THEODORE H. EATON.
A third of a century has gone by since Theodore H. Eaton passed away, but Detroit still feels the benefit of his labors, for he was one of the pioneer business men and merchants of the city and aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present progress and prosperity of Detroit. In every relation of life his worth was widely acknowledged and to enjoy his acquaintance was to know one who in every way measured up to the fullest and highest standards of manhood and of citizenship.
A native of New Jersey, he was born in New Brunswick, in October, 1815, his parents being Horatio Woodruff Eaton and Maria Stites (Montgomery) Eaton. He was descended through five generations from Thomas Eatton (who died November 26, 1688), of Eatontown, New Jersey, of which place he was virtually the founder, the town being named in his honor. Thomas Eatton migrated from England to America about 1660, and for a brief period was a resident of Rhode Island, after which he took up his abode in New Jersey and became a prominent and influential citizen of that state. Mr. Eaton's earliest immigrant ancestor, removed by seven generations, was Governor Thomas Mayhew, who was born in Southampton, England, in 1591 and died in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in 1681. He was governor and commander of Martha's Vineyard and the adjacent island in 1641, 1664 and 1673-74. The maternal grandmother of Theodore H. Eaton was Mrs. Mary Berrien Montgomery, a daughter of Judge John Berrien of Rocky Hill, New Jersey, lineal ancestor of Colonel John McPherson Berrien of Detroit, who was civil engineer of the Michigan Central Railroad and the man in whose honor Berrien county was named. General Washington wrote his farewell address to the continental army while a guest in the home of Margaret Eatton Berrien, the widow of Judge John Berrien, at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, on the 1st of December, 1783.
During the boyhood of Theodore H. Eaton his parents removed with their family from their home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Lowville, New York, where he was reared to adult age and acquired a good academic education. In his youth he was apprenticed to learn the drug business in the establishment of John and William Williams of Utica, New York, and following the completion of the Erie Canal this firm established a western branch in Buffalo, New York, and Theodore H. Eaton was transferred there after the great fire which visited that city in the early '30s. In 1834 he was admitted to a partnership in the
business, following the retirement of Robert Hollister. The panic of 1837 seriously crippled many western merchants and through an incidental financial embarrassment of this nature, Mr. Eaton was able eventually to acquire the established drug business of Riley & Ackerly of Detroit, thus becoming an active factor in the mercantile circles of the city in 1838 and his same company is still doing business under the flame of Eaton-Clark Company. He retained his interest in the firm of Williams Brothers in Buffalo until 1842, when he retired, and in May of the same year became a resident of Detroit. Prior to his removal to the then western city he married, in 1839, Miss Anne Eliza Gibbs of Skaneateles, New York (born March 4, 1816, died November 6, 1879), and lived there instead of in Burralo from that time until 1842.
Prior to this time Mr. Eaton had made several trips to Michigan, traveling through the west on horseback, making collections for the Buffalo house, in which he was financially interested. With his entrance into the commercial circles of Detroit he soon won recognition as an able and representative business man and his sound judgment and enterprise were manifest in the constant growth of the trade of his house. Before his removal to Detroit, after he had purchased the business of Riley and Ackerly, the store was under the effective supervision of David A. McNair, and after Mr. Eaton's removal to Detroit in 1842 Mr. McNair became a partner in the business and so continued for a brief period. Mr. Eaton continued the business in Detroit and year by year his trade developed and grew with the growth and progress of the city. When a great fire swept away much of the business section of Detroit in 1848, his establishment at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Randolph street in the American Hotel Block was burned to the ground. He then established his offices in the Cooper Block nearer Woodward avenue, and later in 1849 he built his new brick building at the corner of Woodward avenue (now 204) and Atwater street, where he remained to the time of his death in 1888, developing a trade of large and gratifying proportions and in which same location the Eaton-Clark Company still remains. For an extended period the business was carried on under the well known firm name of Theodore H. Eaton & Son, the son entering the business in 1859 and being admitted to a partnership in 1866 at the age of twenty-four. Following the death of Mr. Eaton's son the name was changed in 1911 to the present style of Eaton-Clark Company. At a later period, Mr. Eaton became identified with the first gas company of Detroit. In fact he was one of its organizers in 1852, the business being carried on under the name of the Detroit Gas Light Company. He held a large amount of stock in this enterprise until the plant and business were sold, but he would never accept office in the company. He was also a heavy stockholder in the Detroit Locomotive Works and the Peninsular Iron Works.
