PILGRIM ANCESTORS: FRANCES EATON AND CHRISTIANA PENN

PART ONE PILGRIM ANCESTORS 

Frances Easton, Christiana Penn

  MAYFLOWER AND PLYMOUTH COLONY 1620-1633

 1. The Francis Eaton Family          2. The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony                 3. Our home in Plymouth Colony                          4. Historical Notes         5. The Mayflower Compact         6  November 11, 1620         7. Historical Notes: The Mayflower Compact November 11, 1620         8. A copy of a letter from William Hilton to his Family William came to America on the ship Fortune in  S1621.         9. Bibliography for Frances and Christiana Penn

 1. The Francis Eaton Family

   My birth name is Christiana Penn. I am twenty-seven years old and have been married to Francis Eaton for nine years. Francis and I were married in 1624 here in Plymouth Colony. We have three children and Francis has one older son. Rachel is seven years old, Benjamin is five, and our poor little Christopher, who is not right in his head, is three years old. Francis’ son Samuel is twelve years old. Francis and I are both originally from St. Thomas Parish in Bristol, Gloucester County, England.

   My husband Francis Eaton was born in Bristol, on September 11, 1596. He is thirty-seven years old. Francis’ parents are John and Dorothy Eaton. Francis was twenty-four when he, his wife, Sarah, and their baby Samuel arrived in Plymouth Colony on the Mayflower in 1620. Francis had three brothers, John, Samuel and Welthian and a sister, Jane, who all died from a sickness when they were very young. The only brother who Francis remembers is Samuel. I think that is why he named his first son, Samuel.

   I, Christiana Penn, was born in 1606 in Bristol. My parents are George and Elizabeth Penn. Some people spell my name Christian. I arrived here in June 1623 when I was seventeen years old on the Anne. My father George Penn was born in 1571 in Birdham, Sussex County England and died last year, 1632, here in Plymouth Colony. Father’s parents are William and Margaret Penn. My mother, Elizabeth, is also from Birdham. I have one brother, William, who was born April 23, 1621 in Bristol, England. I am eleven years older than he is. In fact my step-son Samuel is older than my brother. William Penn is a good old family name. My great-grandfather William Penn was born in 1525 in Gloucester-shire, England. He must have been an important person because he is buried in the front of St. Leonard’s Church in Minety, his home town. There is even a plaque at the church commemorating his life.

PILGRIM ANCESTORS: THE MAYFLOWER AND PLYMOUTH COLONY

PART ONE PILGRIM ANCESTORS

2. The Mayflower and Plymouth Colony  

  

   I think my husband’s name, Francis Eaton, will someday show up in a history book, because, he is one of the “Old Planters.” He was on the Mayflower, the first ship to bring people here with the idea of settling this new land. The Mayflower arrived in November 1620.  Men had been crossing the ocean for years to fish, trade with the Indians and to explore the land. There were even some who tried to settle here but none of those settlements were very successful. The Mayflower had a contract with the Virginia Company and was supposed to land at Jamestown. The men in Jamestown were hoping to have some women added to their colony so they could build homes and raise families.

    After several months of negotiations and false starts the Mayflower finally set sail out of Plymouth, England on September 6, 1620. After two months on the stormy ocean they missed their mark and sighted land on November 9. They were off the harbor that is called Pamet by the Indians, but we call it Cape Cod. The Captain of the Mayflower had accidentally found Plymouth Harbor where they anchored the ship.

   They were many miles north of Jamestown. Since they were not at Jamestown, there was no law on shore. So on November 11, 1620 before a small group of men went on shore; they wrote a paper which said they would all follow the rules of their elected leader. They called this paper the Mayflower Compact and Francis was one of the men who signed it.

   Francis, his wife Sarah and their baby, Samuel, were three of the one-hundred and two passengers and about twenty-five crewmen aboard the Mayflower. Some of the passengers on the

Mayflower were “Saints” who had left the Church of England about 20 years before and wanted to start life in a new land where they could practice their religion in the way they wanted. Some of the passengers were like Francis. They were “Strangers” who were just tired of having no jobs and little land of their own in England. They wanted to improve their lives and provide more for their families. There were a lot of people who wanted to be on the Mayflower, but there was only room on that small recycled wine carrier for a few of them.

