USA > New Hampshire > Merrimack County > Sutton > The history of Sutton, New Hampshire: consisting of the historical collections of Erastus Wadleigh, esq., and A. H. Worthen, part 2 > Part 37
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gathereth her chickens," for prayer. She pointed to heaven and led the way. Mrs. Janet Collins Eaton d. Feb. 7, 1846, and her husband, John Eaton, May 9, 1873. Children,-
John, b. Dec. 5, 1829.
Caroline, b. July 10, 1831.
Nathan Andrew, April 11, 1833.
Frederick, b. Feb. 10, 1835; d. Feb. 4, 1890.
Lucien Bonaparte, b. Mar. 8, 1837.
Christina Landon, b. Aug. 23, 1839.
James Andrews, b. Sept. 30, 1841.
Charles, b. Aug. 28, 1843.
Mary Janet, b. July 12, 1845; d. Nov. 10, 1845.
John Eaton, like all his brothers and sisters, was kept at hard, manual work through his youth when not attending school. In addition to his schooling in his district, and a few extra terms at Warner and Bradford, he was educated at the academy at Thetford, Vt., under Hiram Orcutt, LL. D., Dartmouth college, and Andover (Mass.) Theological Seminary. He graduated from Dartmouth college in 1854, and became principal of a school in Cleveland in the same year. He was superintendent of schools of Toledo, O., from 1856 to 1859.
His educational work was begun in his sixteenth year, and before entering Thetford academy by teaching one term in the Morgan district, near his home. The school-house still stands unchanged. With the exception of $243 dollars furnished by his father, young Eaton paid the entire expense of his education from his own earn- ings.
He was ordained minister of the gospel, and in August, 1861, he became chaplain of the 27th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. In the fall of 1861 he was taken prisoner at Lexington, Mo. When our troops retired from Springfield, Mo., he volunteered to stay behind with Colonel, now Major-General, J. W. Fuller, of Toledo, O., who was sick and expected to die, becoming again a prisoner in the Confed- erate lines, and while there was called upon to preach to the Con- federate soldiers. The colonel, however, recovered, and they were · both allowed to reach the Union lines at Rolla in safety.
In 1862 he became brigade sanitary inspector. He was appointed by General Grant in Nov., 1862, superintendent of the colored peo- ple, who came into the lines of his army by thousands and tens of thousands in northern Alabama, western Tennessee, and northern Mississippi. His supervision extended with the operations of the
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Army of the Tennessee from Cairo to the mouth of the Red river, and up the Arkansas to Fort Smith, and came to embrace also the care of the thousands of white refugees that flocked to the Federal lines, and were furnished food, clothing, and medicines, and sent to places of safety. He had an office and force of assistants at each military post. Under his administration the colored people were, as far as possible, made self-supporting, and all possible forms of industry were devised for them. They were cooks, nurses in the hospitals, laborers in the army ; thousands and thousands of cabins were built, wood cut, cotton, corn, and vegetables raised. Marriage obli- gations were enforced, schools were established in which benevolent teachers from the North did great service. These schools became largely self-supporting. His camps, it is estimated, furnished over 70,000 colored soldiers.
General Grant, in his Personal Memoirs, refers to this service of Chaplain Eaton as follows :
It was at this point, probably, where the first idea of a " Freedman's Bureau" took its origin. Orders of the government prohibited the expulsion of the negroes from the protection of the army when they came in voluntarily. Humanity forbade allowing them to starve. . The plantations were all deserted ; the cotton and corn were ripe ; men, women, and children above ten years of age could be em- ployed in saving these crops. To do this work with contrabands, or to have it done, organization under a competent chief was necessary. On inquiring for such a man, Chaplain Eaton, now and for many years the very able United States Commissioner of Education, was suggested. He proved as efficient in that field as he has since done in his present one.
Chaplain Eaton became colonel of the 63d Colored Infantry, and was made brigadier-general by brevet, and in May, 1865, assistant commissioner of the Freedman's Bureau, and was ordered to Wash- ington, D. C.
