Henry Hugh Eames

In the 1860 U.S. Census of Gauley Bridge on June 18, 1860, Henry listed his occupation as chemist and the Superintendent of Forest Hill Mining and Manufacturing Co. He was living with his wife, Elizabeth, their three-year-old daughter Elizabeth Ann, and a nine-month-old son named James Henry, who was born in Virginia on September 29, 1859. Next door lived Richard Eames, who claimed the title of civil engineer, his wife Frances, and a two-year-old son named Richard who had been born in New York. Hence the families spent over a year in New York before coming to Virginia. Richard and Frances also supplemented their income by boarding five men who were local laborers.

The two families had only landed in New York three years earlier, yet Henry was already superintendent of a mining concern and successfully posing as a professor of chemistry while Richard was a civil engineer despite his only training being as a gasfitter. With the outbreak of the Civil War, both families fled the pending potential violence and moved to Vincennes, Indiana in 1861. It was a wise decision as Confederate and Union troops quickly moved to gain control of Gauley Bridge to hold the upper Kanawha River valley. From 1861 through 1862, the bridge changed hands three times before Union forces finally gained the upper hand. But as troops battled over possession of the area, the bridge and most of the town was destroyed, rebuilt, and destroyed yet again. 

However, the Eames brothers’ time in Gauley Bridge had a long-term impact. Although they were born and raised in the center of London and most likely had never seen a rock outcrop until landing in America, they had now lived in mountainous terrain and worked with a coal mining company. From this point forward, the brothers were no longer chemists and civil engineers. When they arrived in Vincennes, they once more reinvented themselves as professors of geology and mining engineering who had decades of field experience in the vast coal measures of Great Britain.

This pattern of grandiose claims of success, followed by downplayed regrets, but with a qualifying claim that the promised riches were still there, only a bit deeper or a bit further off, would characterize the Eames brothers’ subsequent careers in Minnesota. Yet, Henry’s initial claims of success in finding coal near Vincennes led to an invitation from the visiting mayor of Saint Paul, John S. Prince, to relocate his efforts to Minnesota where Prince could gather a cabal of wealthy Saint Paul investors to support the Eames brothers’ work. 

Henry may have had another reason to move to Minnesota. His firstborn child, named for her mother and born shortly after he and Elizabeth arrived in New York, died while they were living in Indiana. Without close ties to the city and the death of their child, moving to a new city and starting over may have been an attractive option for Henry and Elizabeth, especially as there was far less geological competition in Minnesota. It would not be the last time Henry moved after the loss of a family member. 

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Henry arrived in Minnesota in May of 1863 and began searching the southern half of the state in hopes of finding Carboniferous coal deposits. At the time, flourishing, but short-lived coal mines extended across southern Iowa that left a score of ghost towns in their wake. Many geologists and business interests thought those Carboniferous deposits might extend into Minnesota as the northern limb of an assumed anticlinal structure. Richard chose to accompany Henry again so both families ended up in Saint Paul. 

By the first day of March in 1864, newspapers in Saint Paul carried stories whose headlines eerily recall those of earlier Vincennes’ articles.

Hence, Eames began his survey in May 1863, announced a coal discovery in March of 1864, and promised the first arrival of coal-laden barges in St. Paul by early July 1864. All of which would have been a truly remarkable success if it had been based on fact. 

Undated new articles in Richard’s scrapbook describe Henry organizing crews and gathering equipment in Saint Paul for coal mines on the Cottonwood River near New Ulm. In May of 1864 two successive articles appeared, one mentioning Henry and Richard traveling to New Ulm to ‘endeavor to have work resumed there,’ a suggestion the coal discovery was already failing to live up to its hype. Coincidentally, another article beneath that one focused on Charles Eames, who was now not only a professor of chemistry, but one poised on the brink of greatness. 

No barges of coal arrived in Saint Paul that year. Sadly, Charles’ apparatus to prevent scale and encrustation in boilers was also unsuccessful. 

However, although the Cottonwood coal ‘discovery’ was already floundering, Henry was onto his next quest. Henry’s attention was caught by Augustus H. Hanchett’s appointment as Minnesota’s first State Geologist in early 1864 and the subsequent Hanchett-Clark survey in October of 1864. Henry may not have been aware that the legislature was creating a geologic survey in time to establish his candidacy for the position, but now, with the backing of influential Saint Paul businessmen, he planned to undercut Hanchett and become the next State Geologist. While Henry stayed to try to revive his struggling Cottonwood coal claims, he sent Richard to shadow the Hanchett survey along Lake Superior’s North Shore and even joined Richard for a short time. 

