Perhaps, if the origin of the above coat of arms is found, we can find the English origins and ancestry of the Yeaton family. Given the fact that the Yeaton men maintained the "family business" of fishing for many generations and the fact that several families which settled in the New Castle area were from Devonshire, England, I suspect that the family is from the Devonshire or Cornwall area of that country.
Yeaton is an "old name" in the Portsmouth, Rockingham co., New Hampshire area. Members of this family can also be found in the records of New Castle, Rochester and other neighboring towns to Portsmouth on the eastern coast of New Hampshire and Southern Maine. Another branch settled in the Essex co., MA area, soon migrating west and south to Middlesex co., MA & the Boston, Suffok do., MA area. Until very recently, research on this family was extremely difficult. The original emigrants settled first in New Castle, Rockingham co. and Isles of Shoals area of New Hampshire and the rugged Cape Elizabeth area of Maine. They were fishermen, probably illiterate and considered the official recording of births deaths and marriages an unimportant duty.
Savage speculated that the name probably originates via a place name in England. (Probably referring to Yeadon, a town just northwest of Leeds, next to the airport. It seems highly unlikely, but not impossible, that the family would have migrated to America from that location in England at that particular time.) He further asserted that the first Yeaton(s) probably arrived in the area after 1700, since the name is not found in Colonial Records before that date. Other speculation was that three sons of an "unknown couple" migrated form "somewhere in England" and settled as fishermen in New Castle, Rockingham co., NH. Subsequent lore maintained that, "...they did not agree, and one went to Fryeburg, Me., one to Somerworth, and one remained at Goat Island, since called Newcastle..."[5]
However, through the tireless research of Martin Hollick, this family can now be conclusively traced to one Richard Yeaton and his wife Hannah. In addition, the research of Carolyn Depp and my own research had helped to piece this family together into the form found below. Using primarily original records and sources, this research has led to the following corrected seven generation report which includes nearly every Yeaton I have yet come across.
This family lost many sons to the sea. Commercial fishing is till one of the most dangerous occupations in America and that
fact is brought home when you see generation upon generation of family men with the notation "lost at sea" after
their names. The Great Gale of 20 October 1770 was one of the most destructive and violent ever on the New England coast.
It was a vicious Nor'Easter which started late Friday, 19 October 1770 and continued in full force on Saturday, 20 October
1770. Contemporary readers would recognize it as having the strength and ferocity of "The Perfect Storm" of October 1990.
Surname variations include Eaton, Yaton, Yeaten, Yeating, Yeaton, Yeatten, Yeatton, Yeten, Yetten, Yetter, Yetting and Yetton. Hollick notes that "tax rates in the early part of the 18th century are broken down into two parts for New Castle: Great Island and Little Harbor. The Yeatons are consistently at Great Island."
Please note that William Haslet Jones' book The Yeaton Family of New England (any edition) needs serious correction and should not be used as a source.
There are two lines of decent from the matriarch & patriarch of this family;
hence the more confusing chart.
Richard's line is on the left and Benjamin's is on the right.
