In the Family Sketch of the Eaton Family, in Eaton's Kings County History, David Eaton, one of the first Cornwallis grantees, is said to have settle near Hamilton's Corner (otherwise known as Carnard or Jaw Bone Corner) where he built a house and continued to reside.  To the casual reader it would appear that David Eaton's first grant or "draught" was here, although a more careful reading fails to support this interpretation and in fact the family historian omits any clue as to where his first farm lot was located.  Among the many Eaton decendants in the County, opinions have differed as to the exact location and many have believed it to have been in that compact centre of the Eaton farm, Lower Canard.  The correct answer is buried among the property transfers in the Registry of Deeds for Kings County where in Book 2, page 308, 1785, for the sum of £100, David Eaton sold to Caleb Huntington, a property described in part as follow.

"All that fourty-four/acre farm lot Number Seven in the Fourteenth Division of farm lots which was draughted by me the said David Eaton and is bounded thus, on the east by a farm lot the original draught of Timothy Hatch, and from the north west corner of said lot the line runs west eighteen rods then south four hundred and twenty-two rods to the dyke lots, thence easterly by said dyke lots to the south west corner of said Hatch's farm lot just mentioned".

The adjoining lot on the west, Number Eight, was draughted by Nathaniel Hatch, and from the subsequent records it is evident that the Nathaniel Hatch and Eaton grants are part of the farm at present owned by William E. Newcomb, in the Upper Dyke Village.  At the price paid it is doubtful if any new buildings had been erected on the Eaton lot, although the remnants of the French occupation were here and some of them may have remained.

In a further searth of the records, we find that in 1761, the year when he and his family came to Cornwallis, Book 1, page 213, David Eaton bought from Ephriam Loomis the farm lot "Known by Number Two in the Eleventh Division -- 44 1/2 acres," at the price of £44.  This would appear to be the lot on which he built his house, and corresponds to the location Eaton mentions.  Having been acquired so quickly after his arrival, it could have been spoken of, in error, as his first grant.

Four years later, in 1775, Book 2, page 146, for £110 we find David Eaton made a further purchase from Colonel John Burbidge of "80 acres - on the north side of the River Canard known by Lots Numer three and Four in the Eleventh Division" and "Secondly 80 acres laid out to the northward of the said farm lots" and "Thirdly, twenty-five accres -- to the northward bounded on the north by marsh by the Little Habitant River" being "lands laid out to John Burbidge and William Best".  These lots joined the earlier purchase.

The next year, 1776. another farm lot was bought from Ezekiel Huntington by David Eaton, for £27, Book 2, page 155.  "The Farm Lot is Number One in the Eleventh Division and is bounded southerly down to the willow fence, northerly on the land of Stephen Herrenton, westerly on land of the right of Ephriam Loomis, and easterly on a road that leads to Habitant, and contains thirty-nine acres".

It should be added that dyke and wood lots were included with these properties.

Apparently these four lots covered the three farms now owned by C.C.H. Eaton estate, Leander Eaton and C. G. Cox estate.

The dwelling house of David Eaton on Lot Number Two would probably place it either on the C.C.H. Eaton or Leander Eaton farms.

Although David Eaton purchased dyke land from Solomon Parish, Moses Gore, Samuel Broster, Simon Newcomb, John Rand, Oliver Thorp, Isaac Bigelow, John Porter, John Cunningham, John Anderson, John Burbidge, John Whidden, Thomas Ratchford, Archelaus Hammond, Elias Burbidge, Peter Wickwire and Asa Beckwith, there is no record of him buying upland any farther west than the C. G. Cox estate.  Reference to his ownership of this farm was continued in fairly recent deeds.  However, he did buy three other farm lots in Lower Canard of which the following is known.

Since the Ninth Division was near the small Baptist Church, the Eighth Division must have been somewhat farther east, or "down" the street.

Sons of David Eaton occupied the farms in and near Canard but strangely none of them retained what has always been regarded as the highly desirable property near Canard Corner.  Perhaps this very attractiveness pushed up the values and caused the shift to less expensive land - a condition which is far from unknown in the present day rural-urban relationship.  Under the terms of David Eaton's will drawn in 1803, four sons were bequethed farms.  David received the house "where I now dwell - all the upland from Canard Dyke to Habitant, except 60 acres on the north side thereof."  John received this north portion" so far south as to make sixty acres".  Sons Timothy and Elisha each received the farms on which they lived.  Son Elijah was rememberd in money only.

The John Eaton property is the one on which the Scotian Gold Storage is built.  This included the newer portion of the old Methodist Cemetery and the large Field to the westward of that burial ground.  The acreage specified in David Eaton's will, sixty acres, explains the unusual southern boundary, so different from the properties either east or west.