To Mr. and Mrs. Eaton were born three children:
Theodore H., Jr., who succeeded to his father's various business interests and of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work; Mary Montgomery, born June 12, 1847, who became the wife of Captain Thomas W. Lord of the United States army, and who died in Texas, July 7, 1880; and a daughter, Eliza McCoskry, born August 9, 1843, who died in infancy, on October 12, 1844.
Mr. Eaton was ever actuated by a spirit of marked devotion to the general good and to the welfare of his fellowmen. He was very active in connection with the founding and promoting of St. Luke's Hospital and remained one of its stalwart advocates and supporters to the time of his death. He was a consistent and loyal member of the Protestant Episcopal church and did much to promote the growth of the denomination in Michigan. He held the office of senior warden in St. Paul's parish for many years until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, and was a most liberal supporter of the church, while to various benevolent projects he gave generously but always unostentatiously. In politics he was a whig and later a democrat, but his public service was done as a private citizen and not as an office-holder. In 1852 he completed the erection of his residence on Jefferson avenue, which was one of the most beautiful and modern homes in Detroit and the farthest out on Jefferson avenue, in fact the only house east of Brush street. Although it was three years later, 1855, before a gas plant was established in Detroit Mr. Eaton's house was then the first home installed with gas equipment. During the time of building he resided at the Beecher hotel, corner Jefferson and Brush, the fashionable hostelry of that time.
The death of Mrs. Eaton occurred in 1879, and nine years later Mr. Eaton died. Detroit mourned the loss of one of her honored and representative citizens— one who had been connected with her welfare and development from the first half of the nineteenth century. He belonged to that class of progressive men who were the real promoters and builders of the middle west. He recognized the possibilities of this section of the country and he labored to utilize to the fullest advantage every opportunity that meant benefit and upbuilding to Detroit. The name of Theodore H. Eaton will ever remain an honored one on the pages of Michigan's history.
The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. 3, edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co, Detroit-Chicago, 1922, pp 188-193
Shares face of marker with Anne Eliza Eaton
A third of a century has gone by since Theodore H. Eaton passed away, but Detroit still feels the benefit of his labors, for he was one of the pioneer business men and merchants of the city and aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present progress and prosperity of Detroit. In every relation of life his worth was widely acknowledged and to enjoy his acquaintance was to know one who in every way measured up to the fullest and highest standards of manhood and of citizenship.
A native of New Jersey, he was born in New Brunswick, in October, 1815, his parents being Horatio Woodruff Eaton and Maria Stites (Montgomery) Eaton. He was descended through five generations from Thomas Eatton (who died November 26, 1688), of Eatontown, New Jersey, of which place he was virtually the founder, the town being named in his honor. Thomas Eatton migrated from England to America about 1660, and for a brief period was a resident of Rhode Island, after which he took up his abode in New Jersey and became a prominent and influential citizen of that state. Mr. Eaton's earliest immigrant ancestor, removed by seven generations, was Governor Thomas Mayhew, who was born in Southampton, England, in 1591 and died in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in 1681. He was governor and commander of Martha's Vineyard and the adjacent island in 1641, 1664 and 1673-74. The maternal grandmother of Theodore H. Eaton was Mrs. Mary Berrien Montgomery, a daughter of Judge John Berrien of Rocky Hill, New Jersey, lineal ancestor of Colonel John McPherson Berrien of Detroit, who was civil engineer of the Michigan Central Railroad and the man in whose honor Berrien county was named. General Washington wrote his farewell address to the continental army while a guest in the home of Margaret Eatton Berrien, the widow of Judge John Berrien, at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, on the 1st of December, 1783.
During the boyhood of Theodore H. Eaton his parents removed with their family from their home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Lowville, New York, where he was reared to adult age and acquired a good academic education. In his youth he was apprenticed to learn the drug business in the establishment of John and William Williams of Utica, New York, and following the completion of the Erie Canal this firm established a western branch in Buffalo, New York, and Theodore H. Eaton was transferred there after the great fire which visited that city in the early '30s. In 1834 he was admitted to a partnership in the
business, following the retirement of Robert Hollister. The panic of 1837 seriously crippled many western merchants and through an incidental financial embarrassment of this nature, Mr. Eaton was able eventually to acquire the established drug business of Riley & Ackerly of Detroit, thus becoming an active factor in the mercantile circles of the city in 1838 and his same company is still doing business under the flame of Eaton-Clark Company. He retained his interest in the firm of Williams Brothers in Buffalo until 1842, when he retired, and in May of the same year became a resident of Detroit. Prior to his removal to the then western city he married, in 1839, Miss Anne Eliza Gibbs of Skaneateles, New York (born March 4, 1816, died November 6, 1879), and lived there instead of in Burralo from that time until 1842.
