Cumberland County, Maine - Woodman S. Eaton
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Biography
Woodman S. Eaton
Biographical Review
Cumberland County, Maine
Boston
Biographical Review Publishing Company
1896
Page 537-538


Woodman S. Eaton, who has been general freight agent of the Maine Central
Railroad since 1885, was born in Portland, October 16, 1846, son of Stephen W.
and Miranda (Knox) Eaton. He is of an old and respected Colonial family, whose
progenitor, John Eaton, with his wife Anna and six children, came from England
to this country more than two hundred and fifty years ago. They were residents
of Salisbury, Mass., in 1640. John Eaton, of a later generation, great-
grandfather of Woodman S., was born in Seabrook, N.H., in 1748, and was one of
the pioneer settlers of Buxton, Me. He was the father of Tristram Eaton, who was
born in Buxton, and spent the most of his days there, engaged in farming.

Stephen W. Eaton, son of Tristram, was born in Buxton, but spent the greater
part of his active life in Portland, engaged first in railroading, later in
mercantile business. His first work in connection with the traveling public was
in the employ of the Cumberland & Oxford Canal Company; and he was next engaged
as one of the engineers in the survey of the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad
(now the Grand Trunk), filling the office of freight agent when the road was
completed. This office he resigned in 1853 to accept a position on the Michigan
Central Railroad. Returning East after a short time, he was employed as railroad
superintendent at Leeds and Farmington, next filling the office of second 
superintendent of the Androscoggin Railroad; and later he was first
superintendent of the York & Cumberland. This was the last railroad office held
by him, his next business venture being in the mercantile line; and for many
years his name was on the list of prominent merchants of Portland.

In politics he was affiliated with the Democratic party, and was Surveyor of the
port of Portland during the administration of President Taylor, serving under
Collector Jewett. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, prominent' in the
councils of the Order. Mr. Stephen W. Eaton changed his residence from Portland
to Gorham in 1854 on account of ill health in the family, though still attending
to his business in the city; and he died in Gorham in 1876 at the age of
seventy-one. His wife, Miranda Knox, was a member of an old Buxton family, her
father also having been born in that town.

Woodman S. Eaton was the sixth in a family of eight children born to Mr. and
Mrs. Stephen W. Eaton. He made his first acquaintance with books at a private
school in Portland, and later attended the Gorham Academy, a noted school at
that time. He went to work in 1863, when seventeen years of age, entering the
employ of the Berlin Mills Company at Berlin, N.H., as an office assistant. He
afterward spent some time in Lewiston, in the freight department of the
Androscoggin Railroad, where he got his first idea of railroad work, and was
next called to the South, filling a position in the office of the Provost
Marshal in New Orleans till the close of the war. Returning to Portland, he was
again employed by the Androscoggin Railroad Company, for whom he worked a year
as freight checker. He then obtained a position as freight cashier for the
Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railroad, remaining from 1867 to 1875. In the latter
year he was made freight agent of the Eastern Railroad, and in 1882 assumed the
greater responsibilities of freight agent of both Eastern and Maine Central. Mr.
Eaton has been general freight agent of the Maine Central Railroad since 1885,
and during the past decade the road has had its greatest growth. Consequently
his care and responsibility are yearly increasing. He has now in his office in
Portland eleven clerks, and the admirable manner in which the great freight
traffic of the road is handled proves Mr. Eaton to be a man of exceptional
ability.

October 16, 1867, Mr. Eaton was united in marriage with Judith Annette Colby, of
Gorham, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Colby, a prominent clergyman of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Eaton two are
now living - William Colby and Edward Stephen. The former, who is a practicing
attorney in. Portland, married Miss Marion Durant Dow, daughter of Colonel Fred
N. Dow and grand-daughter of General Neal Dow. Edward Stephen Eaton is in the
general freight office of the Maine Central Railroad, associated with his
father.

Mr. Eaton is a prominent Mason, belonging to Ancient Landmark Lodge, A. F. & A.
M., of Portland; Mount Vernon Chapter; Portland Commandery, Knights Templars;
and the Consistory, having passed the thirty-two degrees. He is also a member of
Ligonia Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Eastern Star Encampment,
and belongs to the Cumberland and Portland Clubs, the Country Club, and the
Bramhall League. He attends the High Street Congregational Church, and
contributes liberally to its support. The Eaton residence, a very handsome and
comfortable dwelling, is at 754 Congress Street.