CHAPTER III: Christopher Carriger Eaton

Christopher Carriger Eaton

C.C. & Rebecca Eaton; date unknown

Christopher Carriger Eaton was born on December 25, 1847 in Fayetteville (Lincoln Co.), Tennessee to James Marion Eaton and Tabitha Hannah Forrester. He had one older sister, Sarah Christina Eaton (later Crenshaw). In 1853, the Eatons left Tennessee for Buck Prairie (Lawrence County), Missouri. Not much is known yet about what brought the Eatons to Lawrence County, but it can be assumed it was the appeal of free/cheap land in Frontier Southwest Missouri. 

In 1862, C.C.'s father, enlisted in the Confederate Army (more information to come on the Eatons' military service). C.C. would have been 15 at the time the war started, which was not an uncommon age to attempt to enlist. C.C. would not enlist until September 1864, when we enlisted in the Confederate Army at Brownsville (Saline Co.?), Missouri. He was assigned to Company F of the 11th Missouri Infantry (his father's company). C.C. shows up on Union POW records as being surrendered by General E. Kirby Smith at New Orleans, Louisiana on May 26, 1865. He was paroled at Alexandria, Louisiana on June 7, 1865. 

It is assumed that C.C. and his father returned to Lawrence County after the war. In 1868, the Eatons moved to Richland (Barton Co.), Missouri. It is unclear why the Eatons left Lawrence County for Barton County (I hope to visit both counties in the future to try and answer that question). C.C. shows up living with his parents in Barton County in the 1880 census. 

On August 27, 1882 C.C. married Rebecca Jane Ballew in Barton County. Rebecca was the daughter and second child of David J. and Naomi Ballew (also of Barton County). The Ballews and Eatons had been neighbors. C.C. and Rebecca welcomed their first child, Lucy Del Eaton on June 7, 1883. 

The next year, the Eatons moved to Ozark County, Missouri, along with C.C.'s parents, as well as with his sister and her husband. C.C. filed on 80 acres of land near Trail in the far NW corner of Ozark County on December 20, 1884. By 1890, his land holdings had grown to 400 acres in Sections 5 and 6 of Ozark County. 

Patent Map of NW Ozark County; courtesy of Ozark County Historium

C.C.'s sister, parents and possibly extended family (Forresters on map) all had land between Trail and Buckhart. The Eaton family grew with Lora Christy Valeria (1884-1938), Ida Leona (1887-1948), James Dallas (1890-1970), Christopher Arnold (1893-1971), George Alfred (1895-1928), Homer Franklin (1897-1969), and Jennie Mae (1900-1974). A boy, Charles Marion was born on May 31, 1886, but died on January 14, 1887. Charles was laid to rest on C.C.'s original 80 acre farm in an opening about 1/2 mile south of the family homestead. Charles would be the first person buried in the Eaton Cemetery. 

After losing his father and mother within a year's time, C.C. began to get itchy feet again. By 1902 he had moved his family to the Indian Territory. Ozark County land records show that C.C. inherited 200 acres from his father. He sold this 200 acres to James W. Bell (a neighbor who also bought his farm and donated part of the land for the Eaton Cemetery to the community). The bill of sale dated October 25, 1902 shows C.C. Eaton and wife of Campbell, Indian Territory as the sellers of the property. The only Eaton to not go to Oklahoma was the oldest daughter, Lucy Del. Lucy married Hugo Uhlmann, a recent German emigrant of Buckhart in 1899 and the Uhlmanns decided to stay in Douglas County. 

The Eatons bought a farm/ranch in Stone Bluff (Wagoner Co.), Oklahoma. The 1910 census shows the Eatons living in Moore (Muskogee County), Oklahoma. C.C.'s occupation was listed as a farmer, and his boys as laborers on the family farm. In 1913, C.C., Rebecca and the younger children moved to Orlando, Florida (reasons unknown), but were back in Oklahoma by 1920. In the 1920 census, the family was living in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. C.C. had no indicated occupation. Homer, Arnold and his new wife Stella were living with the family. 

In 1927 C.C. and Rebecca moved to Kansas City, MO (reasons unknown but I expect they followed Homer there). At the time of his death on December 6, 1934, C.C. and Rebecca were living in the home of Lucy Del and Hugo Uhlmann in Buckhart. C.C. was laid to rest in the Eaton Cemetery next to his parents and infant son. Rebecca Jane passed away at the home of her daughter Jennie Mae Uhlmann (Jennie married Albert, one of Hugo's brothers) in Buckhart on June 15, 1948. She rests next to C.C. at the Eaton Cemetery. 

Tomorrow I'll try to post Chapter IV on C.C.'s daddy, J.M., as well as post pics of the Eaton Cemetery.