Anna Llyod
1591-1659
Born: London, Middlesex, England
Died: England
<p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">Anne Lloyd Yale Eaton was born in Chester, England in 1590. She was the daughter of Bishop George Lloyd and Anne Wilkinson. </p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">Bishop Lloyd was born in Wales...earned a Doctor of Theology degree from Cambridge University and was the Bishop of Chester. Chester began as a Roman fort in 79AD. It was a walled city and the only remaining city in England with its wall intact. (Chester is in the northwest part of England, 18 miles south of Liverpool, on the Dee Rier and borders Wales.) Bishop Lloyd is interrred in the Chester Cathedral. While living in Chester he had a large house built, known as "Bishop Lloyd's Palace." It still stands today it is open for tours.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">In 1612 Anne married Thomas Yale, son of Dr. David Yale, Chancellor of Chester at the same time George Lloyd was the Bishop of Chester. Thomas died in 1619 leaving Anne with their four children, David, Ann, Thomas and Elizabeth.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">In 1625, about 6 years after Thomas died, Anne married Theophilus Eaton. Theophilus was a successful merchant, and had served as the Ambassador to Denmark for King Charles I. Anne and Theophilus had three children: Hannah, Theophilus and Elizabeth. They shared strong Puritan convictions and attended the Coleman Street parish whose vicar was John Davenport, also a personal friend, had been baptized by Theophilus' father, Richard Eaton, Vicar of Great Budworth, Chester, England.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">The Eatons, vicar Davenport and many members of their parish, emigrated to Massachusetts Bay aboard the Hector, in June 1637. The Eaton entourage included: Theophilus, his two brothers, Samuel and Nathaniel Eaton, his mother, referred to as "Old Mrs. Eaton," Miss Mary Eaton, the unmarried daughter of his first wife, plus his wife, Anne, and their children Samuel, Theophilus, Jr. and Hannah Eaton, plus Anne's Yale children, David, Thomas, Jr., and her daughter Ann and her husband Edward Hopkins, a wealthy London merchant.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">A few months later, in 1638, Eaton and Davenport assembled a group of about 500 people from Boston and sailed to what was to become New Haven along Long Island Sound. He purchased the land from the Quinnipiak Indians. At first New Haven was a single town, but soon grew to be a Colony which included Milford, Guilford, Stanford, Southold and Branford. Theophilus Eaton was elected the governor and presiding magistrate of New Haven. He had the reputation of a skilled interrogator allowing him to cajole truth and repentance from almost everyone who was summoned before him. Eaton was re-elected as governor every year for twenty years until his death.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">In 1643 Anne Eaton embraced Baptist views after reading a book she received from her friend Lady Deborah Moody which denounced the "vanity of childish baptism". Anne soon began displaying her dissatisfaction with Davenport's orthodox position on baptism by walking out of church services whenever a child was baptized, sometimes even from the entire worship service. This quickly resulted in repeated public admonishment by the church. Domestic turmoil soon ensued. She was talked with privately about seveteen instances of improper behavior. She was asked to acknowledge the alleged facts and repent, but still after several months she showed no remorse. On March 20, 1645 she was called before the church and excommunicated.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">Anne continued to live with Theophilus Eaton until his death in 1658. Upon learning of Anne's plan to return to England, the New Haven authorities extended a "token of respect" by providing her an escort to Boston where she would board a ship to England. She returned to her dower lands outside of Chester and died there in 1659.</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">____________________</p> <p style="margin-: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 12px; margin-: 0px; line-height: 15px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal tahoma">Story based on article originally provided by VickiRowland33 and her cousin Olive96. The story has been edited and verified with research of <span style="text-decoration: underline">Religious Conscience, the State, and the Law: Historical Context and Contemporary Significance</span> by John McLaren and Harold Coward, 1998 and Wikipedia.</p>
<p>Theaophilus Eaton's wife, Ann, daughter of the Bishop of Chester (England), was a colorful and controversial person. First married to Thomas Yale, who died in Wales in 1619, she was the mother of David Yale and the grandmother of Elihu Yale, after whom Yale College was named.</p><p>Ann was wilful and headstrong, and did just as she pleased. This included her refusal to attend baptisms, and absenting herself from public worship, serious deviations in that puritanical society, so that she was formally and publicly tried (while her husband was in the office of Governor), found guilty, and excommunicated from the church.</p><p> </p><p>Source:Privately printed Davis family geneology;JHK & EHB Davis.</p>