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Book, page 31 / 38 Francis Eaton was of Leyden, a carpenter, and, having a wife and child, was probably a young man about twenty five, perhaps a little younger. He married three times. Mrs. Sarah Eaton, wife of Francis, was evidently a young woman, with an infant, at the date of embarkation. Nothing more is known of her, except that she died the spring following the arrival at Plymouth. Samuel Eaton, the son of Francis and his wife, Sarah, Bradford calls "a sucking child:" He lived to marry. Gilbert Window was the third younger brother of Governor Edward Winslow, and is reputed to have been a carpenter. He was born on Wednesday, October 26, 1600, at Droitwitch, in Worcester, England. ("Winslow Memorial," vol. i. p. 23.) He apparently did not remain long in the colony, as he does not appear in either the "land division" of 1623 or the "cattle division" of 1627; and hence was probably not then in the "settlement," though land was later allowed his heirs, he having been an "original" voyager of the Plymouth colony. He was but twenty years and fifteen days old when he signed the Compact, but probably was--from his brother's prominence and his nearness to his majority--counted as eligible. Bradford states that he returned to England after "divers years" in New England, and died there. It has been suggested that he went very early to some of the other "plantations." John Alden was of Southampton, England, was hired as "a cooper," was twenty-one years old in 1620, as determined by the year of his birth, 1599 ("Alden Memorial," p. 1), and became the most prominent and useful of any of the English contingent of the MAY FLOWER company. Longfellow's delightful poem, "The Courtship of Miles Standish," has given him and his bride, Priscilla Mullens, world- wide celebrity, though it is to be feared that its historical accuracy would hardly stand criticism. Why young Alden should have been "hired for a cooper at Southampton," with liberty to "go or stay" in the colony, as Bradford says he was (clearly indicating that he went to perform some specific work and return, if he liked, with the ship), has mystified many. The matter is clear, however, when it is known, as Griffis shows, that part of a Parliamentary Act
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