Prior to this time Mr. Eaton had made several trips to Michigan, traveling through the west on horseback, making collections for the Buffalo house, in which he was financially interested. With his entrance into the commercial circles of Detroit he soon won recognition as an able and representative business man and his sound judgment and enterprise were manifest in the constant growth of the trade of his house. Before his removal to Detroit, after he had purchased the business of Riley and Ackerly, the store was under the effective supervision of David A. McNair, and after Mr. Eaton's removal to Detroit in 1842 Mr. McNair became a partner in the business and so continued for a brief period. Mr. Eaton continued the business in Detroit and year by year his trade developed and grew with the growth and progress of the city. When a great fire swept away much of the business section of Detroit in 1848, his establishment at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Randolph street in the American Hotel Block was burned to the ground. He then established his offices in the Cooper Block nearer Woodward avenue, and later in 1849 he built his new brick building at the corner of Woodward avenue (now 204) and Atwater street, where he remained to the time of his death in 1888, developing a trade of large and gratifying proportions and in which same location the Eaton-Clark Company still remains. For an extended period the business was carried on under the well known firm name of Theodore H. Eaton & Son, the son entering the business in 1859 and being admitted to a partnership in 1866 at the age of twenty-four. Following the death of Mr. Eaton's son the name was changed in 1911 to the present style of Eaton-Clark Company. At a later period, Mr. Eaton became identified with the first gas company of Detroit. In fact he was one of its organizers in 1852, the business being carried on under the name of the Detroit Gas Light Company. He held a large amount of stock in this enterprise until the plant and business were sold, but he would never accept office in the company. He was also a heavy stockholder in the Detroit Locomotive Works and the Peninsular Iron Works.
To Mr. and Mrs. Eaton were born three children:
Theodore H., Jr., who succeeded to his father's various business interests and of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work; Mary Montgomery, born June 12, 1847, who became the wife of Captain Thomas W. Lord of the United States army, and who died in Texas, July 7, 1880; and a daughter, Eliza McCoskry, born August 9, 1843, who died in infancy, on October 12, 1844.
Mr. Eaton was ever actuated by a spirit of marked devotion to the general good and to the welfare of his fellowmen. He was very active in connection with the founding and promoting of St. Luke's Hospital and remained one of its stalwart advocates and supporters to the time of his death. He was a consistent and loyal member of the Protestant Episcopal church and did much to promote the growth of the denomination in Michigan. He held the office of senior warden in St. Paul's parish for many years until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, and was a most liberal supporter of the church, while to various benevolent projects he gave generously but always unostentatiously. In politics he was a whig and later a democrat, but his public service was done as a private citizen and not as an office-holder. In 1852 he completed the erection of his residence on Jefferson avenue, which was one of the most beautiful and modern homes in Detroit and the farthest out on Jefferson avenue, in fact the only house east of Brush street. Although it was three years later, 1855, before a gas plant was established in Detroit Mr. Eaton's house was then the first home installed with gas equipment. During the time of building he resided at the Beecher hotel, corner Jefferson and Brush, the fashionable hostelry of that time.
The death of Mrs. Eaton occurred in 1879, and nine years later Mr. Eaton died. Detroit mourned the loss of one of her honored and representative citizens— one who had been connected with her welfare and development from the first half of the nineteenth century. He belonged to that class of progressive men who were the real promoters and builders of the middle west. He recognized the possibilities of this section of the country and he labored to utilize to the fullest advantage every opportunity that meant benefit and upbuilding to Detroit. The name of Theodore H. Eaton will ever remain an honored one on the pages of Michigan's history.
The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. 3, edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co, Detroit-Chicago, 1922, pp 188-193
Shares face of marker with Anne Eliza Eaton
THEODORE H. EATON.
