| Notes |
- 20250919GHLn- LDS-
Relationship to parents is undocumented. Please read all notes before changing the record.
This family has been extensively researched by the best professionals in the the United States and England. Relationship to George Penn is NOT accepted by the best professional researchers in the Mayflower Society, as it cannot be documented and there is considerable evidence against it. Please review Note in Collaborate "Birth and Ancestry." See source (Potential Christening) for possible origins, which need further research to verify. If the Mayflower Society does not accept it as valid, it should not be added.
Last Changed: August 24, 2023
A
Anna Lenz Hetzel
Placement of children in other homes
An excerpt from "The Times of Their Lives: Life, Love, and Death in Plymouth Colony," by James Deetz and Patricia Scott Deetz
pages 116-117
In 1642, Francis and Christian Billington "put Elizabeth, their daughter, apprentice to John Barnes and Mary, his wife, to dwell with them and to do their services until she shall accomplish the age of twenty-three years (she being now seven years of age...)." Like Mary Moorecock, Elizabeth was to have all her basic needs provided, but nothing after her contract ended.
The Billington case raises the whole strange, unresolved question of the "putting out" of children to live in families other than their own that seems to have occurred on a fairly regular basis in Plymouth Colony. In part it may have had its roots in an English custom that dated back at least to the sixteenth centure, when children were brought up in families other than their own due to the belief that they would learn better manners than at home. Demos believes that children formed the greatest proportion of persons in servitude in the colony, and given the economic hardship of many families, and the shortage of cheap labor, these factors must also have played into the system. Children were apprenticed to learn a trade, obtain a general education in the household, including literacy, or were simply servants. Insofar as hard evidence is concerned, there is not a great deal, as the motivation of parents in putting their children to grow to adulthood away from their own family circle is only glimpsed. Sometimes it was both economicand a concern for the welfar of the child, as inthe case of seven-year-old Zachariah Eddy, put to live with John Browne of Rehoboth as a servant until he was twently-one, as his parents had "many children, & by reason of many wants lying upon them...they are not able to bring them up as they desire." Zachary's brother, John, had also been put out the live with Francis and Katherine Goulder as their servant the previous year, 1645, at the age of seven. Elizabeth Billington's brother, Joseph, was already living with John Cooke, the younger, and in trouble with the court because he kept running away and going home. In this case the court took a firm line with the Billington parents, and ordered that for every time he did this, Francis and Christian would be put in the stocks, In addition, fourteen-year-old Benjamin Eaton, living with the Billingtons (Christian's son by her previous marriage to Francis Eaton), if he should "counsel, entice or inveigle" Joseph from his master, would also be put in the stocks. Francis Billington was a Mayflower passenger, whose father, John, was executed in 1630 for murder. Francis had married Christian Penn, widow of Francis Eaton, four years later, and had to take responsibility for the four Eaton children, one of whom Bradford described as "an idiot," but he lived until 1651, presumably at home. With their own children as well, there seems to have been good reason as to why the two children were put out to service. It could have been a formof welfare relief that existed in the colony, but the system is not fully explained by that conclusion. Demos concludes that there is no clear pattern that emerges. Some were from reasonably well-off, educated families, some were orphans, others were from homes where exonomic hardship necessitated it. The historian Edmund Morgan, in his study of the Puritan family, has suggested another explanation, that parents in this culture "did not trust themselves with their own children, that they were afraid of spoiling them by too great affection," and so sent them to be brought up by others.
Last Changed: March 28, 2022
B
BelMark
Draft of note about marriage date
Not married prior to 1626. Francis Eaton’s previous wife Dorothy appears in an apprenticeship agreement dated 4 December 1626 in Bristol. This suggests she was alive when Isaac Allerton went to England in the spring of 1626. Which means Francis remarried after that. Daughter Rachel was in the May 1627 Cattle Division. This leaves a narrow window for the marriage of Francis and Christian. Rachel’s placement as daughter of Christian depends on a short sentence by William Bradford writing in 1650 in which he did not remember Dorothy’s name. If Rachel was Dorothy’s daughter, the marriage of Francis and Christian could have been in 1627 before the May cattle division. Please see the articles by Thompson and Green in the source list for Francis Eaton.