   When they arrived in Plymouth Harbor that first winter, the weather was bitter cold with a lot of snow and everyone was closed up in the small crowded ship for many more months. The women and children had to stay on the ship all winter. There were no houses on land. The men could go ashore so they got some fresh land air. The men finally chose a clearing where they agreed they could build a good settlement. The sight they chose was an abandoned Indian village that had not been lived in for many years. It took most of the winter to clear the land and build shelter on land for so many people. Francis is a house carpenter by trade and his skills come in very handy here in Plymouth. They called the settlement which they built Plymouth Plantation because it was the Plymouth Company who had put up most of the money for their journey. 

   During the ocean crossing many of the passengers were seasick but everyone arrive in the New World alive. But many were ill with some disease and before the winter was over many of them had died. Sarah, Francis’ wife, died that first winter.

   In fact, only nine of the women over twelve years old lived through that first winter. At one time during the winter there were only seven people on the ship who were well enough to tend to the sick.

   Francis’ second wife, Dorothy, came on the Mayflower also. She had come as John Carver’s maidservant, but both Mr. and Mrs. Carver died that first April. Francis married Dorothy not to long after that in 1621. Dorothy died before I arrive in June 1623. She had no children but baby Samuel had two mothers die before he was three years old. I came to Plymouth to take care for little Samuel.

   When the spring came they were finally able to move off the Mayflower and into shelters the men had built on land. Trees were plentiful for logs. Everyone lived in the community buildings for the first year or so. In 1623 there was a division of land made so that each person who came on the Mayflower received one free acre of land. Francis received four acres because he, Sarah, Samuel and Dorothy had all been passengers on the Mayflower. People work harder when they own their land, than when the land is owned by everyone as a group.

   I have lived here in Plymouth Colony for about ten years. I came from Bristol, England and I arrived in the New World on the “Anne.”  The Anne was the third ship to arrive with new settlers to Plymouth Plantation. The Mayflower arrived in November 1620. The Fortune bringing new supplies and more people didn’t arrive until November 1621, the Anne arrived in June 1623 and the Little James in July 1623. The Anne and Little James carried new settlers as well as many of the wives and children who had been left behind when the Mayflower and Fortune left England.

   I had no relatives here but I came to work as a nanny for Francis Eaton, a family friend. Francis and I were married soon after I arrived. In these past ten years more and more ships have come from England with people and animals. By 1627 there were about 150 English men, women and children living in Plymouth. Many more people had made the long trip across the ocean, but so many of them died here.

 

PILGRIM ANCESTORS: OUR PLYMOUTH COLONY

3. Our home in Plymouth Colony  

 

   By the time I arrived in Plymouth, in June 1623, Francis had his own land and had built his own house. Francis is a carpenter and skilled with the knife and hammer. He can make fine clapboard. Our tiny one room home is built with logs from the forest. Francis made wattle by weaving sticks together to make the inside walls. He mixed clay, water, and straw together to make daub plaster to cover the wattle and to keep the cold winds from coming through the cracks. He gathered reeds and wild grasses to thatch the roof to keep the snow and rain out. The floor is hard packed dirt. The chimney is made out of daub and wattle. Francis has made all of our furniture except for the old chest of drawers which I brought from home and a few other items which Sarah and Dorothy brought with them.

   We use the open hearth for heating the house and for cooking. Most of our life takes place in our home around the hearth because the fire provides us with heat and light. We work, play, teach the children to read, teach the children a trade and worship in our home. My main job is to care for our children. I grow the food and cook it for my family and I preserve a lot of food for winter.

   I make all of our clothes and carry the water to keep them clean. Sometimes I make more candles than I need and my friend makes more soap than she needs so we trade but most of the time I make all of our own candles, soaps, and other basic household items. Once a week I go outdoors to the community ovens to bake our bread.

   We spend a daily time in prayer. Francis is the head of our house. He makes all of the decisions and earns a living to provide for us. Francis is a fine carpenter so his skills are always needed by someone here in Plymouth.

   A wooden fence around the house outlines our property. We carefully divided the yard into small raised rectangular beds with a dirt path between the beds. The garden beds are just wide enough so that I can weed them easily from either side. We gathered rocks and planks from the shore to raise the garden beds. Before I left England Mother helped me gather seeds and a few live plants to bring to my garden. Most of the live plants didn’t survive, but the seeds did. Every fall I collect more seeds. Dorothy had planted a garden before she died so there are some of her plants here too.

