Editing Nathaniel Eaton

{{Short description|First Headmaster of Harvard college}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[The Reverend]]
| name                = Nathaniel Eaton
| image               = 
| caption             = 
| order               = 
| title               = [[President of Harvard University#Presidents of Harvard|Headmaster of Harvard College]]
| term_start          = 1637
| term_end            = 1639
| successor           = [[Henry Dunster]] {{small|''(as President)''}}
| birth_date          = Before 17 September 1609 (baptism)
| birth_place         = [[Great Budworth]],<ref>{{cite web|title=England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538 – 2000|url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3LD-T58|website=FamilySearch.org|access-date=29 December 2017}}</ref> [[Cheshire]], [[Kingdom of England]]
| death_date          = Before 11 May 1674 (burial)
| death_place         = [[Southwark, London|Southwark]],<ref>{{cite book|title=London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812|location=London Metropolitan Archives, St George the Martyr, Southwark, Composite register|page=92/GEO/141|edition=Mar 1665 – Mar 1685}}</ref> [[Surrey]], Kingdom of England
| alma_mater          = [[University of Cambridge]]<br>[[University of Padua]]
}}

'''Nathaniel Eaton''' (before 17 September 1609 − before 11 May 1674) was an Anglican clergyman who was the first [[President of Harvard University#Presidents of Harvard|Headmaster]] of [[Harvard]],<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LqBOBK-cRBsC&dq=nathaniel+eaton+headmaster&pg=PA68 |title=Town Born: The Political Economy of New England from Its Founding to the Revolution (Early American Studies) |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |date=2009-10-09 |isbn=978-0812202618 |access-date=2009-10-09 }}</ref> [[Chairperson|President designate]],<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQMdzhnfaSwC&q=nathaniel+eaton+preside+there&pg=PA200 | title=The Founding of Harvard College | isbn=9780674314511 | last1=Morison | first1=Samuel Eliot | year=1995 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyTPAAAAMAAJ&q=nathaniel+eaton+president+designate&pg=PA612 | title=Harvard Alumni Bulletin | year=1914 }}</ref> and builder of Harvard's first College, Yard, and Library, in 1636.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQMdzhnfaSwC&dq=nathaniel+eaton+apple+orchard&pg=PA229 |title=The Founding of Harvard College |publisher=Harvard University Press (Jan. 1 1935) |date=1935-01-01 |isbn=9780674314511 |access-date=2009-10-09 |archive-date=19 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130819141428/http://https/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Cambridge on the Charles">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7_oCS782-8C&dq=nathaniel+eaton+founded+old+college&pg=PA156 |title=Cambridge on the Charles |publisher= Anne Miniver Press; First Edition |date=2001-01-01 |isbn=9780962579493 |access-date=2021-08-01 }}</ref>

Nathaniel was the uncle of Samuel Eaton, one of the seven founding members and signatories of the [[Harvard Corporation]] by charter in 1650.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=880222&p=6323072 |title=Harvard Charter of 1650 |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref>

[[File:Harvard_Old_College.jpg|thumb|[[Harvard College]]'s first building (1638–1670), as imagined by [[Samuel Eliot Morison|Samuel E. Morison]]<ref>[https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/4/archival_objects/1178880 Clipping from The Harvard Bulletin], on discovery of southeast corner of original Harvard College building during subway excavations, 1910. Records of early Harvard buildings, 1710-1969, UAI 15.10.5, Box: 1, Folder: 8. Harvard University Archives</ref>]]