Last Changed: February 12, 2022
B
BelMark
Christian Penn
She was one of the few single women who came on the Pilgrim ships, the females on these being mostly either married women, or adolescent children. In the 1623 Plymouth land division, Christian Penn received one acre as a passenger on the Anne in 1623. Perhaps Christian knew when she came that she was soon to become the third wife of Francis Eaton. It looks as though her marriage to him had been arranged beforehand by letter. Her husband did not long survive his third marriage and his young widow was married in 1634 to Francis Billington. This was probably a love-match, otherwise Christian would not have been willing to become a member of the disgraced and ostracised Billington family. Sorrows thickened around this pair who had eight children they could not support. That Christian should have been obliged to see her children "bound out" into unsympathetic families must have been an overwhelming trial.
"Anne" & "Little James" The vessels parted company at sea; Pilgrim Ship the "ANNE" arrived Plymouth, New England in the latter part of June or July 1623, and Pilgrim Ship the "LITTLE JAMES" some week or ten days later; bringing new settlers along with many of the wives and children that had been left behind in Leiden, South Holland when Pilgrim Ship the "MAYFLOWER" departed in 1620. A lot of these people aboard these ships are the rest of the families of persons already in the Colony.
CHRISTIAN PENN is listed as one of the passengers.
SOURCES:
EMIGRANT ANCESTORS, John Camden Hotten, 1874
Mayflower Increasings for Three Generations
Last Changed: January 12, 2022
A
Anna Lenz Hetzel
Birth and ancestry
7 July 2020, I (Anna Lenz Hetzel) received the following in a personal email from editor John Bradley Arthaud, FASG in reply to this question: Has anything ever been identified about Christian Penn Eaton's birth, parents, or ancestry? His reply: "Nada. There are many unproved statements about." (Harriet W. Hodge, Robert S. Wakefield, and John Bradley Arthaud, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: John Billington (Plymouth, 2014), pages 21, 23.)
.
No sources have been provided that indicate her parents were George Penn and Elizabeth Brinksworth.
Last Changed: March 15, 2021
A
Anna Lenz Hetzel
Biographical Notes and Sources regarding Christian and her descendants
(This was previously listed as a Life Sketch, but has been moved to this location in order for the Life sketch to focus specifically on Christian and her life.)
Pilgrim Francis Eaton married his third wife, Christian Penn, about 1624. She was a passenger on the Anne.
They had 3 children: Rachel. Benjamin, & a child who was deemed an idiot and not named in any record, though he/she lived at least to the age of 21.
After Eaton's death, she married Francis Billington in July 1634. They had nine children. Their daughter Martha married Eaton's son from his first marriage.
Pilgrim Francis Eaton married 3rd, about 1624. CHRISTIAN PENN , a passenger on the Anne; she married 2nd, in July 1634, Francis Billington, son of JOHN BILLINGTON.
Francis & Christian had 3 children: Rachel Ramsden, Benjamin, & a child who was deemed an idiot and not named in any record, though he/she lived at least to the age of 21.
Source: Anderson's Great Migration Study Project.
Find A Grave contributor Julie Evans adds:
Christian Penn:
b. Abt 1607, England.
m. (1) Bet 1625 - 1634, MA, Francis Eaton.
m. (2) Jul 1634, Plymouth, Plymouth Co., MA, USA, Francis Billington.
d. Jul 1684, Middleboro, Plymouth Co., MA.
Burial: Unknown
Christian PENN #18970, (daughter of George PENN #18982 and Elizabeth _______ #18983)
Born: Abt 1607 in England.
While she did not come to America on the Mayflower, she arrived shortly thereafter, between 1621 - 1632.
m. (1) Marriage: Francis Eaton between 1625 - 1634. Maybe before 1632 and probably before 1627. Three children.
m. (2) Marriage: Francis Billington to Christian Penn (Eaton), July 1634, Plymouth. Nine children. m. Jul 1634, in Plymouth, Plymouth, MA, to Francis Billington,
In July 1634, Francis married Christian Eaton, the widow of Mayflower passenger Francis Eaton who had died the previous year autumn.
Christian brought three of her own children, and one step-child from her deceased husband's previous marriage, all under the age of 14.
With Francis Billington, she had nine more children.
They raised their family at Plymouth, and moved in their later years to Middleboro, where they both died in 1684.
The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, p. 156:
"CHRISTIAN PENN
THIS passenger is assumed to be a female but no connection with any other passenger is known. She received one share in the 1627 division. As the second wife of Francis Eaton (q. v.) of the Mayflower bears this rare baptismal name it seems probable that she married him between 1627 and 1633."