A third of a century has gone by since Theodore H. Eaton passed away, but Detroit still feels the benefit of his labors, for he was one of the pioneer business men and merchants of the city and aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present progress and prosperity of Detroit. In every relation of life his worth was widely acknowledged and to enjoy his acquaintance was to know one who in every way measured up to the fullest and highest standards of manhood and of citizenship.
A native of New Jersey, he was born in New Brunswick, in October, 1815, his parents being Horatio Woodruff Eaton and Maria Stites (Montgomery) Eaton. He was descended through five generations from Thomas Eatton (who died November 26, 1688), of Eatontown, New Jersey, of which place he was virtually the founder, the town being named in his honor. Thomas Eatton migrated from England to America about 1660, and for a brief period was a resident of Rhode Island, after which he took up his abode in New Jersey and became a prominent and influential citizen of that state. Mr. Eaton's earliest immigrant ancestor, removed by seven generations, was Governor Thomas Mayhew, who was born in Southampton, England, in 1591 and died in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in 1681. He was governor and commander of Martha's Vineyard and the adjacent island in 1641, 1664 and 1673-74. The maternal grandmother of Theodore H. Eaton was Mrs. Mary Berrien Montgomery, a daughter of Judge John Berrien of Rocky Hill, New Jersey, lineal ancestor of Colonel John McPherson Berrien of Detroit, who was civil engineer of the Michigan Central Railroad and the man in whose honor Berrien county was named. General Washington wrote his farewell address to the continental army while a guest in the home of Margaret Eatton Berrien, the widow of Judge John Berrien, at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, on the 1st of December, 1783.
During the boyhood of Theodore H. Eaton his parents removed with their family from their home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Lowville, New York, where he was reared to adult age and acquired a good academic education. In his youth he was apprenticed to learn the drug business in the establishment of John and William Williams of Utica, New York, and following the completion of the Erie Canal this firm established a western branch in Buffalo, New York, and Theodore H. Eaton was transferred there after the great fire which visited that city in the early '30s. In 1834 he was admitted to a partnership in the
business, following the retirement of Robert Hollister. The panic of 1837 seriously crippled many western merchants and through an incidental financial embarrassment of this nature, Mr. Eaton was able eventually to acquire the established drug business of Riley & Ackerly of Detroit, thus becoming an active factor in the mercantile circles of the city in 1838 and his same company is still doing business under the flame of Eaton-Clark Company. He retained his interest in the firm of Williams Brothers in Buffalo until 1842, when he retired, and in May of the same year became a resident of Detroit. Prior to his removal to the then western city he married, in 1839, Miss Anne Eliza Gibbs of Skaneateles, New York (born March 4, 1816, died November 6, 1879), and lived there instead of in Burralo from that time until 1842.
Prior to this time Mr. Eaton had made several trips to Michigan, traveling through the west on horseback, making collections for the Buffalo house, in which he was financially interested. With his entrance into the commercial circles of Detroit he soon won recognition as an able and representative business man and his sound judgment and enterprise were manifest in the constant growth of the trade of his house. Before his removal to Detroit, after he had purchased the business of Riley and Ackerly, the store was under the effective supervision of David A. McNair, and after Mr. Eaton's removal to Detroit in 1842 Mr. McNair became a partner in the business and so continued for a brief period. Mr. Eaton continued the business in Detroit and year by year his trade developed and grew with the growth and progress of the city. When a great fire swept away much of the business section of Detroit in 1848, his establishment at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Randolph street in the American Hotel Block was burned to the ground. He then established his offices in the Cooper Block nearer Woodward avenue, and later in 1849 he built his new brick building at the corner of Woodward avenue (now 204) and Atwater street, where he remained to the time of his death in 1888, developing a trade of large and gratifying proportions and in which same location the Eaton-Clark Company still remains. For an extended period the business was carried on under the well known firm name of Theodore H. Eaton & Son, the son entering the business in 1859 and being admitted to a partnership in 1866 at the age of twenty-four. Following the death of Mr. Eaton's son the name was changed in 1911 to the present style of Eaton-Clark Company. At a later period, Mr. Eaton became identified with the first gas company of Detroit. In fact he was one of its organizers in 1852, the business being carried on under the name of the Detroit Gas Light Company. He held a large amount of stock in this enterprise until the plant and business were sold, but he would never accept office in the company. He was also a heavy stockholder in the Detroit Locomotive Works and the Peninsular Iron Works.
