Biographical Information
Identifying Mayflower passenger Dorothy was a very difficult
academic exercise, that required careful analysis of the records.
Francis Eaton received four acres under the Mayflower heading in
the 1623 Division of Land: one for himself, one for his wife Sarah, and
one for his son Samuel. But what about the fourth acre? William
Bradford recorded in John Carver's family that Carver had brought a
maidservant, but does not name her. Bradford later writes "His
maid servant married, and dyed a year or two after here in this place".
Her name, and her husband were not mentioned. Carver's maidservant
was the only female passenger who could have possibly married Francis
Eaton, and it was her acre that explains why Francis Eaton had four
acres in the 1623 Division of Land. Charles Edward Banks discovered a
document in England, dated 1626, that mentions Francis Eaton, carpenter,
and his wife Dorothy, in New England. In 1997, Neil. D. Thompson,
FASG, was able to document that the Francis Eaton mentioned in this
document was the same Francis Eaton who came on the Mayflower.
Since Francis' first wife was named Sarah, and his third wife was named
Christian, we can therefore determine that Carver's maidservant, who
heretofore has been without a name, was actually named Dorothy.
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