JOHN E. EATON

JOHN E. EATON, one of the representative farmers of Kalamo township, is a native of the old Buckeye state, having been born in Huron County, Ohio, July 7, 1848, and being a son of Milton and Diantha M. (Ashley) Eaton, both being native of that same county, where the former was born may 10, 1821, passing the closing years of his life in Kalamo township, Eaton county, Michigan, where he died February 9, 1875, while the latter continued resident of Huron county, Ohio, until her death, May 25, 1855. The paternal grandfather, Jonathan Eaton, removed to Ohio from the state of New York, in the pioneer days, and he became a prosperous farmer of Huron county, where he secured a tract of land, probably from the government, passing the residue of his life on the homestead, which was later owned by his son Milton. In 1861 the last mentioned disposed of the property and in March of that year took up his residence in Eaton County, Michigan, purchasing eighty acres of timber land in section 15, Kalamo township. He built a log house on the farm, and with the aid of the subject of this sketch reclaimed the land to cultivation before his death, which occurred on this homestead. He was twice married, John D. being the eldest of the three children of the first union. James Edwin, born August 15, 1850, died March 30, 1855; and Mahlon, born May 31, 1853, is a resident of Racine, Wisconsin. For his second wife Milton Eaton married Mrs. Angeline Hubbard, whose maiden name was Mead, and who had one son, Dewey, by her first marriage. Of the second marriage were born two children: Alice J., born November 11, 1857, died in 1892, having been the wife of Wellington Proctor and being survived by one son, Dewey, who is a resident of Kalamo township; Elmer E., born February 15, 1863, married Mary Tubbs, and resides on a portion of his father's old homestead, in Kalamo township. John D. Eaton secured his early education in the common schools of Ohio, having been thirteen years of age at the time of his father's removal to Eaton County. At the age of twenty years he initiated his independent career, working at the carpenters trade, while he also rented his father's farm for several years, later continuing work at his trade, and finally beginning to work the farm of his father-in-law on shares, thus continuing for ten years, at the expiration of which, in 1892, he purchased his present homestead, of thirty-nine acres, in section 27, Kalamo township, having since devoted his attention to its cultivation and improvement. He can well recall the time when all the land within a radius of two or three miles of his farm was considered a swamp, but the tract is now as rich and arable farming land as is to be found in the county, an effective system of drainage having brought about its reclamation. For a time Mr. Eaton operated a wood sawing machine in the county, and he states that the timber cut into fuel wood at that time was far better than that used for lumber at the present, a fact which is not to be controverted. Mr. Eaton is an uncompromising advocate of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he served five years as a member of the board of review of his township, as highway commissioner two years, as township treasurer two years, while he is now serving his third term as supervisor. His popularity in the community is amply attested by these marks of public confidence and esteem. He is a zealous member of the Congregational Church at Kalamo, and he has been church clerk for many years. In November, 1874, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Eaton to Miss Anna Wilton, who died August 1, 1875, of quick consumption. She was a daughter of John Wilton, who was born in England and who died in Kalamo township, in September, 1874, having been a substantial farmer. Of his five children Mrs. Eaton was the youngest. Mary Jane is the wife of Delos Knapp, of Carmel township; Levi is a resident of the city of Charlotte; George is a resident of Ohio; and Wesley is a farmer of Brookfield township, this county. In October 1877, Mr. Eaton married Miss Wealthy Mead, who died in April 1893. Her father, a native of the state of New York, was a substantial farmer and honored citizen of Kalamo township at the time of his death, and Mrs. Eaton was the eldest of his four children. Bell is the wife of Gilford Northrup, of St. Johns, Clinton County; Caroline is the wife of John Graves, of Olivet; and Edwin died at the age of five years. Mr. Eaton has no children