In 1866 General Eaton founded and was editor of the Memphis Post, a daily, weekly, and tri-weekly Republican paper. In 1867 he was elected state superintendent of public instruction for Ten- nessee, and secured the attendance of 185,000 pupils in the new schools. He was appointed United States Commissioner of Educa- tion by General Grant, and assumed the duties of the office in March, 1870, when the office had only two clerks, not over a hun- dred volumes belonging to it, and no museum of educational illus-
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trations and appliances. He served as commissioner till August, 1886, though in the fall of 1885 he had tendered his resignation and had been elected president of Marietta (Ohio) college, and had moved there with his family ; but, at the request of the adminis- tration, he retained the responsibilities of the Bureau of Education till the date named. Under his direction the bureau became the exchange of educational thought and fact for the entire country. It noted the progress, experience, and methods of education the world over, and conveyed its information to school officers, teach- ers, educational workers and writers in every county and city of the United States. The clerical force of the bureau was increased to thirty-eight, the library was enlarged to 18,000 volumes and 46,000 pamphlets. His publications and opinions were sought in every part of the world where there is progress in education, and were translated into most remote languages, as those of Finland and Japan.
General Eaton has twice visited Europe, and, travelling much in the states and territories, made himself familiar with the actual con- dition and needs of education. Every phase and problem of educa- tion has received his attention. He has promoted important changes in elementary instruction, aided improvement in school-houses, pro- moted greater attention to hygiene in public schools, helped effi- ciently to advance the qualifications of teachers and the standards of legal and medical instruction. He has done much for the im- provement of our colleges and universities, and especially of agri- culture and mechanic arts, and for the establishment of schools of manual training. He has been the promoter of the kindergarten, and has aided the progress of education in every department. He always urged education for every child in the land. He early and ably showed that the condition of illiteracy in the United States requires national aid. The provisions of a government for Alaska and schools for its people, so long withheld, were especially aided by his endeavors.
He was appointed by the president to represent the Department of the Interior at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876; has been twice elected president of the American Social Science Association, and one of the vice-presidents of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and president of section "I;" was chief of the Department of Education for the New Orleans Exposition, and organized that vast exhibition, and was president of the Inter_
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national Congress of Education there, and vice-president of the International Congress of Educators, in Havre, France. The degrees of A. B. and A. M. were given him by Dartmouth college, Ph. D. by Rutgers, and LL. D. by Dartmouth. He has served on the board of visitors appointed by the president to examine the instruction and concerns of the Military Academy at West Point ; has been a trustee of Fiske university, and is now a trustee of Lane Theologi- cal Seminary, Cincinnati ; of Howard university, and of Columbian university, Washington ; and was one of the incorporators and is one of the trustees of the funds of the National Educational Asso- ciation ; has been called to preside as the moderator of the Presby- tery of Athens and of the Synod of Ohio. He was by the appoint- ment of the governor one of the commissioners representing Ohio at the centennial celebration in New York city in April, 1889. He was a member of the Mohawk Conference on Indian affairs. He is now a trustee and the president of Marietta college.
His books have been reports,-one of the schools in Toledo, one of the schools in Tennessee, and an annual report of education in the United States, with a review of education in other parts of the world each year from 1870 to 1886. These reports have been circulated, some years to the number of 40,000. He has also published impor- tant special reports, such as on libraries and on industrial education ; also a series of circulars of information and bulletins, some of them having been called for to the number of a hundred thousand. He has delivered numerous addresses upon educational topics. He has been made a member of various learned, scientific, historical, and benevolent societies in Europe. He was decreed honorary mem- ber of the French Ministry of Public Instruction. The emperor of Brazil offered him the order of the Commander of the Rose. He is a member of the society of Japanese savans for the promotion of education.
Perhaps no one in the United States has a more extensive per- sonal acquaintance with the men who have distinguished themselves in peace and war, in philosophy, science, education, politics, and religion, in the past thirty years. He had the confidence of Presi- dent Lincoln, and was an intimate friend and confidant of Gen. Grant from the time of their acquaintance in the war till the latter's death.
The venerable Professor Sanborn, of Dartmouth college, in pre- senting Gen. Eaton to an alumni meeting once, declared that their
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honored guest was the best informed man `on education in the United States. Rev. Edward Everett Hale, D. D., in speaking of him, said, " I will not simply say he is one of the most distinguished educators in this country, but one of the most distinguished educa- tors known to the world."
In a history of Memphis, where the general served the public as an editor, are the following fitting words :
"General Eaton's whole life has been consecrated to the highest benevolence and to the broadest patriotism, and to going about doing good in every direction."