==Early life and education==
The fifth or sixth son of the Reverend Richard Eaton (1565–1616),<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Swanson|first1=Scott G.|title=Waggon Loads of Eatons|journal=[[The American Genealogist]]|year=2016|volume=88|issue=1–4|url=http://americangenealogist.com/contents/recent-issues/|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> and Elizabeth [Okell].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Swanson|first1=Scott G.|title=Waggon Loads of Eatons|journal=The American Genealogist|date=April 2016|volume=88|issue=2|page=103}}</ref> Nathaniel was baptised in [[St Mary and All Saints' Church, Great Budworth]], Cheshire, where his father was [[Vicar (Anglicanism)|vicar]], on 17 September 1609.<ref>{{cite web|title=England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538–2000|url=https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3LD-T58|website=FamilySearch|publisher=Christening; citing item 1, Great Budworth, Cheshire, England, Record Office, Chester; FHL microfilm 2,262,979|access-date=18 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Swanson|first1=Scott G.|title=Waggon Loads of Eatons|journal=The American Genealogist|date=July 2016|volume=88|issue=3|page=229}}</ref>

Eaton was educated at [[Westminster School]], London.<ref>{{cite web |last1=G Barker, and Alan Herbert Stenning |title=The Record of Old Westminsters : A Biographical List of All Those Who Are Known to Have Been Educated at Westminster School from the Earliest Times to 1927. |url=https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7402/7402-Volume1-0311/311?backurl=&ssrc=&backlabel=Return&rc=889,472,1044,513;132,2614,226,2649;136,2658,230,2693;248,2661,400,2695;796,2657,893,2690 |website=Ancestry.com – membership required |publisher=London: Printed at the Chiswick Press. 1928. |access-date=21 September 2018}}</ref> He attended [[Trinity College, Cambridge|Trinity College]] at the [[University of Cambridge]],<ref name="Acad">{{acad|ETN629N|name=Nathaniel Eaton}}</ref> where he was a contemporary and friend of [[John Harvard (clergyman)|John Harvard]], a student at [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge|Emmanuel College]] at the University of Cambridge.<ref>Devine, Mary Elizabeth (1998), [https://books.google.com/books?id=tntEAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22john+harvard%22%22nathaniel+eaton%22+friend&pg=PA185 International Dictionary of University Histories], Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago and London, p. 185</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=John Harvard|url=http://www.emma.cam.ac.uk/about/history/famous/?id=4|website=Emmanuel College Cambridge|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=John Harvard (HRVT627J)|url=http://venn.lib.cam.ac.uk/cgi-bin/search-2017c.pl?sur=&suro=w&fir=&firo=c&cit=&cito=c&c=all&z=all&tex=HRVT627J&sye=&eye=&col=all&maxcount=50|website=A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge|access-date=28 July 2017}}</ref>

He then attended the [[University of Franeker]], where he studied under Rev. [[William Ames]].<ref>Francis J. Bremer, Tom Webster, ''Puritans and Puritanism in Europe and America: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia'' (2006), p. 83.</ref>  Eaton later obtained a [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]] and [[Doctor of Philosophy|PhD]] from the [[University of Padua]], in [[Veneto|Venetia]].<ref name="Acad"/>

==Career==
In 1637, Eaton emigrated to the [[New England Colonies]] on the [[merchant ship]] ''Hector'', and arrived in [[Boston]] on 26 June 1637 along with a party that included his older brothers, [[Theophilus Eaton|Theophilus]] and [[Samuel Eaton|Samuel]], and [[John Davenport (clergyman)|John Davenport]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Great Migration: Passengers of the Hector, 1637 & 1638 genealogy project|url=https://www.geni.com/projects/Great-Migration-Passengers-of-the-Hector-1637-1638/6511|website=geni_family_tree|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Calder|first1=Isabel MacBeath|title=The New Haven Colony|date=1934|publisher=Yale University Press|location=New Haven|pages=29–31}}</ref>