The English Ancestry and Homes of the Pilgrim Fathers, Additions and Corrections p. vii:
"Page 156: CHRISTIAN PENN. She received one share in the 1623 division. As Christian Eaton she received one share in the 1627 division, so she married Francis Eaton before 1627. As they had a daughter, Rachell in 1627 they probably married around 1625."
Mayflower Births & Deaths, Vol. 1, page 448, <1>:
"<1> p. 438, The name of Francis' [Eaton] 2nd wife is not known. It is believed that she might be the unnamed maid servant who came with the Carver family on the Mayflower. Gov. Bradford said she had "married and died a year or two after". The files do not identify his 3rd wife, she was Christian Penn who married 2nd Francis Billington2."
Mayflower Births & Deaths, Vol. 1:
Francis EATON1, d. pre 8 Nov. 1633, Plymouth (inv.)
Sarah ( ) EATON, d. 1621, Plymouth
CHILD OF Francis EATON1 & 1st Sarah ( ): <1>
Samuel EATON2, b. 1620, England
CHILDREN OF Francis EATON1 & 3rd Christian ( ): (3) <1>
Rachel EATON2, b. c1625; d. pre Oct. 1661* Benjamin EATON2, b. aft. 1 June 1627 ; d. 16 Jan. 1711/2, Plympton, "aged" <2> Child, b. ( ), d. aft. 1650, unm."
Mayflower Births & Deaths, Vol. I:
Children of Francis Billington & Christian (Penn) Eaton:
Elizabeth
Joseph
Martha
Mary
Isaac
Child, b. pre 1651, d.y.
Rebecca
Dorcas, b. c1650; d. aft. 1711; m. Edward May, d. 10 Aug. 1691, Plymouth Mercy
[NOTE: Is unnamed child Francis, Jr? Is Dorcas who I have as Desire?].
Mayflower Births & Deaths, Vol. 1, p. 106-111:
"JOHN BILLINGTON
MICRO #1 OF 2
John BILLINGTON1, d. 1630, Plymouth <1>
CHILDREN OF John BILLINGTON1 & Elinor ( ): (2)
John BILLINGTON2, d. pre 1630 <1>
Francis BILLINGTON2, b. c1604-06 ; d. 3 Dec 1684 <1>
Thomas BILLINGTON, d. pre 1 May 1662, Taunton (inv.)
Mrs. Abraham BILLINGTON, d. 1825
CHILDREN of Samuel BILLINGTON & Eliza Nickerson (dau of David); (4)
Levi BILLINGTON, b. ( )
Eliza BILLINGTON, b. ( )
Samuel BILLINGTON, b. ( )
Mary BILLINGTON, b. ( )
FRANCIS BILLINGTON2 (John1)
CHILDREN OF Francis BILLINGTON2 & Christian (PENN) Eaton: (9) <2>
Elisabeth BILLINGTON3, b. 10 July 1635; d. aft. 22 Mar. 1709/10, Providence RI
Joseph BILLINGTON3, b. pre Feb. 1736/37; d. betw. 7 Jan 1684/5 - 1692, prob. Block Island RI
Martha BILLINGTON3, b. c1638; d. aft 9 Jun 1704, Plainfield CT
Mary BILLINGTON3, b. c1640; d. aft. 28 Jun 1717
Isaac BILLINGTON3, b. c1644, d. 11 Dec. 1909, ae 66, Middleboro
Child, b. pre 1650, d.y.
Rebecca BILLINGTON3, b. 8 June 1647; poss. d. y.
Dorcas BILLINGTON3, b. c1650; d. aft 1711
Mercy BILLINGTON3, b. 25 Feb. 1651/2; d. 28 Sept. 1718, Rehoboth
Edward MAY, d. 10 Aug. 1691, Plymouth <3>
CHILDREN OF EDWARD MAY & Dorcas BILLINGTON3: <4>
CHILDREN OF Richard Bullock & Elizabeth BILLINGTON3: (4) <5>
...."