He m. Sept. 29, 1864, Alice Eugenia, daughter of Capt. James and Adeline (Quincy) Shirley, of Vicksburg, Miss. She was born at Carrolton, Miss., May 2, 1844. Captain Shirley was a native of Goffstown, and graduated at Dartmouth the year before his life- long friend, Rufus Choate. Mrs. Adeline (Quincy) Shirley was a daughter of Abram Quincy, of Boston, a favorite great-niece of John Hancock, and one of the Boston medal scholars. She was well known for her literary taste. Their home was known in the siege of Vicksburg as the " White House," the only one near and out- side the Confederate lines not burned. Its upper windows were often used by General Grant in observing the operations of the enemy. Mr. Shirley and his daughter were in Clinton when the siege began. Mrs. Shirley, after the house had been riddled with cannon and musket balls, found safety in a rude cave prepared by her servants, while the youngest son joined the Union forces in their attack. The daughter's diary, found by the soldiers, became a means by which Gen. Grant recognized the loyalty of the family.
Mrs. Alice (S.) Eaton was instructed mainly by tutors at home and at Mr. Young's school, and finished her school days in the Female College under Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Hilman, Clinton, Miss. She devoted much time to music, singing, also playing on several instruments ; but she was most fond of the piano. She is a ready writer, and has greatly aided her husband with her pen. Children,-
James Shirley, b. Aug. 1, 1868, at Nashville, Tenn.
Elsie Janet, b. Feb. 6, 1871, at Washington, D. C.
John Quincy, b. July 14, 1873, at Washington, D. C.
Frederick Charles, b. Aug. 9, 1877, at Washington, D. C .; d. June 15, 1878.
James Shirley prepared for college in the high school at Washing- ton, D. C., and entered Dartmouth college, but transferred his connec- tion to Marietta college when his father became president of that col-
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lege, where he graduated in 1889. He is now employed in the audi- tor's department of the East Tennessee, Virginia & Georgia system of Railroads, under the presidency of Gen. Samuel Thomas.
Elsie Janet entered the Washington high school, and became a mem- ber of the high school at Marietta. She is now member of the class of '91, in Lake Erie Seminary, at Painesville, Ohio.
John Quincy fitted for college in the preparatory department at Marietta. He is a member of the class of '93 of Marietta college.
Caroline Eaton m. May 27, 1869, at her brother Frederick's in Toledo, O., Samuel McMaster Pennock, b. April 27, 1821, at Straf- ford, Orange Co., Vt. At the early age of seventeen his father sent him to Boston to buy goods. At twenty-one he became a mer- chant at Hardwick and Wolcott, and in 1854 removed to Morris- town, Vt. He was a member of the house of representatives one year, two years of the state senate of the state of Vt., two years sheriff of Lemoille county, and two years was county judge. He engaged in wholesale business in Boston, in 1867, and removed his family to Somerville, Mass., and has been a member of the school committee two years, and of the city council of Somerville four years. Mr. Pennock died suddenly and without pain, sitting in his chair beside his wife, who was reading to him, Nov. 7, 1889. His life was a model of justice, integrity, and kindness. He possessed rare equanimity, and won the confidence of all who knew him. Caro- line (Eaton) Pennock, at the death of her mother, little girl as she was, began to take care of her father's house. She attended the district school until she was fifteen, when she went to Bradford and Warner fall and spring terms. She attended the academies at Thetford and Orford; in the meantime she taught district schools three seasons,-one in Warner, one in Wilmot, and one in Bris- tol. She entered Mt. Holyoke Seminary in the fall of '54, grad- uating in '56, when she became teacher and lady principal of the high school in Toledo, Ohio. After six years' successful service, she resigned, much to the regret of her pupils and the school authorities. She has been active in church, missionary, and charitable work.
She has no children, but has taken a mother's interest in the care of Mr. Pennock's children by his first wife, all of them, except those who early settled in the West, Isaac in Wabasha, Minn., Mrs. Carrie (Pennock) Dyer in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Annie, who died the year she would have graduated at the high school. Mattie teaches in the Winter Hill school. Samuel M. is in business
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in Boston. John graduated from Harvard college, and is the expert chemist at the "Solvay Process Soda Ash Works," Syracuse, N. Y. Nida married Clinton D. Hardy, of the Lenawee County Savings Bank in Adrian, Mich.