Note that once again, as in Vincennes, the promised Cottonwood coal was undoubtedly still present, just deeper than expected but would soon prove to be economic. 

The article’s closing lines would prove to be both prophetic and problematic.

We hope Dr. Eames will not remove from the State until he has discovered a few petroleum wells, gold mines, or even silver mines – since, as bountiful as Providence has been to our State, no one feels satisfied yet with its gifts.

 While even the Eames brothers’ fertile imaginations could not produce petroleum wells in Minnesota, later that year the brothers would indeed provide Minnesotans with dreams of gold and silver. 

Although the Lake Vermilion gold rush was doomed to sputter out by late 1866, at the beginning of that year, Henry’s star could not have risen much higher. Backed by wealthy businessmen in Saint Paul, he was reappointed as State Geologist at a salary of two thousand dollars with an additional three thousand dollars for survey expenses – five times the annual appropriation given to Newton Winchell in 1872 when Winchell’s survey began. 

Henry’s backers also made sure the legislation continuing the geological survey specifically named Henry as the individual to be appointed, taking the decision out of the hands of the newly elected governor, William Rainey Marshall. That action was in their own interest as Henry and Richard were already providing them with maps of the gold deposits in return for shares in their gold mining company. That collaboration occurred despite the legislation continuing the survey specifically stating, “The State Geologist shall devote his time, labor and exertions exclusively for the benefit of the State at large, and shall afford no advantage whatever to any private enterprise or speculation.”

In the Saint Paul City Directory for 1866, Henry was listed as: Eames, H. H. State Geologist, Catholic block, home 1st Ward; and Richard as Eames, Richard, geologist, boards 9th, between Pine and Olive

By 1867, the directory further noted that Dr. Henry H. Eames was on the Executive Council of the Minnesota Historical Society, working with ex-Governor Henry Hastings Sibley, ex-senator Henry Mower Rice, and current Governor William Rainey Marshall - as well as the recently appointed pastor at Saint Paul's cathedral, the Reverend John Ireland. Henry had finally made it into the upper levels of society.

But 1867 proved to be a difficult and tragic year for Henry. The Lake Vermilion gold claims turned out to be woefully uneconomic, leading to the near abandonment of that area. And it was painfully obvious no coal would ever come from the Cottonwood River mines. Henry lost his state appointment as in the wake of the political fallout from the failed gold rush, the legislature refused to continue the geological survey. On a more personal front, Henry also lost his wife. Elizabeth Ann Eames died in 1867, leaving Henry with seven-year-old James and a daughter Edith who was just over a year old. The family’s uncertain finances were reflected in the fact that while Henry could arrange for Elizabeth’s burial in Saint Paul’s Oakland Cemetery, he could not afford a permanent memorial stone. Elizabeth now lies in an unmarked grave.

Henry continued in Saint Paul through the early part of 1869 as he filed two patents there for a ‘process for desulphurizing ores to obtain the precious metals’ and for ‘desulphurizing and treating ores for the extraction of precious metals’ on February 2^nd of that year. He and Richard also aggressively sought to purchase land they hoped either contained precious metals or that would prove valuable if the gold and iron ore of the North Shore proved profitable. Even Charles, who still lived in New York, helped in their endeavor, purchasing Delaware Agricultural College scrip on lands along the North Shore. Together, Henry and Richard would purchase thousands of acres of land but would also default on the payments for much of it. Some of that land was acquired through highly dubious and possibly illegal means, yet fortune continued to elude Henry. He saw little financial success from his land dealing or patents and his backers were quickly losing their faith. Hence, Henry realized his time in Minnesota was ending. 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

In the 1870 U.S. Census, taken on the fifth day of July, Henry, James, and Edith were living in the 14^th ward of Philadelphia. Henry listed his occupation as geologist and chemist but reported he owned no real estate and that his personal estate was a meager $150. The family stayed in Philadelphia until 1874, with Henry attempting to ensure their future through a variety of patents, often working with his brother Charles who was still based in New York City. Patent lists for October 15^th, 1872, include two patents filed by Henry and Charles for ‘improvement in the manufacture of illuminating gas from hydrocarbons’ and ‘treating ammonical liquor of gas-works.’ 

