Samuel Witt Eaton papers

Samuel Witt Eaton, son of Eben Eaton, for over half a century deacon of the Congregational church in Framingham, Mass., was born on the ancestral farm in that town December 25, 1820. His mother was Sally Chadwick (Spofford) Eaton, who was educated at Bradford (Mass.) Academy.

After graduation he studied theology one year in Union Seminary, two years in Yale Seminary, and one year in Andover Seminary. He was licensed to preach in September, 1844, and while at Andover was stated supply in Montgomery, Mass. Having determined to devote his life to work in the new West then opening up in the Mississippi valley, he settled at Lancaster, the county seat of Grant County, Wisc., a fertile region abounding in lead mines. He was ordained as an evangelist January 28, 1848. After several years of arduous pioneer work the failure of his health compelled him to return East for rest, and he spent most of the year 1857 in European travel. Returning to Lancaster, his work was again interrupted in the second year of the Civil War by his acceptance of the chaplaincy of the Seventh Wisconsin Volunteers, one of the regiments of the "Iron Brigade." In this service he continued to the close of the war and gained the devoted friendship of soldiers and officers. He was on duty at the battles of South Mountain, Antietam, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, before Petersburg, and at Appomattox Court House on the surrender of General Lee. After resuming his pastorate the church was enlarged, and then replaced by a new structure, but at the end of twenty years' further service, and forty from the beginning of his pastorate, the church yielded to his request for release, and in 1886 he accepted the call of the Congregational church at Roscoe, Ill. His service there was also notable in character and results and continued for sixteen years. In the autumn of 1903 he removed to Beloit, Wisc., the home of his son, President Eaton.

Since 1866 he had been a Trustee of Beloit College, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1883. From 1881 to 1899 he was a Corporate Member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and was recognized as a wise leader in church councils. Two of his sermons -- one at the ordination of his eldest son in 1873 -- were published.

Dr. Eaton died after six months of extreme weakness, at the residence of his son, Dr. Samuel L. Eaton (Yale 1877), in Newton Highlands, Mass., February 9, 1905, at the age of 84 years.

He married, May 20, 1847, Catharine Elizabeth, daughter of Rev. James and Mary (Schoonmaker) Demarest, of Napanoch, Ulster County, N.Y. Their golden wedding was an occasion of unusual interest. They had four sons -- all living -- of whom the eldest, Rev. James D. Eaton, D.D. (Beloit 1869), has been for over twenty years a missionary in Mexico, the second, Rev. Edward D. Eaton, D.D., L.L.D. (Beloit 1872, B.D. Yale 1875), has been President of Beloit College since 1886, and the two younger are physicians. Mrs. Eaton died in February, 1904.

[Taken from the Yale Obituary Record.]