   I have several different kinds of plants in the garden which I can use for food, for flavor and some for medicines. I save all the vegetable scraps, and human and animal waste from our home. I work the waste carefully into the soil so my garden grows very well. It has taken long hard work over these years for my garden to finally flourish, but it has been worth it. This garden feeds our family until the main field crops are harvested. When I first came to Plymouth I didn’t know how to grow food. The weather is so much colder here than back home.

   The Indians around here are very friendly. Years ago they taught us how to plant their corn and how to organize the garden so we use as little space as possible and grow the most food as possible. First I dig a lot of holes about six inches deep and throw a dead fish into each hole and cover the fish with dirt. Then I plant a few corn seeds in each mound. When the corn sprouts are about hand-high I plant climbing beans around the corn. When the beans grow they climb up the cornstalk. Then I plant squash and pumpkin seeds around the outside of the mounds. The squash grows around the beans and corn and I don’t have many weeds growing under those plants. By fall I have a beautiful patch of corn, beans and squash growing in the same space. My garden also has things like cabbage, parsley, carrots, radishes, spinach, and lettuce as well as parsnip, thyme, sage and other seasoning. I use the leaves of the house leek, which looks like an old hen and her little chickens, to smooth the cracked skin on my rough dry hands. Francis uses the house leek sometimes to patch holes in the thatched roof. I also grow elecampane to treat the phlegm of the deep cough and blessed thistle to help settle upset stomachs.

   All of our farm animals like the hogs, chickens, goats, cattle and sheep have to be brought from England, too. We are always grateful to get more animals. We are even more excited when the animals have new babies because it means fresh milk and butter and later meat. We shear the sheep, spin the yarn then weave or knit warm clothing. We always need more farm animals.

     When people get sick there is so little we can do for them and we don’t really know how to care for them except try to make them comfortable. I do have my herb garden but it is not much help when someone is really sick. Most of us women have a baby every couple of years. We loose so many babies and mothers in childbirth. The children who live often get sick and die before they can grow up. You have to be very strong to survive in this world. It was the same way in England. Francis was only seven years old when his four brothers and sisters died of a sickness. Actually there is some terrible sickness going around Plymouth Colony now and our friend Peter Browne, who came on the Mayflower with Francis, has recently died. Francis has the disease and has been ill for several months.

     Francis acquired several acres of land during the past twelve year but we had to sell some of our land in order to pay people to work for us. Francis has been so sick and now we are far behind in paying the men to work in the field for us. Right now, Francis is unable to do any of the farming and can’t work at his carpenter trade either. Several men have helped us such as Mr. Fuller, Web, Rich Sparrow, Mr. Billington, and Thomas Prence. We do not have the money to pay them now. Last year Francis sold four acres of our land to Edward Winslow and thirty-two acres to William Brewster.

   I keep telling Francis he should write down what is to be done with his property and belongings if he dies, but he won’t think of it. He  has one cow and a calf, two hogs, fifty bushels of corn, a white hat and a black hat, boots, saws, hammers, and adze, square, augers, a chisel, boards, fishing lead, and some kitchen items. Francis owns our house but I am afraid we may have to sell the house soon. If Francis doesn’t get well I don’t know what will happen to me and our children. Samuel is twelve, Rachel is seven and Benjamin is five years old. Mr. Bradford says that our baby

Christopher is an “ideote” but I love him even though he will never be able to take care of himself. I know we will survive, but it is hard to think about the future without Francis to care for all of us.

 

PILGRIM ANCESTORS: HISTORICAL NOTES

4.  Historical Notes

 

   1. Francis Eaton died November 18, 1633 in Plymouth Colony from the disease that was going around that year and left no will.

   2. Christiana then married Francis Billington who came to America on the Mayflower with his parents when he was fourteen years old. Christiana and Francis Billington had ten children.

   3. A posting on the “First Family Blog” on Yahoogroups.com, on Sunday July 1, 2007 9:00 pm states: Francis BILLINGTON b. 1606 Spaulding, Lincolnshire, England, d. 03 Dec 1684. He nearly caused the Mayflower to be destroyed by fire when he fired a few shots from his father's gun near open gunpowder kegs. Fire was extinguished & no harm done.

   He married July 1634 in Plymouth, MA, Christian PENN b. 02 Sep 1606, d. Jul 1684 in Middleborough, Plymouth, MA. They had several of their children taken by the Court to repay debts. Christian was put in stocks for slandering the Governor.