To Mr. and Mrs. Eaton were born three children:
Theodore H., Jr., who succeeded to his father's various business interests and of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work; Mary Montgomery, born June 12, 1847, who became the wife of Captain Thomas W. Lord of the United States army, and who died in Texas, July 7, 1880; and a daughter, Eliza McCoskry, born August 9, 1843, who died in infancy, on October 12, 1844.
Mr. Eaton was ever actuated by a spirit of marked devotion to the general good and to the welfare of his fellowmen. He was very active in connection with the founding and promoting of St. Luke's Hospital and remained one of its stalwart advocates and supporters to the time of his death. He was a consistent and loyal member of the Protestant Episcopal church and did much to promote the growth of the denomination in Michigan. He held the office of senior warden in St. Paul's parish for many years until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, and was a most liberal supporter of the church, while to various benevolent projects he gave generously but always unostentatiously. In politics he was a whig and later a democrat, but his public service was done as a private citizen and not as an office-holder. In 1852 he completed the erection of his residence on Jefferson avenue, which was one of the most beautiful and modern homes in Detroit and the farthest out on Jefferson avenue, in fact the only house east of Brush street. Although it was three years later, 1855, before a gas plant was established in Detroit Mr. Eaton's house was then the first home installed with gas equipment. During the time of building he resided at the Beecher hotel, corner Jefferson and Brush, the fashionable hostelry of that time.
The death of Mrs. Eaton occurred in 1879, and nine years later Mr. Eaton died. Detroit mourned the loss of one of her honored and representative citizens— one who had been connected with her welfare and development from the first half of the nineteenth century. He belonged to that class of progressive men who were the real promoters and builders of the middle west. He recognized the possibilities of this section of the country and he labored to utilize to the fullest advantage every opportunity that meant benefit and upbuilding to Detroit. The name of Theodore H. Eaton will ever remain an honored one on the pages of Michigan's history.
The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. 3, edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co, Detroit-Chicago, 1922, pp 188-193
Shares face of marker with Anne Eliza Eaton
A third of a century has gone by since Theodore H. Eaton passed away, but Detroit still feels the benefit of his labors, for he was one of the pioneer business men and merchants of the city and aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which has been built the present progress and prosperity of Detroit. In every relation of life his worth was widely acknowledged and to enjoy his acquaintance was to know one who in every way measured up to the fullest and highest standards of manhood and of citizenship.
A native of New Jersey, he was born in New Brunswick, in October, 1815, his parents being Horatio Woodruff Eaton and Maria Stites (Montgomery) Eaton. He was descended through five generations from Thomas Eatton (who died November 26, 1688), of Eatontown, New Jersey, of which place he was virtually the founder, the town being named in his honor. Thomas Eatton migrated from England to America about 1660, and for a brief period was a resident of Rhode Island, after which he took up his abode in New Jersey and became a prominent and influential citizen of that state. Mr. Eaton's earliest immigrant ancestor, removed by seven generations, was Governor Thomas Mayhew, who was born in Southampton, England, in 1591 and died in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in 1681. He was governor and commander of Martha's Vineyard and the adjacent island in 1641, 1664 and 1673-74. The maternal grandmother of Theodore H. Eaton was Mrs. Mary Berrien Montgomery, a daughter of Judge John Berrien of Rocky Hill, New Jersey, lineal ancestor of Colonel John McPherson Berrien of Detroit, who was civil engineer of the Michigan Central Railroad and the man in whose honor Berrien county was named. General Washington wrote his farewell address to the continental army while a guest in the home of Margaret Eatton Berrien, the widow of Judge John Berrien, at Rocky Hill, near Princeton, New Jersey, on the 1st of December, 1783.
During the boyhood of Theodore H. Eaton his parents removed with their family from their home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, to Lowville, New York, where he was reared to adult age and acquired a good academic education. In his youth he was apprenticed to learn the drug business in the establishment of John and William Williams of Utica, New York, and following the completion of the Erie Canal this firm established a western branch in Buffalo, New York, and Theodore H. Eaton was transferred there after the great fire which visited that city in the early '30s. In 1834 he was admitted to a partnership in the
business, following the retirement of Robert Hollister. The panic of 1837 seriously crippled many western merchants and through an incidental financial embarrassment of this nature, Mr. Eaton was able eventually to acquire the established drug business of Riley & Ackerly of Detroit, thus becoming an active factor in the mercantile circles of the city in 1838 and his same company is still doing business under the flame of Eaton-Clark Company. He retained his interest in the firm of Williams Brothers in Buffalo until 1842, when he retired, and in May of the same year became a resident of Detroit. Prior to his removal to the then western city he married, in 1839, Miss Anne Eliza Gibbs of Skaneateles, New York (born March 4, 1816, died November 6, 1879), and lived there instead of in Burralo from that time until 1842.