[p. 109]
"CHILDREN OF John MARTIN & Mercy BILLINGTON3: (4)
John MARTIN4, 10 Jun 1682
Robert Martin4, b. 9 Sept. 1683
Desire MARTIN4, b. 20 Mar. 1684/5
Francis MARTIN4, b. 7 May 1686
Desire CARPENTER5 (Desire Martin4), b. 3 June 1716; d. 28 May 1800, Stevens Corner Cem., Rehoboth
Hezekiah HIX, b. c1715, d. 5 Feb. 1788*, ae 73, Stevens Corner Cem,, Rehoboth
CHILDREN OF Hezekiah HIX & Desire Carpenter5: (8)
Hannah HIX6, b. 17 May 1740
James HIX6, b. 21 Apr. 1742
Mary HIX6, b. 17 Mar. 1746/7
Desire HIX6, b. 27 Dec. 1750
Gideon HIX6, b. 26 May 1752
Jotham HIX6, b. 26 May 1752 (twin)
Nathan HIX6, b. c1761*
Renew CARPENTER5 (Desire Martin4), b. 6 Jun 1714, d. 9 Feb. 1787, Stevens Corner Cem., Rehoboth
Jabez Round, b. c1708, d. 14 Mar. 1790, Stevens Corner Cem., Rehoboth <28>
CHILDREN OF Jabez ROUND & Renew CARPENTER5: (11)
Isaac ROUND6, B. 23 Jan. 1733/4
Jabez ROUND6, b. 8 Jan. 1735/6; d. 20 May 1806*"
[p. 110]
"110 BILLINGTON
Abigail ROUND6, b. Jan. 1740
Isaiah ROUND6, b. 30 Jan. 1741
Rebecca ROUND6, b. 21 Mar. 1742
Sibbel ROUND6, b. 10 Sept. 1744
Oliver ROUND6, b. 1 Apr 1747
Rhoda ROUND6, b. 26 Jan. 1750
Esther ROUND6, b. 8 Oct 1752
Simeon ROUND6, b. 4 Feb. 1755
************
FOOTNOTES
<1> p. 106, John Billington, b. c1580, poss. Lincolnshire, Eng. , d. in Sept. 1630 when he was executed for murder. His wife Elinor (not Helen or Ellen), maiden name unknown, and was living 2 Mar. 1642/3, the wife of Gregory Armstrong.
John Billington2 was living at the time of the May 1627 Cattle Division but deceased at the time of his father's death in Sept. 1630.
Francis Billington's year of birth is uncertain due to conflicting records. He was thought to be "aged forty years or thereabouts" in 1649 (b. c1909) ; age 68 in 1674 (b. c1606) ; and age 80 when he died in 1684 (b. c1604) .
<2> p. 106, There is no file sheet listing all the children of Francis & Christian so they have been added for easier reference.
Christian (Penn) Eaton is said to have died c1684 (Stoddard:115 says July 1684). The petition of her son, Isaac Billington, (1 Mar. 1703/4), implies she died the same year as her husband Francis..."They were near 80 years old when they dyed: & it is now 18 years since." Unfortunately, the time span he mentions does not prove Christian died in 1684 but rather 1686. His referral to "18 years since" could refer not to the death of his parents but to the death of his last surviving parent, Christian, in 1686.
<3> p. 106, "Bowman gives his date of death as 20 Aug. although in checking the reference given (MD 16:62) it clearly says 10 [underlined] Aug.
<4> p. 106, Four unnamed children...."
Mayflower Births & Deaths, Vol. I: p. 111:
"Footnotes for John Billington:
REFERENCE LIST:
GENEALOGICAL ARTICLES PERTAINING TO BILLINGTON FAMILY RESEARCH
Mayflower Descendant (MD) (1899-1937)
15:247-253 - Washburn Notes: Will of John Washburn
Mayflower Quarterly (MQ) (1975-1990)
46:14-15 - Presidential Mayflower Connections (correction - MQ 46:197)
48:67-71 - Esther (Carpenter)(Bardeen) Bowen, An Elusive Billington Descendant
49:170-179 - The Martins of Swansea & The Martins of Rehoboth
50:21-30 - Judah Fuller6, The Bloomer's Daughter
50:71-76 - The Additional Children of Joseph & Mercy (Canedy) Williams & Their Migrations to
Western MA & Groton NY
50:180-187 - There were Three Hezekiahs, Not One, In the Round Family
51:196-198 - The Family of Jabez & Renew (Carpenter) Round, A John Billington Line
52:137-143 - Desire Billington and Her Grandfather Francis Billington's Estate
Miscellaneous
Mayflower Families In Progress: John Billington of the Mayflower and His Descendants for Five Generations (MFIP), pub. by General Society of Mayflower Descendants, 1988.