Nathan A. was named for his grandfather, Nathan Andrews. He had only a common school education. He left home when only sixteen years of age, and fought his own way in the world. In 1850 he went, via the Isthmus, to California, and engaged success- fully in mining. He was able to loan his oldest brother, John, money to complete his course at college. In 1859 he returned, via the Isthmus route, visiting his uncle, Charles Eaton, at Placquemine, La., and visited his brothers and sisters, and his father in the East. He subsequently engaged in trade in Waterloo, Ind., and after- ward in Chicago, Ill. In 1873 he returned to California, and pre- empted government land, which he has improved and which he has increased greatly in value, near Merle, San Diego Co., Cal. He has salt works on his place ; also several hundred hives of bees. In 1880 he was visited by his brothers, John and Lucien, and in 1886 by his sister, Mrs. Pennock, and her husband. In 1887 he revisited his brothers and sisters in the East ; and again, in 1889, he was pres- ent at the reunion of all his brothers and sisters at the old home at Eaton Grange. Forty years had then elapsed since they had all met together.
Frederick Eaton has been a merchant in Toledo, Ohio, for over thirty years. His education, outside of the public schools, was ob- tained in one term at Thetford academy. While on the farm he did his share of the hard work the year round. In mentioning Mr. Eaton during one of his annual purchases in Boston, the Journal referred to his first visit to that city as follows, including these facts of his career :
Mr. Eaton, being an entire stranger in Boston, was introduced to those firms by letters from Mr. Daniel Carr, the veteran store- keeper in Bradford, N. H., with whom he had first served as clerk, beginning in 1852 at $55 a year, and from Mr. Otis Barton, a Manchester merchant, for whom he subsequently worked till going to Ohio. Mr. Eaton's oldest brother, Gen. John Eaton, now Com- missioner of the United States Bureau of Education, was, in 1857, superintendent of the Toledo schools, and he lent his name and some of his earnings to the enterprise for a few years, the style of the partnership being Fred Eaton & Co. Their starting cash capi- tal was only $1,200, the opening stock of goods but $3,000 in value, and the first year's sales but $12,000. The financial crash
Western Brich Pub Co.
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of 1857 came the very month the store was opened, and hard was the experience of the merchants in that young city of 6,000 to 8,000 inhabitants. But the new enterprise weathered the storm, and Mr. Fred Eaton's business has survived all' subsequent financial dis- turbances, great and small, that have overtaken the country, without his seeking shelter under insolvency or bankruptcy laws, and, what is really remarkable, without ever having the stain of protest attach to a single one of his obligations. His sales now amount to over one million of dollars annually, a sum which but few Boston mer- chants exceeded twenty-five years ago.
He is a member of the First Congregational church, and a large contributor to its support, as he is to the many benevolent objects in the city, a director in two banks, and vice-president in one of them, and director in a number of manufacturing institutions. He has been twice called to manage and preside over the tri-state fair held in Toledo by the people of Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. He is one of the most active business men in bringing new and important enterprises to locate there. Though mentioned by the people as a Republican candidate for mayor of Toledo, for lieuten- ant-governor and for governor of Ohio, he has never allowed his name to be used in any nominating convention. William H. Maher, a literary gentleman and brother merchant of Mr. Eaton's, in a. letter to the press a few years ago, alluded to him as follows :
The merchant of to-day must be very bold and very cautious ; he must be more than a mere salesman or shop-keeper. He must be as well acquainted with manufacturing as the manufacturer, as well posted in foreign markets as the importer, and as sensitive to the public temper and mind as the keenest politician. It goes with- out saying that Mr. Eaton has possessed these qualities, for other- wise he would not be where he is. How many boys and girls have grown up under his roof ; how many families have been supported by his energetic forcing of business ; how many men have gone out to begin the battle of business for themselves after studying their lessons with him. The names of these must be in the hundreds, and if each one shall bring a stone in grateful appreciation, it will build a monument no higher than he deserves. But let us hope that no monument will cover him for a score of years, during which he may enjoy the success he has earned.
