Theophilus Eaton (c. 1590 — January 7, 1658) was a New England colonist, politician, merchant and financier, who took part in organizing and financing the Great Puritan Migration to America. He was a founder of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and a founder and eventual governor of New Haven Colony. He was also among the founders of Boston, Greenwich, Connecticut, Eaton's Neck, Southold and East Hampton.
His brother, Nathaniel Eaton, became the first headmaster of Harvard college, building Harvard Yard and Harvard Library, and his son, Samuel Eaton, became one of the seven founders of the Harvard Corporation.
He was born at Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, England about 1590, to Rev. Richard Eaton and his wife, Elizabeth. His father was a graduate of the University of Oxford in 1599, at Lincoln College, and may have been the curate at that time. He later became in 1607 Prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral and Vicar of Great Budworth, Cheshire. Theophilus married Grace Hiller, and had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth Eaton, who died young. Grace Hiller died in 1626.
In 1627 he remarried, this time to a widow, Anne Yale, who was the daughter of George Lloyd, the Bishop of Chester (some authorities say Anne Morton, the daughter of Bishop Thomas Morton of Chester). Eaton and Anne Yale were the parents of Samuel Eaton (baptized in 1628), Theophilus Jr., Hannah, Jonathan and Elizabeth II (b. 1637), as the previous Elizabeth Eaton died in 1630. They raised eight children in their household. Besides their three, and Mary and Samuel, it included Anne, David, and Thomas Yale from Anne's first marriage to Thomas Yale of the Yale family.
Thomas Yale was a London merchant, son of Chancellor David Yale of Erddig Park, who was the nephew of Chancellor Thomas Yale of London. He was also a grandson of John Lloyd, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty in London, and one of the eight founding Fellows of the first Protestant College of the University of Oxford, Jesus College.
The three Yale children had notable places in the history of Connecticut.
Thomas Yale Jr. settled in Connecticut as a planter and landowner, cofounded New Haven Colony, and signed its Fundamental Agreement on June 4, 1639. His descendants would fight the American War of Independence, become the early settlers of Wallingford and Yalesville, and the founders of a manufacturing dynasty in the region. They would establish number of hotels and banks and start the manufacture of cigars, beer, pelts, wagons, carriages, steamboats, ships, yacht flags, gunpowder engines, Britannia ware, as well as bayonets and muskets Springfield Model 1861, the latter for the Union Army of Abraham Lincoln through Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, family of Linus Yale Sr.
Anne Yale (the daughter) married Gov. Edward Hopkins in 1631; he later became the 2nd Gov. of Connecticut and a Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty for the Lord Protector of Britain, Oliver Cromwell. Her uncle-in-law was Ottoman ambassador Sir Henry Lello, who negotiated with the Venetians and Habsburgs under Elizabeth Tudor.
David Yale, a prosperous Boston merchant and attorney to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, who married Ursula Knight in 1641, became the father of Gov. Elihu Yale, President of the British East India Company settlement in Fort St. George, at Madras and primary benefactor of Yale College.
The Eaton children fared as follows; Mary Eaton married Judge Valentine Hill of Boston, a business associate of William Aspinwall, member of the Artillery Company, signatory of the Oath of a Freeman and real estate developer in 1647. (Gov. Eaton's brother, Nathaniel Eaton, the first Headmaster of Harvard and builder of Harvard's first College was present as a witness.)
Samuel Eaton, who became one of the seven founding members and signatories of the Harvard Corporation by charter in 1650, then, in 1654, married Mabel (Harlakenden) Haynes, widow of John Haynes, 4th Gov. of Massachusetts Bay Colony and later 1st Gov. of Connecticut Colony.
Hannah Eaton, who married William Jones, 24th Lt. Gov. of Connecticut and Magistrate for the United Colonies, in 1659. He and Davenport hosted in secret two regicides from Britain in the Judges' Cave in New Haven.
Theophilus Eaton, Jr., or Ellis, as he was known, who returned to England with his mother after his father's death, settled in Dublin, Ireland, and married Catherine (daughter of Captain Thomas Maunsell and Alphra Crayford) in 1649, and their daughter Anne married her first cousin Colonel Thomas Maunsell. He is ancestor to many members of prominent Anglo-Irish families to this day. Their daughter Elizabeth died in London in March 1637 before the family departed for the colonies.
In London, Theophilus resided between Coleman Street and Lothbury Street, and became a member of the Court of Common Council of the City of London Corporation. He purchased with Anne Yale the past home of Sir Richard Saltonstall of the Saltonstall family. For several years, he served as Ambassador and middleman between King James I of England and King Christian IV of Denmark, mostly for the business dealings between these two countries.
Thereafter, he would become Deputy Gov. of the Eastland Company, which was one of the most important English commercial companies of the 17th century. The enterprise traded in the Baltics and Scandinavia, dealing with countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Prussia and Poland. As his wealth grew, he took great interest in the plans to colonize New England. He would get his chance in 1628. He and a group of shareholders, including Sir Richard Saltonstall and Sir Henry Rosewell, bought the right to colonize the Massachusetts Bay Colony, through a Royal charter made by King Charles I of England.
As one of the cofounders of Massachusetts, he signed its incorporation called the Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Company and they would form a Self-governing colony by creating the Massachusetts General Court, called the Great and General Court at the time and the Massachusetts Governor's Council, called the Council of assistants at the time. This governing body would put the management and defence of the colony in the hands of ten men. Five would have to stay in England, five would go to Massachusetts. Theophilus was one of the five men chosen to govern the Colony from England. To make the trip to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Governor John Winthrop would use one of the ships that he co-owned, the Arbella, and would make it his flagship to lead the Winthrop Fleet.
Arrived in Massachusetts, they would make Boston their capital, with Theophilus Eaton and Thomas Hooker among its founders. This would start the Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640) and Theophilus would be one of those wealthy city Puritans who financed it. The colony became the largest in New England, and evolved into the Thirteen American Colonies that would later become the United States of America.
He later made the trip and emigrated to New England with other Puritans in the ship Hector, arriving in Boston on June 26, 1637.