Joseph Oriel Eaton II (July 28, 1873 – 1949) was born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

. At birth, he was named Harrison Eaton but his mother changed his name as a tribute, after Harrison's father, the painter

Joseph Oriel Eaton Joseph Oriel Eaton (1829-1875) was an American portrait painting, painter of portraits and figure subjects, both in oil and in water-colours. His most famous work is his portrait of Herman Melville, author of the 1851 novel '' Moby-Dick''. Pe ...

I, died. Joseph was raised in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

and attended

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. He was one of the founders of Torbensen Gear and Axle Company which is known today as

Eaton Corporation Eaton Corporation plc is an American-Irish-domiciled multinational power management company, with a primary administrative center in Beachwood, Ohio. Eaton has more than 85,000 employees and sells products to customers in more than 175 countr ...

. He was inducted into the

Automotive Hall of Fame The Automotive Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum honoring influential figures in the history of the automotive industry. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, US. The Hall of Fame is part of the MotorCities National Herita ...

in 1983.

References

* ''The History of Eaton Corporation 1911-1985'' 1873 births 1949 deaths Williams College alumni {{Automobile-bio-stub