New Haven Connecticut

John Davenport

• Ordained by Richard Eaton, Vicar of Great Budworth, Cheshire in 1624


• Soon dissented and had formed a community at a house on Swanne Alley in London


• Fled to Amsterdam in 1633, where they planned their emigration to New England


• Sailed for America 26 June 1637


• Along with three of Richard Eaton's sons, Theophilis, Nathaniel and Samuel and members of the Yale Family


• Bought land at Quinnipiac from the Indians for 13 coats and called it New Haven

Samuel Eaton

• Came back to England to test the waters in 1640


• Came to the attention of Colonel Robert Dukinfield who immediately offered him the incumbency of his family chapel at Old Hall in Dukinfield


• This became the first 'visible and framed' Nonconformist Chapel in England


• Died 25 January 1664/5 and buried at Denton St Lawrence

New Haven and Slavery

• According to Wills left by the higher echelons of the New Haven Community all had black servants/slaves including John Davenport himself


• Were supposed by the law at the time, to provide them all with, food, shelter and clothing, and to look after their welfare when they got old


• For instance; when John Cram and his wife became too old, their master Theophilus Eaton gave them two acres of land on which he erected a house. There the old pair lived and died happy and contented

Sources: Negro Slavery in Connecticut and "History Alive Tameside" - issue 2, 2007 page 46 Samuel Eaton 1597-1665 - First Congregational Chapel in England - Gay J Oliver