Joseph EATON ^34,88

  General Notes:

Source Citation: Year: 1870; Census Place: Perry(sic:Peru), Morrow, Ohio; Roll: M593_1247; Page: 449; Image: 371.
Source Citation: Year: 1860; Census Place: Peru, Morrow, Ohio; Roll: M653_1017; Page: 58; Image: 116.
Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: Peru, Morrow, Ohio; Roll: M432_716; Page: 65; Image: 497.
Source Citation: Year: 1840; Census Place: , Delaware, Ohio; Roll: 391; Page: 194.
Source Citation: Year: 1830; Census Place: Peru, Delaware, Ohio; Roll: 130; Page: 97.
Source Citation: Year: 1820; Census Place: St Georges Hundred, New Castle, Delaware; Roll: M33_4; Page: 163; Image: 167.

Mentioned to be a conductor of the Underground Railroad who move people from his home to the Benedicts at Quakertown, Peru Township, Morrow County, Ohio.

The route through the Alum Creek settlement had its initial station at Ripley on the Ohio River and led through numerous stations to Jason Bull's place at Clintonville, thence to Ozem Gardner's two miles north of Worthington, and so to Joseph Eaton's, northeast of Delaware, on or near the southern boundary of Morrow
County. Mr. Eaton conducted the fugitives through the woods to Daniel Benedict's, the southernmost house of the Alum Creek settlement.

Joseph Eaton, (who was son of Isaac Eaton, who was son of David Eaton, who was son of John Eaton, who was son of Joseph Eaton, who was son of John Eaton, who came from Wales in 1686), was born in Newark, Delaware, Oct. 20, 1798; came to Ohio in the earlier settlement, and finally to Delaware Co., and on the 20th day of June 1824, was married to Ursula Potter, daughter of Asahel Potter, who came from Connecticut to Lancaster, Ohio, thence to Franklin Co., Ohio, and finally to Delaware Co., in 1821, dying at Leonardsburg, March 10, 1869, at the ripe old age of 93

432 - HISTORY OF MORROW COUNTY
The first church was erected about 1816, and it was not until 1834 that the next church, that of the Baptists, was erected, on the lands of Noah Agard, on the Worthington and New Haven road. It drew its audiences from the following-named families, viz., Zenas Root, John Eaton, John Thatcher, Jesse Champlin, Henry Fleming, Stein Sackett, Jacob Vandeventer, Nathan Clarke, (whose widow, since Nathan's death has twice been married, her last husband being John Evans), Smith (the first blacksmith in the township), Noah Agard, Esq., Asa Defred, one of the first teachers, Asahel Potter and Joseph Eaton. The last-named gentleman traced ancestry to 1686, in Wales; he was a tanner by trade, and a scholar by his own exertions, having mastered the Greek and Latin languages the sciences, surveying and calendar calculations without the aid of a teacher. His library embraced many ancient and antique works, procured from Europe, and, every range of literature which it were possible to imagine or to procure. He made several wills or testaments, the last of which was contested in the courts of Delaware County, and was one of the most remarkable cases ever occurring in the courts of Central Ohio. The will was not sustained. The ministers of the above church were Elders Wigton, Drake, Kauffman, Martin, Wyatt, Eaton, etc. No organization now exists, and the church is in ruins..



BIOGRAPHY: 1930's Newspaper article on Napolean , the town laid out by Rueben Whipple.

Napolean, Peru, Morrow Co., Ohio
BIOGRAPHY: The burial ground that Rueben set aside had only one burial in it, that of a little boy, a son of Joseph Eaton and neighbor to Whipple. Mr. Eaton was a tanner and one day when he was working in the tannery, Mrs. Eaton sent the child to summon him for dinner. We can imagine how with a light heart, the child, a mere toddler, proceeded on his way, doubtless in joyous anticipation of an affectionate greeting by his father and a joyride back to the house in his father's arms. He did indeed return to the house in his father's arms, but there was no joy in that return, but deepest gloom and sorrow. When dinner time came Mr. Eaton went to the house, and as Mrs. Eaton noticed he was alone, she inquired where the child was, and Mr. Eaton told her that he had not seen the child since morning. Then when she told him that she had sent the child to summon him to dinner, he returned to the tannery to search for the child and fouund that he had fallen into a tan vat and drowned. This sad occurrence overwhelmed the Eatons with sorrow from which they never found relief. When after years it became evident that the town of Napoleon would never grow and no more burials be made in the cemetery, Mr. Eaton removed the remains of their child to the township cemetery nearest to their home, but the gravestone for some reason was not re-erected at the new grave, but was kept at the Eaton home. Mr. & Mrs. Eaton reared in their home two orphaned grandsons, Charles and Harry Longwell, and in the course of time Charles became a resident of Ashley where he worked at stonecutting. At the apex of the front window of the M.E. Church in Ashley is a marble tablet placed there while the church was in the process of erection, of which Mr. Longwell inscribed the words "Belknap Chapel". That tablet was placed there as a token of appreciation on the part of the membership of the patronage of William Belknap, a former merchant of Ashley, and member of the church, who made a very liberal contribution to the building fund. The tablet was the gravestone of the Eaton child who was drowned in the tan vat and buried first in the cemetery in Whipple's plot of Napoleon. Charles Longwell had taken the gravestone with him when he located in Ashley. The child's name, birth and death dates are unknown for the side with the epitaph is hidden in the wall. Shortly after the death of Jospeh Eaton, the tanner, his home was destroyed by fire which burned his records and large library. His grandson, Harry, built a new house on the same spot. Dr. T.B. Hinkle, now deceased, a well known veterinary surgeon of the Federal Army, resided there for many years and Tom White now lives there (1990 Verne Davis now).

Will : The Will of Joseph Eaton on file in the Delaware County Historical Society Case 2653.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Will: Page 1, 1858, Delaware Co., Ohio, United States. This will was made in 1858 but everyone mentioned in it was dead by the time he died in 1875. It is to bad he left his grandsons Charles and Harry Longwell out of it.

• Will: Will page 2, 1858, Delaware Co., Ohio, United States.

Joseph married Ursula POTTER, daughter of Asahel POTTER and Anne BENTON, on 20 Jun 1824 in Delaware Co., Ohio, United States. (Ursula POTTER was born on 2 Jun 1800 in Connecticut, USA, died on 23 Nov 1886 in Peru, Morrow, Ohio and was buried in Whitehall Cem., Stantontown, Peru, Morrow Co., Ohio.)