

  [S188] Winthrop, John, Esq., Winthrop History of New England, (James Savage, Ed., Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1853), Vol. 1, pp. 272-273 (Reliability: 3). [S288] Franklin Bowditch Dexter, Members of First Church of Christ New Haven, (New Haven, Connecticut: n.p., 1914.), 1. (Reliability: 3). [S289] Genevieve L. Davis, Theophilus Eaton, (Charlotte, North Carolina: Self Published, 1977.).