However, in early September of 1874, Henry’s name was once again in Minnesota newspapers, not for his patents or discoveries, but because the ex-State Auditor Charles McIlrath was charged with twenty-six indictments of fraud, including a land sale involving Henry and Richard Eames. A witness recalled Richard claiming that he and Henry had arranged to purchase hundreds of acres of potential mineral land on the North Shore for a sharply discounted rate. They supposedly paid McIlrath five hundred dollars to hold the ‘public auction’ for the sale on a chartered boat that only the three of them were allowed onboard. As a further precaution this ‘public auction’ occurred at four in the morning. Although McIlrath was found not guilty on all counts, the story of the land sale further damaged the Eames brothers’ reputation in Minnesota. 

The Grange Advance - Wednesday, Sept. 9, 1874

Another matter to which the attention of your committee has been called is the sale of a certain tract of land upon the north shore of Lake Superior, in the county of Lake, to Henry H. Eames, then State Geologist of this State. We find that in 1868 Mr. McIlrath, as State Land Commissioner, sold to said Eames nine hundred and seventy-four acres of land at five dollars per acre, only one-fourth of the purchase price being paid at the time; and that Eames defaulted upon all except three hundred and thirty-four acres, which he paid for.

The circumstances attending the sale of this land were represented to have been of a questionable character. Mr. Eames being absent from the State, the only evidence that we found that would throw any light upon the case is that of Mr. George P. Harris, which was taken but a short time before closing this report. Mr. Harris details in this testimony a conversation held with Mr. Richard M. Eames, who it appears had a common interest in the purchase of the land with his brother, Henry H. Eames, in which that gentlemen stated to him that for the purpose of making this purchase they chartered a steamer to carry them to the place of sale, and avoided competition by refusing to allow any person to accompany them thereon; and that they paid Mr. McIlrath the sum of $500 for going with them and make the sale in the manner indicated. This land was supposed to be very valuable on account of the mineral deposits it contained. 

In the court transcripts, the witness testified that he did not know where Henry was at the time, the last he had heard was that Henry was in Philadelphia during the winter of 1873 while Richard used Duluth as his headquarters. However, even before the Minnesota trial began, Henry had moved on from Philadelphia, with grand plans afoot and now a new wife. 

That spouse was Caroline Simpson who had been born in Massachusetts to Charlotte Cornell Simpson and John Alexander Magee. Caroline was eighteen years younger than Henry and only eleven years older than Henry’s son, James. By early 1874, the newlyweds were living in San Francisco constructing a new life together and making new connections.

San Francisco, California

On December 30^th, 1874, the San Francisco Examiner noted that Henry H. Eames had attended the regular quarterly meeting of the San Francisco Art Association. As in Minnesota, Henry was moving quickly to place himself in influential social circles. 

In 1875, the Oakland Tribune carried a July 12^th story that Henry and four partners had filed articles of incorporation for a mining company with capital stock of six million dollars on mines they planned to open in the Truckee Mining District of Humboldt County, Nevada. 

Articles of incorporation were filed yesterday in the County Clerk's office, of the Great Eastern Consolidated Gold and Silver Mill and Mining Company, of Oakland. Term of existence, fifty years. Directors, Elijah Case, Henry H. Eames, J. F. Havens, Henry D. Smith, M. McDonnald. Capital stock, $6,000,000 divided into 60,000 shares of $100 each. Also articles of incorporation were filed of the Empire Consolidated Gold and Silver Mining Company, with same Directors as above, and same amount of capital stock and shares. 

This was followed on July 29^th by an announcement from the Empire Consolidated Gold and Silver, Mill and Mining Company of Oakland, California that described the company’s planned mines only six miles from the Central Pacific Railroad at Hot Springs Station, Nevada. Dr. Henry H. Eames’ name heads the list of five trustees. Their company’s proposed mines would be based on two lodes of gold- and silver-bearing quartz, each three and a half feet thick and fifteen hundred feet in length, with several lateral veins or spurs. The advertisement claimed ten tons of the ore had already been milled yielding $60 per ton. The announcement went on to say that at Wadsworth, nineteen miles from Hot Springs, the company owned a splendid mill site and water rights sufficient for 75 or 100 stamps on the Truckee River. It ended with the guarantee that because their mill would be the closest to the mining district, it would ‘insure a dividend every month after the mill was completed, even in case that the Company’s mine should fail, though from all known indications there was nothing to fear in that direction.’ That closing statement might have seemed foreboding to any of Henry’s past Minnesota and Indiana investors. 

