Re: Questions re: EATON FAMILY ASSOCIATION
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In reply to:
Questions re: EATON FAMILY ASSOCIATION
Nancy Lieber 2/27/01
Nancy:The main reason Rick, myself, and as several other researchers, went back to the 11th century was to understand the family connections to our U.S. Eatons by discovering their origins and in the process clear up some age old discrepancies.Yes, we will primarily focus on U.S. migrations, but as this is a global family, we also have many cousins still in Ireland, England and/or Austrailia, etc. who will indeed have much to offer. It is obvious from their postings, that they are curious about their cousins in the new world, and we look forward to an exchange of family information to our mutual benefit.The primary focus of our Eatons, however, will be the migrating Eaton families to the U.S.We know that during the 17th century, 5 main Eaton families were identified as immigrating from England to the new world:(i) Francis Eaton, of the Mayflower, Plymouth, 1620; (ii) John Eaton, of Dedham, Suffolk, Ma.; (iii) John Eaton, of Haverhill, Essex, Ma. (which line includes some of the Nova Scotia Eatons); (iv) Jonas Eaton/William Eaton, of Reading, Middlesex, Ma.; and (v) John/Joan of Radnorshire, Wales circa 1659
Then, in the context of a growing colonial America, these families began their migrations throughout the emerging new country.We first need to establish if any of these 5 families were related and, of course, by understanding their common roots, it will be easier to consolidate and identify ALL the descending branches over the next 300-400 years.Were the Eatons in VA all related?Did they originally come from Massachusetts or PA or did they come directly from England?How many John and William Eatons were there, and which ones were siblings or 1st cousins?Which of the North Carolina Eaton families migrated west and which ones stayed?Which were the families who continued west through KY, TN, IN, IA?Which family did the Eatons in Crawford Co., IL or Crawford Co., MO descend from.Which ones continued on to TX, OR, etc.By tracking and consolidating the various families, we hope to answer these very questions as we combine the MANY SEPARATE family lineages into ONE database.It is an awesome task, but one we think is necessary to carry forward into the future.
Once again, the ancient Eatons are part of our history and a necessary part of our study in understanding how the Eaton lines developed and how the patterns of their migrations separated families and connected others, but in so doing, we will learn how to connect our present day extended family on a global basis.And this is how you will learn about your ggrandparents in 1880 Iowa because we may learn that he was in fact brother or cousin to the Governor of Colorado.We will find out that your Eaton really was from a line that migrated to IA, but started in VA and was related to mine. I have ggrandparents and grandparents in IN and IA during that late 19th century period, but until I examine my line in conjunction with yours or one of my cousins, I may never know that you are indeed my 3rd cousin once removed.
As for joining now or later, we hope to continue this project for many years to come and will continue to add new members as we go along.However, the more members we have, the stronger our support will be, the more data we will have to input and consolidate, and the greater will be our ability to research and obtain documents necessary for the common good.As our membership strengthens, the more options will be possible to add to our website (such as digital archiving - and this may include state census records, colonial histories, as well as ancient text).The formation of the association itself is just beginning, but as soon as we have our best idea for its structure and options, we will post all its possibilities.There may be a separate newletter subscription available, there might be various levels or degress of membership, but until we finalize how it will be structured, we can only talk about it in generalities.We appreciate your questions and hope you have been reassured that we hope to find out about your family in 1880 IA.By your questions and input, we will gain a better understanding of the needs of the family as a whole.If you have additional questions, please feel free to ask away or email Rick at [email protected] or myself, Barbara (at least for another month) at [email protected] has been pretty busy with his work schedule, so I'm trying to help out by answering some questions to the best of my ability and understanding, but Rick is the one who has taken on the formidable task of the association structure and will be the best to relay specific details.I'm sure they will be forthcoming very soon.
More Replies:
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Re: Questions re: EATON FAMILY ASSOCIATION
Nancy Lieber 3/01/01
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Re: Questions re: EATON FAMILY ASSOCIATION
3/01/01