His ready wit and genial humor, added to his solid qualities, make him a favorite on social and public occasions of interest. He m. March 8, 1860, Mary Helen, b. May 23, 1839, daughter of Robert M. and Sophia (Mccutcheon) Shirley. Her father was of the firm of Lawrence & Shirley, wholesale merchants of Boston,
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residing on Shirley hill, in Goffstown, and was one of its most hon- ored citizens. After she left the district school she studied at the academy at New London, and at Bradford, Mass. Her substantial qualities everywhere won friends. She abhorred pretence, and admired the genuine and true, whether in friendship, hospitality, virtue, charity, or religion. She was a devoted wife, a precious sister, and a true friend. She was active in her church and Sab- bath-school, and in works of charity. She d. Jan. 2, 1887. Child,-
Ilelen Shirley, b. Aug. 5, 1866; d. April 13, 1876. Helen was greatly endeared to all her friends.
Frederick Eaton m., 2d, Jan. 23, 1889, Laura Helen, b. July 10, 1852, in Cleveland, O., daughter of De Witt Clinton and Laura May (Wheeler) Baldwin. Mr. Baldwin is a gentleman of large experience in the financial and railroad affairs of Cleveland and Toledo. It was in the home of his parents where the first prayer- meeting was ever held in the Western Reserve. Mrs. Baldwin's father was deacon of the first Baptist church organized in Cleve- land. Mrs. Helen (Baldwin) Eaton graduated at the high school in Toledo, and taught successfully in the public schools, most of the time in the high school, where she was highly esteemed. In her kindness of heart and active, cultivated mind, enlisted in the wel- fare of others, in the family, society, and the church, her friends, old and new, find those enduring qualities which attract and hold them.
This manuscript is opened to record the death of Mr. Eaton. The Toledo Blade, Feb. 4, in an extended article, says,-“ Frederick Eaton, the merchant prince of Toledo, is dead." He suffered in December from the ulceration of a tooth, and in January from la grippe. In response to the great demands of his many business interests upon him he overtaxed himself, and did not give his system rest to enable it to rally. He d. Feb. 4, 1890. His brothers, John, Lucien, James, and Charles, and his sisters, Carrie and Christina, hastened to his bedside and his burial. His wife was well-nigh overcome by the suddenness of his death. Those sharing in his large, business interests in Toledo and elsewhere, the citizens with whom he had been a favorite associate for a generation, could hard- ly realize the change. The crape on the door of F. Eaton & Co.'s lion store brought grief to many hearts and tears to many eyes. Said one of his clerks, "He has been more than a father to me ; he was the soul of generosity." Ellery Eaton remarked, "He has
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been more than a cousin to me." Said Mayor Hamilton, " I know of no man in Toledo who will be missed as much as Frederick Eaton." Said Banker Ketcham, "Toledo cannot realize its loss all at once." Said another, " He was a man of great commercial abil- ity. I consider his death a public calamity." Said his pastor at his funeral, "No one among us was known to so many or will be missed by so many."
Flags on many of the buildings were at half mast. His employés, and the merchants and bankers and others, held meetings, and passed resolutions of respect and condolence. Telegrams and letters came from many parts of the country. None were more considerate than those from Mr. John Claflin, with whose house Mr. Eaton had held close business relations for a generation. The family desired a private funeral, but the public demand for services at the church prevailed. Many business houses were closed. The family and immediate friends joined with Rev. W. W. Williams, D. D., in brief services at the house, where were many floral tributes. At the church these tributes were specially touching. It was one of the largest, if not the largest, funeral gathering ever seen in Toledo. The people could not be seated in the First Congregational church, but overflowed in the aisles and on the sidewalks. The services were impressive. The hymns sung had been favorites with Mr. Eaton, such as "Nearer, my God, to Thee," "Lead, kindly Light." His pastor, with a voice broken with emotion, offered appropriate prayer, read selections of scripture, and in brief and fitting words spoke of the lessons of the life that had closed, and of his hope in Christ. At the close the great concourse tearfully passed by the coffin, taking a last look of the face of their friend.
He was buried in the family lot in Forest Cemetery, by the side of the wife and daughter who preceded him. The press of the city, the Blade, Bee, Commercial, and Journal, and of the neighboring towns, and in the distance such papers as the Advance, of Chicago, and the Independent, of New York, contained notices of his death and trib- utes to his worth. No words can convey a more truthful tribute to his memory than a description of the facts connected with his death and burial. He was everywhere a favorite. Child,-
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