   4. Christiana’s brother Admiral Sir William Penn is the father of the William Penn who is the founder of Pennsylvania. William Penn Jr. was born on October 28, 1644 and is a famous Quaker because of his Great Treaty with Delaware. Thomas Jefferson called Penn “the greatest law-giver the world has produced.” In 1681 King Charles II, out of  “regard to the memory and merits of his late father,” gave the younger Penn a huge tract of land in North America and named it, in honor of the Admiral, “Pennsylvania or Penn's Woods”. From 1681, when William received the King's charter at the age of thirty-seven, to 1718, when he died, Pennsylvania was one of his chief preoccupations. The growth and well-being of his colony was based on a tradition of religious toleration and freedom under law, fundamental principles of American civil life

   5. There is a town named Christiana, Pennsylvania.

 

 

PILGRIM ANCESTORS: THE MAYFLOWER COMPACT

5. The Mayflower Compact Nov. 11, 1620

 

“In the name of God, Amen,

We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."  

   

Signers of the Mayflower Compact were:

John Carver,  Edward Tilly, Digery Priest, William Bradford, John Tilly, Thomas Williams, Edward Winslow, Gilbert Winslow, William Brewster, Thomas Rogers, Edmund Margeson, Isaac Allerton, Thomas Tinker, Peter Brown, Miles Standish, John Ridgdale, Richard Britteridge, John Alden, Edward Fuller, George Soule, Samuel Fuller, John Turner, Richard Clarke, Christopher Martin, Francis Eaton, Richard Gardiner, William Mullins, James Chilton, John Allerton, William White, John Crackstone, Thomas English, Richard Warren, John Billington, Edward Doten, John Howland, Moses Fletcher, Edward Leister, Stephen Hopkins, John Goodman

OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS: LETTER FROM AMERICA

7. A copy of a letter from William Hilton to his family. William came to America on the ship Fortune in 1621. William is not one of our ancestors but t his is an interesting account of life in Plymouth.

Loving Cousin,

 At our arrival in New Plymouth, in New England, we found all our friends and planters in good health, though they were left sick and weak, with very small means; the Indians round about us peaceable and friendly; the country very pleasant and temperate, yielding naturally, of itself, great store of fruits, as vine of divers sorts, in great abundance. There is likewise walnuts, chestnuts, small nut and plums, with variety of flowers, roots, herbs, no less pleasant than wholesome and profitable. No place hath more gooseberries, strawberries, not better. Timer of all sorts you have in England doth cover the land, that affords beasts of divers sorts, and great flocks of turkeys, quails, pigeons and partridges; many great lakes abounding with fish, fowl, beavers and otters. The sea affords us great plenty of all excellent sorts of sea-fish, as the rivers and isles doth variety of wild fowl of most useful sorts. Mines we find to our thinking; but neither the goodness or quality we know. Better grain cannot be than the Indian corn, if we will plant it upon as good ground as a man need desire. We are all freeholders; the rent-day doth not trouble us; and all those good blessings we have, of which and what we list in their seasons for taking. Our company are for the most part, very religious, honest people; the word of God sincerely taught every Sabbath; so that I know not any thing a contented mind can want. I desire your friendly care to send my wife and children to me, where I wish all the friends I have in England; and so I rest.

Your loving kinsman,

  William Hilton.

OUR PILGRIM ANCESTORS: BIBLIOGRAPHY

8. Bibliography for Frances and Christiana Penn Eaton

 

1. Information for Pilgrim Ancestors was used from a variety of web sites, mainly:

   MayflowerHistory.com

   Ancestry.com

   Plimouth Plantation, Inc., Plymouth, Mass. USA.        Pilgrimhall.org

 

2. Genealogical information has been collected for the past 60 years.

 

3. Information on websites quoted information from other books, magazines and public records such as:

 THE HISTORY CHANNEL Magazine

 Plymouth Colony Records, Deeds, 1627-1651

 William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation

    1620-1647,

 The American Genealogist 72(1997):301-309.

 Plymouth Colony: Its History and Its People

 Mayflower Families for Five Generations:

   Francis Eaton

 The American Genealogist

 Traditional Gardening, Aug1997; The Gardens of Plimoth      Plantation 

  Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony; By James Deetz &     Patricia Scott Deetz

 LIST OF SHIPS THAT BROUGHT MANY OF OUR ANCESTORS TO AMERICA IN THE EARLY 17^th CENTURY

 First Family blog on Yahoogroups