However, Henry did not just rely on his own mine claims but hoped to earn a profit from those of others. The December 14, 1875 edition of the Vallejo Evening Chronicle announced Henry was filing a patent for treating ores, while the August 21, 1876 edition of the Santa Barbara Daily Press carried an announcement of a Henry H. Eames patent for roasting ore furnaces. In the November 1876 issue of Scientific American, Henry even authored an article on ‘Ore Furnace Improvement’. He sought to establish himself as an authority on ore processing, even writing The Evening Express of Los Angeles an open letter seeking information on tin mines there that he thought would benefit from his separation process. And Henry did achieve some success in moving his dreams beyond patents and schemes. In 1878, Henry built the Sauselito Melting Works to service manganese mines in the surrounding hills but reduce other ores as well. Those works helped stabilize a newly founded California community that eventually settled on the spelling of Sausalito. 

Henry was finally achieving financial success but still reinvented himself - this time by abandoning his English origins. While Richard and Charles became naturalized citizens, Henry forewent that hurdle by switching his birthplace from London to New York. On July 18, 1879, he swore he was born in New York to join the California Voter Rolls for Marin County. His son’s name is shortly below his in the roll, with his occupation noted as clerk.

In the 1880 U.S. Census, Henry H. Eames and family were listed as living in Salcelito Township. Henry presented himself as a chemist and geologist who was born in New York, but whose parents were English. James is listed as an assayer, following in his father’s trade. Edith was attending school and Alice, Henry and Caroline’s one-year-old daughter, was born in California. The family enjoyed some prosperity as three Chinese servants were living with them. For James and Edith, the census notes that both their parents were born in New York. Hence, Henry had expanded his new-found American origins to make his first wife, Elizabeth, posthumously into an American-born citizen.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

The 1885 Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia lists three mineral donations from Henry in its list of donations to the museum. Henry gave samples of azurite and malachite from the Santa Rita Mountains of Arizona and a sample of silver in chrysocolla from Arizona’s Quijotoa Mountains. The last donation, of muscovite and uranite, came from Ash County, North Carolina and was most likely courtesy of his brother Richard, who had moved to Salisbury, North Carolina eight years earlier to finally work with actual gold mines.

Henry continued to patent inventions, including an apparatus for ‘chloridizing’ gold, silver, and other ores in December of 1885. The 1886 Philadelphia City Directory lists Henry H. Eames, geologist, living at 5046 Green while his son, J. Henry Eames was listed as an architect, living at 1119 Spruce. However, that would soon change. By December of 1890, Henry, Caroline, and Alice were living in Baltimore, while James and Edith were both in England, reconnecting with their families’ English roots. 

Baltimore, Maryland

At the tenth Salon of the Woman’s Literary Club of Baltimore, held in the rooms of Baltimore’s Academy of Sciences, on October 6th, 1891, Mrs. Henry H. Eames presented “Woman’s Work and Progress”. She and Henry were once again working their way into new social circles. 

Although now based in Baltimore, Henry also returned to old haunts, incorporating the Eames Purifying and Separating Company back in West Virginia. Despite its lofty name, the corporation’s beginning capital consisted solely of seven shareholders who made initial investments of one hundred dollars. Among its patents was one filed in April of 1889 for a process of separating iron from ore” by grinding or otherwise dividing the materials and causing the iron particles to adhere to an electric conductor. Other Eames’ patents for a steam condenser and a process for desulphurizing metal ores followed in 1892 and 1893. Beginning in 1894, Henry cast his net further, filing numerous patents in Canada. 

Meanwhile, James and Edith were in England. In England’s 1891 census, James was living in Portsea, Portsmouth, working as an engineering draftsman and assistant director of works while Edith was a night supervisor at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London; she traveled yearly to visit Henry. James reported he was a British subject, born in Virginia. Five years later, both would marry English spouses. James married Eleanor Soper in February of 1896; Edith married Walter Noel Wilson, who was a teacher at Rugby School, one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Wilson was the son of a well-known British engineer, and their marriage was officiated by Thomas Hodge Grose, Fellow and Tutor of Queen’s College, Oxford. Although James returned to the United States, working as an architect in the northeast, Edith would remain in England. 

Meanwhile, their parents were once again on the move. 

Richard Megevan Eames

Charles James Eames

Any concerns or suggestions?

email: Kent Kirkby ([email protected])