===Harvard College===
{{Main|Harvard University}}
In the fall of 1637, Eaton was appointed the first headmaster of the then-unnamed college which would later be named [[Harvard College]],<ref>{{Cite web |date=2007-02-05 |title=The Harvard Guide: Cambridge |url=http://www.news.harvard.edu/guide/commu/index.html |access-date=2024-07-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205041058/http://www.news.harvard.edu/guide/commu/index.html |archive-date=5 February 2007 |quote=Cambridge was founded in 1630 as Newtowne. In 1637, the tiny village was designated as the location of the then-unnamed college, which would be named Harvard the following year.}}</ref> and was awarded 500 acres of land by the General Court of Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Eaton, Nathaniel |volume= 16 |last= Goodwin |first= Gordon |author-link= | pages=337-338 |short=1}}</ref> He erected Harvard's first building, in 1636, called the Old College; named, fenced and planted the [[Harvard Yard]] called the College yard;<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PQMdzhnfaSwC&dq=nathaniel+eaton+apple+orchard&pg=PA229|title=The Founding of Harvard College |publisher=Harvard University Press (Jan. 1 1935) |date=1935-01-01 |isbn=9780674314511 |access-date=2009-10-09 }}</ref> established the colony's first [[printing press]] in March 1639, and created its first semi-public library, the [[Harvard Library]].<ref name="Cambridge on the Charles"/>
[[File:Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. LCCN2013647055.tif|thumb|right|[[Harvard Yard]], Cambridge, Massachusetts]]

Around the time that Eaton started teaching at Harvard, the [[Antinomian Controversy]] had erupted in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]]. The governor at the time, [[John Winthrop]], was noted for his extreme stance within the [[Puritans|Puritan]] community and was feared by many of the colonists. Even those who were Winthrop's close allies, such as Rev. [[Thomas Hooker]], who cofounded the [[colony of Connecticut]], were repulsed by his personality. As such, many left the colony and any Antinomians who didn't leave voluntarily were forced out, banished, or excommunicated (such as Rev. [[John Wheelwright]] who founded [[Exeter, New Hampshire]], and his sister-in-law, [[Anne Hutchinson|Anne (Marbury) Hutchinson]], who founded a new colony in what later became [[Rhode Island]]).

Eaton's older brother, [[Theophilus Eaton]], led the group along with [[John Davenport (clergyman)|John Davenport]] as their religious leader. They intended to start their own settlement – probably due in part to the commanding persona of John Winthrop, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony at the time (1637 to 1640, and many other terms). Winthrop was termed "an object of great fear in all the colonies," and caused the Rev. Thomas Hooker and others to go off and form their own colonies. Deciding that he didn't want to be involved in the animosity, he&nbsp;– like Rev. Thomas Hooker before him&nbsp;– founded a new colony, the [[New Haven|colony of New Haven]], though Winthrop and others begged both of them to stay.

In 1639, the year after Theophilus left, Eaton was brought before a court on allegations that he had beat his assistant Nathaniel Briscoe too harshly.<ref name="journal">[[James Savage (banker)|James Savage]], editor, Winthrop's Journal 'The History of New England  1630–1649'. Little, Brown and Company. 1853 edition, pgs 372-375.[https://books.google.com/books?id=KIarrcIX7QAC&q=Briscoe&pg=PA371]</ref> According to [[John Winthrop]]'s account, Briscoe had been hired by Eaton for less than three days when a dispute broke out. Eaton ordered others to hold Briscoe in place while he beat him with "200 stripes" using a walnut tree branch that Winthrop describes as "large enough to have killed a horse".<ref name="journal"/> The court also heard a number of other complaints, including that he would beat students with "20 to 30 lashes at a time" and that his wife had supposedly served students [[hasty pudding]] with goat dung in it as a substitute for raisins.<ref name="journal"/>{{ref|mrseaton}} As a result, Eaton was ordered to step down from his position and pay a fine. The school was subsequently closed the next academic year.<ref name="crimson">{{cite web |title=In The School of Tyrannus |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2014/10/30/in-the-school-of/ |website=www.thecrimson.com |publisher=The Harvard Crimson |ref=crimson}}</ref> The only record of Eaton's own supposed confession was destroyed in a suspicious fire in the office of the historian [[James Savage (banker)|James Savage]] (1784–1873), and the full extent of his guilt remains in doubt.{{citation-needed|date=June 2024}} 

