Jacob Eaton was a Congregational minister. He preached at Cornwall a few times during the 1850s, meeting Alura (Miner) Harrison, widow of attorney Julius Harrison and twelve years his senior. Jacob and Alura married and were living in Meriden, where Eaton was minister of the Third Congregational Church, with Alura’s daughter from her first marriage when the war began.

After being wounded at Antietam, Eaton resigned and returned home to recover. He re-enlisted in 1864. Despite struggling with failing health, Eaton continued to minister to dying prisoners until he himself passed away at Wilmington, North Carolina on March 20, 1865. Eaton was buried in the Harrison family plot at Cornwall Cemetery.