Prior to this time Mr. Eaton had made several trips to Michigan, traveling through the west on horseback, making collections for the Buffalo house, in which he was financially interested. With his entrance into the commercial circles of Detroit he soon won recognition as an able and representative business man and his sound judgment and enterprise were manifest in the constant growth of the trade of his house. Before his removal to Detroit, after he had purchased the business of Riley and Ackerly, the store was under the effective supervision of David A. McNair, and after Mr. Eaton's removal to Detroit in 1842 Mr. McNair became a partner in the business and so continued for a brief period. Mr. Eaton continued the business in Detroit and year by year his trade developed and grew with the growth and progress of the city. When a great fire swept away much of the business section of Detroit in 1848, his establishment at the corner of Jefferson avenue and Randolph street in the American Hotel Block was burned to the ground. He then established his offices in the Cooper Block nearer Woodward avenue, and later in 1849 he built his new brick building at the corner of Woodward avenue (now 204) and Atwater street, where he remained to the time of his death in 1888, developing a trade of large and gratifying proportions and in which same location the Eaton-Clark Company still remains. For an extended period the business was carried on under the well known firm name of Theodore H. Eaton & Son, the son entering the business in 1859 and being admitted to a partnership in 1866 at the age of twenty-four. Following the death of Mr. Eaton's son the name was changed in 1911 to the present style of Eaton-Clark Company. At a later period, Mr. Eaton became identified with the first gas company of Detroit. In fact he was one of its organizers in 1852, the business being carried on under the name of the Detroit Gas Light Company. He held a large amount of stock in this enterprise until the plant and business were sold, but he would never accept office in the company. He was also a heavy stockholder in the Detroit Locomotive Works and the Peninsular Iron Works.
To Mr. and Mrs. Eaton were born three children:
Theodore H., Jr., who succeeded to his father's various business interests and of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work; Mary Montgomery, born June 12, 1847, who became the wife of Captain Thomas W. Lord of the United States army, and who died in Texas, July 7, 1880; and a daughter, Eliza McCoskry, born August 9, 1843, who died in infancy, on October 12, 1844.
Mr. Eaton was ever actuated by a spirit of marked devotion to the general good and to the welfare of his fellowmen. He was very active in connection with the founding and promoting of St. Luke's Hospital and remained one of its stalwart advocates and supporters to the time of his death. He was a consistent and loyal member of the Protestant Episcopal church and did much to promote the growth of the denomination in Michigan. He held the office of senior warden in St. Paul's parish for many years until his death, when he was succeeded by his son, and was a most liberal supporter of the church, while to various benevolent projects he gave generously but always unostentatiously. In politics he was a whig and later a democrat, but his public service was done as a private citizen and not as an office-holder. In 1852 he completed the erection of his residence on Jefferson avenue, which was one of the most beautiful and modern homes in Detroit and the farthest out on Jefferson avenue, in fact the only house east of Brush street. Although it was three years later, 1855, before a gas plant was established in Detroit Mr. Eaton's house was then the first home installed with gas equipment. During the time of building he resided at the Beecher hotel, corner Jefferson and Brush, the fashionable hostelry of that time.
The death of Mrs. Eaton occurred in 1879, and nine years later Mr. Eaton died. Detroit mourned the loss of one of her honored and representative citizens— one who had been connected with her welfare and development from the first half of the nineteenth century. He belonged to that class of progressive men who were the real promoters and builders of the middle west. He recognized the possibilities of this section of the country and he labored to utilize to the fullest advantage every opportunity that meant benefit and upbuilding to Detroit. The name of Theodore H. Eaton will ever remain an honored one on the pages of Michigan's history.
The City of Detroit, Michigan, 1701-1922, Vol. 3, edited by Clarence Monroe Burton, William Stocking, Gordon K. Miller, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co, Detroit-Chicago, 1922, pp 188-193
Shares face of marker with Anne Eliza Eaton
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