NEHGR 124:116 - Francis Billington of Lincolnshire
TG 3:228-248 - Some Descendants of Francis Billington of the Mayflower
* * * * * * * * * * *
**Now available: Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: John Billington of the Mayflower
(MF5G), pub. by General Society of Mayflower Descendants. 1991."
Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume Twenty One, John Billington, General Society of Mayflower Descendants 1620 Plymouth 1857,
p. 6-7:
"SECOND GENERATION
2 FRANCIS 2 BILLINGTON (John 1)
b. England, prob. Lincolnshire, about 1606 to 1609; d. Middleboro 3 Dec. 1684 "aged 80."
He m. Plymouth July 1634 CHRISTIAN (PENN) EATON, b. England ca. 1607; d. Middleboro ca. 1684. She m. (1) Plymouth 1624 or 1625 Pilgrim Francis Eaton, b. England; d. Plymouth between 25 Oct. and 8 Nov. 1633; by whom she had th ____
Last Changed: July 5, 2020
A
Anna Lenz Hetzel
Possible relatives
She traveled on the same ship with the Oldhams. "Oldham's company granted ten acres in assignment of lands in 1623 presumably for each person in Oldham's family and for the following: Conant, Roger, Penn, and Christian." This also states that John Oldham had nine others with him, but doesn't name names.
Additional discussion regarding possibilities can be found at: https://www.ancestry.com/boards/thread.aspx?o=10&m=1546.4.1.1.1.1.1&p=surnames.penn
Last Changed: April 16, 2019
A
Anna Lenz Hetzel
Christian had a step-son and three children from her marriage to Eaton.
..."Francis Billington married the widow of Francis Eaton, four years later, and had to take responsibility for the four Eaton children."
One was Francis Eaton's son from his marriage to Sarah. Three were from Christian Penn and Francis Eaton's union.
Last Changed: March 13, 2019
A
Anna Lenz Hetzel
Children of Francis Billington and Christian Penn
A Plymouth County Court case of Sept 1722 brought by Isaac's daughter Desire (Billington) Bonney and her husband, James, shows that Francis died leaving issue of two sons and five daughters, viz sons Joseph and Isaac, daughters Elizabeth, Mary, Dorcas, Mercy and Martha. There was a total of 8 shares in the estate, with a double portion for Joseph as the eldest son. A 1719 quitclaim deed from Francis's grandson Francis Billington, reading "my father Francis and grandfather (unnamed) Billington" seems to imply a son Francis Jr, but in the absence of any mention of such a son in Plymouth records, it appears the deed was a clerical error. Original must have read "my father Joseph and grandfather Francis Billington." Indications are that the seven children named in the Bonney suit and their progeny were the only survivors of Francis.
Last Changed: August 6, 2017
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Audrey07
children
Last Changed: August 26, 2013
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UnknownMMMC-YWSB
Discussions
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Any relationship to parents is NOT accepted by the best professional researchers in the Mayflower So
May 20, 2023
A personal email from editor John Bradley Arthaud, FASG in reply to this question: Has anything ever been identified about Christian Penn Eaton's birth, parents, or ancestry? His reply: "Nada. There are many unproved statements about." The sometimes given year (1607) and place (Birdham, Sussex, England) are supposedly based on an entry from William Bradford’s journal, which indicated her approximate age and that she came from Birdham. (No verifiable source text or link was cited.) John Bradley Arthaud, FASG states that although here are many unproved statements, nothing in known of her birth, place or ancestry. [Harriet W. Hodge, Robert S. Wakefield, and John Bradley Arthaud, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: John Billington (Plymouth, 2014), pages 21, 23.)Mayflower Families through Five Generations: John Billington (Plymouth, 2014), pages 21, 23.]
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Anna Lenz Hetzel
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Has anything ever been identified about Christian Penn Eaton's birth, parents, or ancestry?
July 7, 2020
On 7 July 2020, I received a personal email with this answer from John Bradley Arthaud, FASG: "Nada. There are many unproved statements about."
Reference:
Harriet W. Hodge, Robert S. Wakefield, and John Bradley Arthaud, Mayflower Families through Five Generations: John Billington (Plymouth, 2014), pages 21, 23.
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Anna Lenz Hetzel
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Abt 1582 - 1642 (60 years)