The old John Eaton house at Hillaton was built of small soft brick, to which a larger wooden structure on the east end was later added.  This was burned about 1930.  John apparently lived here for several years as his oldest son, Ward, is said to have walked to the farm in Upper Canard, bought from Colonel Jonathan Shearman, to do chores, and then to the Wellington Dkye to work, when this ambitious marsh reclamation was in progress.  The Wellinton Dyke was started in 1817.  The Upper Canard farm, "Part of the share and a half of farm lots the original draught of the heirs of Eliakim Tupper" was bought in 1808, but the deed was not recorded until 1812, where it appears in Book 5, page 272.  It was bounded on the west by "lands lately sold to Edward Manning", by "Jacob Walton land on the east", on the north by the "six rod highway" and on the south by the present Canard street; and contained 50 acres, together with a 38-acre wood lot on the Habitant River and some dike lots.  A house and barn were on the property at this time.  The purchase price was £625.  The Manning farm, a part of the Comte draught, was sold by Colonel Shearman the year before, 1807, and for some reason it too was not recorded until 1812.  The Manning farm was apparently more carefully measured as the area was given as 56 acres 70 rods.  At this price,£170 (see the LeCompte Draughts) no buildings are believed to have been on the Manning place.

The old Eaton house at Upper Cannard, enlarged and altered on several occasions was occupied for many years by Ernest L. Eaton and recently by his son, Roger, direct descendants of John.  Tradition says that this dwelling was built for a young lady Irene Bliss, whose matronial and home making plans changed, and who later became the wife, Mar 32, 1787 of John's older brother, Elisha.  A daughter of Elisha and Irene, Eunice Deborah, came here as the bride of her cousin Ward.

The Eaton farm was added to with the purchase of another piece of Shearman property, the north half of the Captain Stephen West draught, Lot Number Five.  This 33-acre block was acquire by Colonel Shearman in 1793.  John Eaton bought it in 1817 from John Belcher, residuary legatee of the Shearman estate.

The Tupper land was acquired by Shearman, from John Anderson to cover an unpaid mortgage, in 1788, Book 2, page 359.  John Anderson had received the land by will from his father Peres Anderson, who bought it from Charles, son of Eliakim Tupper in 1772, Book 1, page 153.

Among the numerous properties purchased by Jonathan Shearman and acquired by John Eaton, there was, as we have seen, the north half of the Captain Stephen West draught, Lot Number Five, just east of the Tupper Farm.  This was acquired from John Anderson in 1788.  A small apple orchard, set by the French, was on this property, also a house and barn.  The purchase price of £60 suggests that the building could not have been very valuable and, like the orchard, may have remained from the French occupation.  The house is said to have been occuped for a time by Dorcas Hall, spinster, one of the eight persons who followed Reverend Edward Manning when his new beliefs caused the break with the Congregational Church.

During the course of the business transaction in which Colonel Shearman had a part, the fields south of Canard Street which had belonged to the Tupper and LeComte draughts were separated trom the land on the north.  Shortly before his death in 1810, this front field along with the inshore dyke butting on the Tupper farm was bought by John Beckwith Jr., Book 7, page 86, for £160.  For some reason apparently connected with acquisition by Jonathan and Margaret Morse of the property between the Shearman and Manning dwellings, now owned by Clifford Beeler north of the road, this deed was not recorded until 1823.   Sometime before this Ward Eaton, son of John, had secured the east part of the Tupper lot south of the road and in 1823 he bought from the widow, Margaret Morse, the remainder of the Tupper Lot and part of the LeComte lot.
(Nov. 8, 1962. This is an error. Deed Margaret Morse to Ward Eaton, Book 7, p. 68, 1823 conveys the east part of the field south of road, eight acres, bounded on east by Walton (now Lockhart) south by dyke, west by land retained by M. Morse, north by Hicking 16 chains 80 links to place of beginning. I can find no record of  the  purchase of the western portion of the front field. E.L. Eaton)
In 1856 the remainder of the LeComte lot and the Parrish lot south of the road, next one west, became attached to that part of the LeComte land north of Canard street, owned in recent memory by Arthur Dickie and Perley Daniels.

In 1951, Ernest L. Eaton bought the part of the LeComte land north of the road, except for the house and one acre. 

The large "new" dwelling house on the Eaton farm was built in 1860  by J. Stanley Eaton, youngest son of Ward, the year he was married.  This house was built for the contract price of $1000 by Thomas Harris, grandfather of John McK. Harris and Joseph E. Kinsman.  The Chaise house was built in 1861.

The Eaton farm was one of those to be sold by the sheriff as a result of the unexpectedly heavy cost of constructing the Wellington dyke.  Begun in 1817, finished in 1825, the cost of over £20,000 was approximately £40 per acre for this reclaimed land.  Ward, the oldest son of John, bought the farm at the sheriff' sale.