It is through the court case that we know that Eaton owned a slave referred to as "The Moor", in what is the earliest known record of slavery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.<ref name="journal"/><ref name="historycambridge">{{cite web |title=Self-Guided Tour: Stories from the Early African American Community of Old Cambridge |url=https://historycambridge.org/self-guided-tours/self-guided-tour-stories-from-the-early-african-american-community-of-old-cambridge/ |website=History Cambridge |access-date=16 June 2024}}</ref> During the trial students of Harvard complained about being served the same food as "The Moor".<ref name="journal"/> At that time, the term "Moor" was used as a blanket term covering all of the inhabitants of North Africa, including Black and Muslim peoples.<ref>See Oxford English Dictionary, Old English definition.[https://www.oed.com/search/dictionary/?scope=Entries&q=Moor]</ref> It is possible that "The Moor" had arrived a year earlier on the slave ship ''Desire''.<ref name="historycambridge"/> 

[[Henry Dunster]] succeeded Eaton in 1640 as Harvard's first [[President of Harvard University|president]], and the first students graduated in 1642.{{ref|grads}} Dunster resigned in 1654 over disagreements with the church about [[infant baptism]]. Around the same time, he was [[excommunication|excommunicated]] from the congregation in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. In 1640, Eaton moved to the [[Colony of Virginia]], and then sent for his wife and children who left New England, except for his two year old son Benoni.<ref name="familybook"/>

===Family lost at sea===
According to Winthrop's ''History of New England''{{ref|winthrop}}, the ship in which the family traveled disappeared without a trace. His only remaining child, Benoni Eaton, had been left in Cambridge under the care of Thomas Chesholm and his wife, Isobel; Thomas was steward of Harvard College from 1650 to 1660.<ref name="familybook"/><ref>Primus V "Pay the Term Bill in Barrel Hoops" (September–October 2004) The Harvard Magazine ([http://harvardmagazine.com/2004/09/pay-the-term-bill-in-bar.html harvardmagazine.com])</ref><ref>Newell, W. (1846) "A Discourse on the Cambridge Church-Gathering in 1636" James Munroe and Company (pg 55, via [https://archive.org/stream/discourseoncambr00newe#page/54/mode/2up archive.org])</ref> Through Benoni, Nathaniel has modern descendants.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Eaton|first1=Daniel Cady|title=Papers of the New Haven colony historical society|website=Archive.org|year=1888|page=185|url=https://archive.org/stream/papersofnewhaven05newh#page/184/mode/2up|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref><ref name="familybook">{{cite journal |last1=Fitzenry |first1=Barbara L. L. |last2=Garnon Peters |first2=Pauline |last3=Eaton |first3=David Danielson |last4=MacMillan |first4=Douglas James |title=Family of Nathaniel Eaton |journal=The New Etonian Newsletter |date=June 2015 |volume=13 |issue=12 |url=http://www.eatongenealogy.com/Newsletter/06%20Jun%2015.pdf |access-date=12 June 2020}}</ref>

Following the loss of his family, Eaton married the widow Anne (Graves) Cotton {{ref|spvar}} (1620–1684), the daughter of [[Captain Thomas Graves]] (1584–1635) of Virginia,<ref>{{cite web|last1=Graves|first1=Ken|title=Captain Thomas Graves|url=http://www.gravesfa.org/gen169.htm|website=Graves Family Association|access-date=20 June 2017}}</ref> becoming the brother-in-law of [[William Stone (Maryland governor)|William Stone]], the governor of the [[Province of Maryland]], and family members with future [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Fathers]] [[Thomas Stone]] and [[Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer]].<ref>The William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 19, No. 1 (Jan., 1939), pp. 34-41 (8 pages) Published By: Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture</ref><ref>Hiden, P. W. “The Graves Family of York County.” The William and Mary Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 2, 1941, pp. 157–71. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1923627. Accessed 1 July 2023.</ref>

