Joshua Eaton

Joshua Eaton was born in Framingham, Middlesex, Massachusetts, on July 1, 1721. He married a woman by the name of Phebe abt. 1742 and they had five or more children before he went off to fight in the French and Indian War. He was in the regiment of Col. Eleazer Tyng. They landed at Hampton Roads, Virginia, on Feb. 20, 1755, in a campaign against Fort Duquesne (Pittsburgh), which was under French occupation at the time. Joshua died on July 13, 1755, twelve days after his 34th birthday. He was one of the 456 men killed in the battle and another 421 men were wounded. With nearly half the army wounded or dead and only 60 of the enemy's men lost, it was a tragic defeat, leaving colonists in the northeast vulnerable and defenseless. It also resulted in hundreds of new widows and orphans, like Mary, who was almost 7 years old at the time of his death.