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were Daniel C. Eaton and Sereno Watson. With them we may 
say, perhaps, that the direct line of succession ends. Others 
there are, no less illustrious, but they have departed more widely 
than these two from the direct line of work, and the mantle, while 
it has fallen upon most worthy shoulders, yet lacks the accumu- 
lated traditions which were a precious heritage in themselves. 
Daniel C. Eaton, as he was called to distinguish him from his 
cousin, D. Cady Eaton, was the son of Amos B. Eaton and Eliza- 
beth Selden, and was born at Fort Gratiot, Mich.,on February 
12, 1834. His father was an officer in the Regular Army of the 
United States, had served with distinction in the Seminole and 
Mexican Wars, had risen to the office of Brigadier General, and 
was entrusted with the very important work of supervising the 
Commissary Department as Quartermaster General during the 
Civil War. Although he never had any special scientific educa- 
tion, as had a sister and a brother who became teachers in these 
lines, yet he possessed a keen interest in natural history and 
helped to direct his son’s education whenever the roving life of an 
army officer allowed him to do so. Mrs. General Eaton was a 
sister of Samuel K. and Henry R. Sheldon, two distinguished 
jurists of Rochester, N. Y. 
Daniel C. Eaton’s early training was obtained in different places. 
For a time the family resided in New York City, and during the 
Mexican War the mother and children remained at Rochester. 
Later he attended the Rennselaer Institute for a short time and 
General Russell’s Military School in New Haven, while prepat- 
ing for college. His final preparation was made with a private 
tutor, and he entered Yale in the autumn of 1853. 
During his college course he distinguished himself particularly 
in Latin, and he retained during the rest of his life an especial 
fondness for this language and its literature. But his chief inter- 
est lay in botanical pursuits, and this distinguishing trait is 4 
prominent feature in the recollections of his classmates with 
whom he was a great favorite. He never had a doubt as to his 
future vocation, and his ambition was to become the professor of 
his favorite subject in his alma mater, the institution where his 
grandfather had received a part of his own botanical and chemi- 
cal education under Professors Silliman and Ives. 
