BORN: Late 1619 or early 1620/Plymouth
DIED: Before October 29, 1684/Middleboro

Samuel Eaton was the only child of Sarah and Francis Eaton, a carpenter from Bristol.  He was an infant when he and his parents arrived in Plymouth in 1620 on the Mayflower.

Samuel’s mother, Sarah, died the first winter of 1621. His father Francis soon remarried. Francis Eaton’s second wife was Dorothy (last name unknown), the maidservant of John and Katherine Carver who was listed as a Mayflower passenger by William Bradford. Dorothy Eaton died sometime in the colony’s first years. Francis’ third wife was Christian Penn who arrived in Plymouth on the Anne in 1623. Christian and Francis had 3 children – Samuel’s stepbrothers and sisters.

Samuel’s father, Francis, died in 1633.  Samuel was then 13 years old.

After Francis Eaton died, Samuel’s stepmother Christian Penn Eaton married Mayflower passenger Francis Billington.   Samuel continued to live with his stepmother Christian and her new husband Francis Billington.  Christian and Francis had 9 children of their own including a daughter named Martha who was born around 1638.

In 1636, at age 16, Samuel Eaton was apprenticed to John Cooke, another Mayflower child grown to adulthood.  At about age 26, Samuel married a woman named Elizabeth (last name unknown) and moved to Duxbury.  They had two children (their names are also unknown).  Elizabeth died; Samuel remarried on January 10, 1661.  His new wife was Martha Billington, daughter of his stepmother Christian by her Mayflower husband Francis Billington.  Samuel and Martha had four children: Sarah, Samuel, Mercy and Bethiah.

At some point during the 1660s, Samuel moved from Duxbury to Middleboro, where he died in 1684.
Samuel Eaton died without a will, but we do have the inventory of his estate at the time of his death, given to the Court on October 29, 1684. 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/