Eaton, William

EATON, BATES, TAYLOR, RIEDINGER, ROMER, KEMP, KRAMER, TUBBS, SMALL

Posted By: Ken Wright (email)
Date: 7/6/2026 at 05:57:17

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ken Wright wright@prestontel.com January 4, 2011, 7:40 pm

Source: History of Jackson County, Iowa, 1910
Author: J. W. Ellis

WILLIAM EATON.

The name of Eaton is an old and familiar one in agricultural circles in Jackson
county, its members being identified therewith since 1846. William Eaton was
born on the farm on which he now makes his home, January 30, 1864, a son of
Miles Eaton. The father is a native of Cortland county, New York, born on the
17th of September, 1827, and was a lad of nine years when he removed to the
west, locating in Illinois. He was there reared to the age of nineteen years
and then, in 1846, came to Jackson county, Iowa. For a year thereafter he made
his home with a brother-in-law, Lyman Bates, and subsequently entered eighty
acres of land from the government. This tract is located in Maquoketa township
and from that date to the present has been the home of the family. Miles Eaton
at once located on his newly acquired possessions and immediately began to
improve and develop the place. In due time he had his land divided into fields
of convenient size and from the well cultivated soil reaped abundant harvests.
Mr. Eaton was married after coming to Jackson county, the lady of his choice
being Miss Adeline Taylor, who was born in Warren county, New York, October 26,
1829. On this farm they reared their family and here the wife and mother passed
away in 1904, at the age of seventy-five. The father still survives and is now
eighty-two years old. He still makes his home on the farm, which is being
operated by his two sons William and Myron. In his family were six children,
namely: Myron, Lucy and William, all at home; Emma, the wife of Louis
Riedinger, of Maquoketa township; Alvira, the deceased wife of Otto Romer; and
Miles Kemp, who wedded Miss Mary Kramer and is engaged in farming in Clinton
county, Iowa.
William Eaton, the immediate subject of this review, spent the period of his
boyhood and youth in much the usual manner of farm lads of the period,
assisting in the work of the fields from the time he was able to handle a plow
during the spring and summer seasons, while in the winter months he pursued his
studies in the district schools. He remained under the parental roof until he
was twenty years of age, and then, wishing to establish a home and engage in
business on his own account, made the first step in this direction by his
marriage to Miss Lottie Tubbs, in 1884. He took his bride to a farm belonging
to a brother in Jackson county and there they began their domestic life, making
their home thereon for seven years. In the meantime, Mr. Eaton had accumulated
some money, which he invested in sixty-seven acres of land in Clinton county,
this state. He then took up his abode on this place, and it was there that
there that the wife passed away on the 3d of January, 1899, at a comparatively
early age. She was a daughter of Harris Tubbs, a farmer of Jackson county, and
by her marriage became the mother of five children, who are left to mourn her
loss. These are: Blanche, the wife of Charles Small, a resident of Maquoketa;
Glen A., at home; Frank C., who is now in Montana; Beulah Myrtle, who lives
with an aunt in Cookston, Minnesota; and Clarence K., at home.
Subsequent to the death of the wife and mother, Mr. Eaton with his children,
returned to the home of his father in Jackson county, and since that time has
been engaged in operating the homestead property. Although Mr. Eaton lives in a
township which is largely democratic, he is a republican and his popularity is
manifest by his election to public office, for like his father, he has for many
years been a school director and in November, 1908, was elected trustee of the
township. The family is one of prominence in both business and social circles
and the work of agricultural development and improvement which was begun by the
father in Jackson county more than six decades ago is still continued by the
sons, who are enterprising and progressive farmers, now operating four hundred
and eighty acres of land. Their methods, too, are most honorable so that their
splendid success is well deserved.
J. W. Ellis, History of Jackson County, Iowa, 1910

NOTE:

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July 2026: This file was originally submitted to the USGenWeb Archives for Iowa. The National Coordinator, Linda Lewis, gave us permission to move the submissions to the IAGenWeb Project message boards and websites when the Archives site was discontinued.