Eaton served for several years as an assistant to the [[Anglican Church|Anglican]] curate at [[Accomac, Virginia]] before returning to England, where he was appointed vicar of [[Bishop's Castle]], [[Shropshire]], in 1661 and rector of [[Bideford]], Devon, in 1668.<ref name="Acad"/>

In 1647, Eaton was exonerated of a £100 debt that Winthrop misstated as being for £1,000 in his ''History of New England'', and with which Eaton had supposedly absconded to Virginia in 1640. The exoneration is documented in Henry Dunster's record book for Harvard College as a copy of a letter by two benefactors that Dunster recorded directly underneath his first design of the [[:Image:Harvard shield-University.png|seal of Harvard College]]. The 1640 [[Financial endowment|endowment]] letter was footnoted in 1647 by Theophilus, who wrote:
{{blockquote|This money was put wholey into the hands of my brother Nath:Eaton. 9 August 1647. [signed] Theo:Eaton.<ref>{{cite web|title=College Books, 1636–1827.|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.ARCH:10654350?n=37|website=Harvard University. Corporation. College Books, 1636–1827. College Book 1, 1639–1795. UAI 5.5 Box 1, Harvard University Archives.|publisher=Harvard University Archives|access-date=27 July 2017|ref=(seq. 37)}}</ref>}} The intention of the footnote was to indicate that his brother had finally been repaid, and apparently Nathaniel had in part used the money to further his education. As for the £100, Thomas Symonds&nbsp;, a carpenter who apparently assisted in the building of the college at Cambridge in 1639 and afterwards. was found to be in debt to one of the college's creditors, John Cogan, for the same amount. The college building was poorly erected, and Symonds was the responsible party after Eaton left. Symonds and at least one of his assistants were ultimately incarcerated in [[debtor's prison]].

== Religious convictions ==
Eaton left for England around 1652, where he had already been accepted back by the [[Church of England]] and honoured as a parish priest, though obviously he had his scruples, and was said to waver between devotion to his newly found home and that to his former.

In all likelihood, that "back and forthedness" and covering up set up a [[scenario]] of confusion, which seems to have confused every recordkeeper involved. Eaton died in 1674 in [[King's Bench Prison]], where he had been incarcerated for a similar debt: quite probably the same £100 debt from which he had already been given relief. His imprisonment coincided with the [[Stuart Restoration]], and was likely reposted on an old list that [[Charles II of England|King Charles II's]] father had kept concerning those of lingering or questionable indebtedness.<!--{{ref|debt}}--> He was given a burial service on 11 May 1674 at [[St George the Martyr, Southwark]], Surrey, England.<ref>{{cite book|title=London Metropolitan Archives; London, England, Church of England Parish Registers, 1538–1812|date= March 1665 – March 1685|page=P92/GEO/141}}</ref>

