BAPTIZED: September 11, 1596/St. Thomas Parish, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England
DIED: Before November 8, 1633/ Plymouth

Francis Eaton, with his wife Sarah and baby son Samuel, arrived in Plymouth in 1620 on the Mayflower.

Francis was born in England around 1595.  He died in Plymouth in 1633.  His first wife Sarah, mother of Francis’ son Samuel, died the first winter of 1621.  Francis remarried to Dorothy (last name unknown), the maidservant of John and Katherine Carver, who was listed by William Bradford as a Mayflower passenger.  Dorothy Eaton died sometime in the colony’s first years.  His third wife was Christian Penn, who had arrived in Plymouth on the Anne in 1623.  Christian and Francis had 3 children, Rachel, Benjamin, and an unknown child.  (After Francis Eaton’s death, his widow Christian married Mayflower passenger Francis Billington; they had 9 children.)

Francis was, by trade, a carpenter.

We know from the records that Francis had sold 4 acres of land in 1631/1632 to Edward Winslow and 32 acres of land to William Brewster.  Not long before his death in 1633, he had sold his house to Kenelm and Josiah Winslow.

That he was able to sign his own name to a deed indicates at least a basic level of education.

Francis Eaton died without a will, but we do have the inventory of his estate at the time of his death.  His burial site is unknown.

For information on the discovery of Dorothy Eaton’s identity as the maidservant of John and Katherine Carver and second wife of Francis Eaton, see Caleb Johnson, “Dorothy, John Carver’s Maid Servant” on Passenger Lists Mayflower 1620, accessed at http://mayflowerhistory.com/dorothy/