Benjamin Harrison Eaton (December 15, 1833 – October 29, 1904) was an American politician, entrepreneur and agriculturalist in the late 19th and early 20th century. Eaton was a founding officer of the Greeley Colony and was instrumental in the establishment of modern irrigation farming to Northern Colorado. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the fourth Governor of Colorado, from January 1885 to January 1887, with the nickname of the "farmer governor". He was one of the largest land owners Weld and Larmimer counties, at one time owning over ninety 160 acre (0.6 km²) parcels, all watered from canals and reservoirs of his own construction. His projects were influential in helping turn the South Platte River valley into an important agricultural region in the state's economy. The town of Eaton, Colorado in western Weld County is named for him.
Benjamin Harrison Eaton's sister, Mary Jane Eaton, married William S. Dickerson, also from Coshocton County, Ohio. They settled in Weld County, Colorado. Their daughter Adda Dickerson married Thomas Grant Cullison in Windsor Colorado on September 20, 1900. Thomas & Adda's grandson Tom Cullison still lives in the Greeley/Eaton Colorado area.
Eaton is among those who are depicted in stained glass on the rotunda of the Colorado State Capitol Building.
Read more about Benjamin Harrison Eaton: Early Life, Later Career
Famous quotes containing the words benjamin and/or harrison:
“The Great Spirit, who made all things, made every thing for some use, and whatever use he designed anything for, that use it should always be put to. Now, when he made rum, he said “Let this be for the Indians to get drunk with,” and it must be so.”
—Native American elder. Quoted in Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, ch. 8 (written 1771-1790, published 1868)
“I cannot trust myself to put in words what I feel at this time. Every kind thought that is in your minds and every good wish that is in your hearts for me finds its responsive wish and thought in my mind and heart for each of you. I love this city. It has been my own cherished home. Twice before I have left it to discharge public duties and returned to it with gladness, as I hope to do again.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)