== Confusion with Nathaniel Heaton of Boston ==

There was also Nathaniel (H)eaton, Heaten, wife, Elizabeth and children, who emigrated on the ''Griffin''<ref>{{cite web|title=Great Migration: Passengers of the Griffin, 1634|url=https://www.geni.com/projects/Great-Migration-Passengers-of-the-Griffin-1634/1376|website=Geni.com|access-date=28 December 2017}}</ref> with [[William Hutchinson (Rhode Island judge)|William]] and [[Anne Hutchinson|Anne Marbury Hutchinson]] landing on 18 September 1634<ref>{{cite web|title=Great Migration: Passengers of the Griffin, 1634|url=https://www.geni.com/projects/Great-Migration-Passengers-of-the-Griffin-1634/1376|publisher=Geni.com|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Tate|first1=Sheila|title=Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild – Griffin|url=https://www.immigrantships.net/v2/1600v2/griffin16340918.html|publisher=Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild|access-date=30 June 2017}}</ref> in the town of [[Boston]], but who spelled his name "Heaton".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Robert Charles|title=The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634–35|date=2003|publisher=New England Historic Genealogical Society|location=Boston|page=3:303–5}}</ref> This Nathaniel Heaten was made free on 25 May 1636.<ref name=":0">{{cite book|author= Nathaniel Bradstreet|title=Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts bay in New England. Printed by order of the legislature|date=1853|publisher=From the press of William White, printer to the Commonwealth|location=Boston|page=372|edition=Vol. 1 1628–1641|url=https://archive.org/stream/recordsofgoverno01mass#page/372/mode/1up}}</ref> Nathaniel Eaton of this article only arrived on the ''Hector'' on 28 June 1637, and was made a Freeman on 9 June 1638.<ref name=":0" /> In 1903 a series of plans of Boston, showing existing ways and owners of property from 25 December 1630 to 25 December 1645 inclusive was published showing the work of cartographer, George Lamb. In these maps #98, Nathaniel Eaton is cited as a property owner in Boston from 1638 to 1645. The subject of this article, Nathaniel Eaton, was known to have left Cambridge in the fall of 1639 and relocated to Virginia by 1640. The Nathaniel Eaton cited in the Lamb map collection is most likely Nathaniel Heaton. This error may have caused further conflation of two individuals, Nathaniel Heaton (Boston), and Nathaniel Eaton (Cambridge).<ref>{{cite web |last1=Lamb |first1=George |title=Plan of Boston showing existing ways and owners |url=https://collections.leventhalmap.org/search?f%5Bname_facet_ssim%5D%5B%5D=Lamb%2C+George |website=Norman B. Leventhal Map & Education Center at the Boston Public Library |publisher=Unknown publisher 1903 |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref> In ''The Crooked and Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston – 1630–1822'' [note 185] by [[Annie Haven Thwing]], Nathaniel Heaton is accurately cited.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thwing |first1=Annie Haven |title=The crooked & narrow streets of the town of Boston 1630–1822 |url=https://archive.org/details/crookednarrowstr20thwi/page/185 |publisher=Boston, Marshall Jones Company, 1920 |access-date=31 August 2019}}</ref>

==Notes==
1. {{note|mrseaton}} Cf. [[Samuel Eliot Morison]] ''Builders of the Bay Colony'' (1930) pp 190–191 where can be found his wife's supposed confession that was obviously coerced. Allegations of embezzlement appear to be ''[[ex post facto]]'', or after the fact, and when one compares the entries in: [[Thomas Lechford]]'s ''Note Book Kept by Thomas Lechford Lawyer, 1638–1641'' (1885), it can be seen that Nathaniel paid all his debts, and was even owed money by Thomas Lechford himself.

2. {{note|ctrptr}} Cf. Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, M.D. ''Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England'' (1853, vol I) p.&nbsp;275; and subsequent later trials such as the [[Salem Witch Trials]] where it can be seen that testimonies at trial, etc., were thereafter taken down.

3. {{note|grads}} According to Cotton Mather's ''[[Magnalia Christi Americana]]'' (1702), the graduating class of 1642 included the following individuals:
:[[Benjamin Woodbridge]]
:Georgius [George] Downing
:Johannes Bulklæus [John Bulkeley]
:Gulielmus [William] Hubbard
:Samuel Bellingham
:Johannes Wilsonus [John Wilson]
:Henricus [Henry] Saltonstall
:Tobias Barnardus [Barnard]
:Nathanael Brusterus [Nathaniel Brewster]

4. {{note|winthrop}} James Savage, ''Winthrop's Journal "The History of New England" 1630–1649'' (1825–26 edition). There are other versions, including the original 1649 version, but Savage's annotated edition, or its 1853 revision, is considered to be the most comprehensive.

