.
This agreement was signed and legally executed by Momauquin and his council as well as by Theophilus Eaton and John Davenport.
Some still say, however, that Theophilus simply traded thirteen coats to the local Indians for seven townships of land; but what is a fact is that in the following December of 1638 he and his company did also purchase the usage of a large area of land from Monotowese, son of the sachem at Mattabeseck, which was 10 miles in length and 13 in breadth. He did pay 13 coats to Monotowese as per their agreement, but again, the English gave the Indians ample grounds to plant on and free usage of all the lands for hunting. Further, even though Monotowese's tribe consisted of but 10 males with their women and children, it was understood that the English would also protect them from the Mohawk and the Pequots.
Upon arrival in the new colony, Theophilus at first attempted to resume his trade as a merchant. He was not successful, however, since the colony was too new to afford imports and the Indian fur trade was more successful at the Dutch outposts at Hartford, so he soon turned to farming.
When the New Haven Colony established its administration, he was chosen as one of the "seven pillars of the church" acting as one of the 7 councilors who formed the body of freemen and elected civil officers.
Their names were: Theophilus Eaton, John Davenport, Robert Newman, Matthew Gilbert, Thomas Fugill, John Punderson, and Jeremiah Dixon.
Career as governor
He was elected as the first governor on June 4, 1639 and reelected each year until his death on January 7, 1657/8 (Julian Calendar timing). He was buried on the green in New Haven and later his remains were removed to Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven. One of his major accomplishments as governor was the creation of a written legal code for the colony in 1655 later to be known as the Blue Laws of Connecticut. For this, and the fact that he was the first president of the Massachusetts Bay Company, he is sometimes thought of as being the Father of American Law, but this is arguably an example of hyperbole.
Theophilus' epitaph reads as follows ...
- "Theophilus Eaton, Esqr. Govr. dec'd Jan'y 7, 1657, Ætat. 67.
- Eaton so fam'd, so wise, so just,
- The Phœnix of our world, here lies his dust,
- This name forget, N. England never must."
Theophilus' younger brother Nathaniel Eaton (1609–1674) was the first schoolmaster of Harvard College. He was deposed in 1639 by the then Governor John Winthrop in what some have considered to be Massachusetts' first Witch Trial. Another brother, Samuel Eaton (1597–1665), was a minister who accompanied Theophilus to New Haven, but later returned to England.
- 'Parishes : Stony Stratford', Victoria History of the Counties of England, A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 476-482, citing D.N.B.
- "Hinman, Royal Ralph (1838). The Blue laws of New Haven colony: usually called Blue laws of Connecticut; Quaker laws of Plymouth and Massachusetts; Blue laws of New York, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. First record of Connecticut; interesting extracts from Connecticut records; cases of Salem witchcraft; charges and banishment of Rev. Roger Williams, &c.; and other interesting and instructive antiquities. Compiled by an antiquarian." Hartford: Case, Tiffany. pp. 130
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