5. {{note|spvar}} Many spelling variations exist, such as "Greaves" for "Graves". Some authorities state that Ann was the daughter of Francis Graves, the son of Thomas Graves. She later married [[Francis Doughty (clergyman)|Francis Doughty]] as her third and final husband.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Sources ==
{{wikisource|Nathaniel Eaton}}
* James Kendall Hosmer, editor, ''Winthrop's Journal 'The History of New England' 1630–1649'' (1908 edition) vol. I, p.&nbsp;314 — Appeal by the Church of Cambridge and the seizing of Nathaniel Eaton's estate. See also: James Savage's footnotes in his edited version of the same above ''Winthrop's Journal 'The History of New England' 1630–1649'' (1825–26 edition)
* Nathaniel Bradstreet Shurtleff, M.D., editor, ''Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England'' (1853, vol. I) [1628–1641] by page...
:p. 210 – [Eaton] left out of tax rate for 1637 on 20 November 1637 – {{cite book|author=Nathaniel Bradstreet|title=Records of the governor and company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England. Printed by order of the legislature, Vol. 1|date=1853|publisher=W. White|location=Boston|page=210|url=https://archive.org/stream/recordsofgoverno01mass#page/210/mode/1up|access-date=20 June 2017}}
:p. 262 – 500 acres [2 km²] of land granted on 6 June 1639 vis-à-vis: "If hee continew his employment wth vs for his life".
:p. 275 – Removed from employment on 9 September 1639
:p. 275 – Judgements henceforth, after the Eaton Trial, to "bee recorded in a booke, to bee kept to posterity".
::(Same day as above: 9 September 1639, and written in after the above "deposition" event. It's probable that the "deposition" was a "first order of business", and not just something anticipated long before "recordation of facts" had even been conceived.)
:p. 277 – His estate attached on 5 November 1639
:p. 372 – Nathaniell Heaten made free on 25 May 1636 (this is an example of the incorrect conflagration of two distinctly separate individuals, Nathaniel (H)Eaton and Nathaniel Eaton) The Nathaniel Eaton of this article had not yet arrive in the Massachusetts Bay. He arrived on the Hector on 26 June 1637, as detailed above.
:p. 374 – Nathaniel Eaton Made a Freeman on 9 June 1638
* Thomas Lechford, ''Note Book Kept by Thomas Lechford Lawyer, 1638–1641'' (1885) p.&nbsp;236
:"I payd Nathaniel Heaton for full of writings &amp; cutting wood. 31 November 1639. 5s". (This is another example incorrectly citing Nathaniel Heaton!)
* Cotton Mather, ''Magnalia Christi Americana (The Ecclesiastical History of New England)'' (1702) [7 books; 2 volumes in modern versions]
* John Warren Barber, ''Connecticut Historical Collections'' (1837 edition) pp 134–185
* [[Benjamin Trumbull]], [[D.D.]], ''A Complete History of Connecticut'' (1818) [Also, 2 volumes]
* ''New England Historical and Genealogical Register'' (1855, vol. 9) pp 269–271, article entitled "The First President of Harvard College"
* James D. & Georgiana W. Kornwolf, ''Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America'' (2002) vol 2, pp.&nbsp;981–986 [Harvard College]
:(all preceding dates are in their original [[Julian Calendar]] format)

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{succession box
| before = New position
| title  = [[Schoolmaster]] of [[Harvard University|Harvard College]]
| years  = 1637–1639
| after  = [[Henry Dunster]], as ''President of Harvard College''
}}
{{s-end}}
{{Harvard University presidents}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Nathaniel}}
[[Category:1610 births]]
[[Category:1674 deaths]]
[[Category:17th-century English Anglican priests]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Slave owners from the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:History of religion in the United States]]
[[Category:English emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony]]
[[Category:Clergy from colonial Massachusetts]]
[[Category:People educated at Westminster School, London]]
[[Category:Presidents of Harvard University]]