Minnesota’s Second Assistant State Geologist
Richard Megevan Eames and his twin brother, Charles, were born on September 15, 1831, in Fulham, a London neighborhood on the banks of the Thames. In their baptism records on December 23, 1831, their father’s occupation was listed as coachmaster and their mother, Sarah Megevan, was a stay-maker. Richard and Charles had two older brothers, James, who would follow his own path in life, and Henry, whose life would be closely intertwined with Richard’s for over four decades.
Sometime before 1851 Richard’s family moved from Fulham to Westminster, London. In the census of that year, the family lived at 26 Villiers Street, their home site is now part of Charing Cross Station. While a teenager, Richard began working as a gas-fitter, a plumber responsible for bringing gas piping for lighting into wealthy residences. He also became an amateur thespian, acting in local theatre companies. Richard saved playbills from his early performances and later preserved them in a scrapbook that is now part of the Minnesota History Society’s collections. One playbill with the penciled notation ‘1849,’ shows that Richard, Henry, and Charles played the role of three soldiers in ‘Why Don’t She Marry’, a musical burletta in two acts by Thomas Haynes Bayly. Richard also kept a playbill for a January 23rd, 1846, production of a satirical play for ‘The Royal Foundling Theatre.’ All the players were listed by fictional names, such as ‘Miss Missing,’ and the tongue-in-cheek playbill advertised a real tiger would be posted at the door. Since the actors were anonymous, Richard’s name does not appear, yet he kept the playbill among the few possessions brought to America. The likely reason being that three of the four male actors, Mr. Herbert, Mr. Rance, and Mr. Ditto were most likely Henry, Richard, and his twin (Charles). Richard was fourteen at the time but would still be involved in amateur theatrical productions until at least July 16, 1872, when he reprised one of his favorite roles, Cox, a Journeyman Hatter, in the production ‘Box and Cox’ for a Duluth audience. For that production, Richard was again listed anonymously as R. M. Rock – a suitable pseudonym for someone who was then Minnesota’s ex-Assistant State Geologist.
Top of 1846 Playbill preserved in Richard Eames scrapbook MHS collections.
Richard had married Frances Sophia Barnes on May 7, 1857, in the parish church of St. George Hanover Square in London. Frances was the orphaned daughter of Henry Baines, a trunk maker, and Mary Biffin Baines of Union Passage, in the city of Bath, where Frances was born. Orphaned after her mother’s death, Frances and her sister, Mary Esther, were sent to London to live with their uncle, William Biffin. Biffin’s tailor shop on Villiers Street was next door to the Eames family, which is undoubtedly how Frances and Richard met. Her sister, Mary Esther, would later marry Richard’s older brother John, after the death of John’s first wife, Salome Biffin, William Biffin’s daughter and Mary Esther’s cousin. Frances’ uncle did not just house and board his niece, but generously arranged for Frances to attend ‘The Lady’s School’ on 50 Hamilton Terrace, Marylebone, Middlesex, London where she was living at the time of the 1851 census.
Gauley Bridge, Virginia
Just after their marriage, Richard and Frances emigrated to the United States with his twin, Charles, and their older brother Henry Eames and his wife, Elizabeth Ann. They arrived in New York City aboard the Arago on June 12, 1857, and stayed in Brooklyn, New York where their first child, Richard Megevan Eames Jr. was born on June 3, 1858. Although Charles would stay and later marry in the New York area, Richard and Henry moved to the Gauley Bridge area of western Virginia where Henry, claiming to be a chemist, was superintendent of the Forest Hill Mining and Manufacturing Company and its cannel coal mine, near Cannelton on the border of Fayette and Kanawaha counties. Both families were living there before the birth of Henry’s son, James on September 29, 1859. In the 1860 census, Richard gave his occupation as civil engineer despite having no formal training in that field. Only three years earlier, he and Henry had been gas-fitters in London. When emigrating, they claimed to be gas engineers, which was a minor elaboration, but now Henry claimed to be a professor of chemistry and Richard was playing the role of a civil engineer. The brothers’ early acting experiences may have helped them carry off their new roles more convincingly.
In April of 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War, Richard’s time in Virginia came to a panicked end. Their area in western Virginia became the locus of multiple early campaigns and the Eames families fled the violence for the relative quiet of Vincennes, Indiana. Once in Vincennes, Richard reinvented himself again. Together with Henry, Richard became a coal geologist, the two of them augmenting their meagre months-long experience with a coal mine by fictitiously claiming years of experience in Great Britain’s coal measures, then the world’s most famous coal-producing area. Besides pretending to be trained geologists, Richard also renewed his love of acting onstage.
Vincennes Nov. 4, 1863 Playbill in Richard Eames scrapbook MHS collection
Vincennes Sept. 6, 1863 Playbill in Richard Eames scrapbook MHS collection
In Vincennes and Saint Paul, Richard and Henry performed in many theater productions of a limited suite of farces, mini-plays, and burlesque operas. Richard played twin roles in a reduced two-act version of Shakespeare’s ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ playing Launcelot Gobbo in the first act and the Duke of Venice in the second act. He played the eponymous lead character in William Barnes Rhodes’ comic operetta ‘Bombastes Furioso,’ and Richard often played Cox in productions of John Maddison Morton’s ‘Box and Cox,’ a farce popular through the second half of the 19th century. Richard even played some women’s roles such as Distifina in one production of ‘Bombastes’ and Antonia in James Sheridan Knowles’ play ‘The Wife: A Tale of Mantua.’
Considering Richard’s subsequent Minnesota activities, the first playbill in Richard’s scrapbook proved ironic. For one of his last performances before leaving Vincennes to join Henry in Minnesota, Richard played the part of Grab, a publisher in Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s comedy ‘Money.’ On the playbill, beneath ‘Money,’ the theater troop added the subtitle: ‘The Power of Gold.’ It would prove prophetic for Richard’s next chapter in Minnesota.
Saint Paul, Minnesota
Henry was the first to move to Minnesota, leaving Richard and possibly his own family for a time in Vincennes. Henry arrived in Minnesota in May of 1863, but Richard’s preserved playbills reveal that Richard remained in Vincennes until at least April 5, 1864, when he appeared in three different productions by the Vincennes Thespian Association. However, by January 20th, 1865, in a similar triple feature performance at the Athenaeum in Saint Paul to raise money for the St. Paul Sanitary Commission, both Richard and Henry performed in the same three plays. A week later, they reprised their roles in an Athenaeum benefit for the Fire Department Association Fund.
Atheneum Playbill for Jan. 20, 1865 performance
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Atheneum Theatre at Exchange and Pine Streets in St. Paul ~1865
Richard and his family arrived in Minnesota during the summer of 1864 and Richard spent that fall shadowing the Hanchett-Clark survey, Minnesota’s first State Geological Survey. He not only worked his way along the North Shore from Duluth to Beaver Bay but journeyed up to fifteen miles inland along many streams. For part of the time, Henry joined Richard, but Henry spent most of his time in a futile effort to prove up his reported discovery of vast coal beds along Minnesota’s Cottonwood River. Meanwhile, both families lived in Saint Paul, as the city was the state’s nexus of financial and political power.
On April 20th of 1865, Henry was appointed Minnesota’s new State Geologist by Governor Stephen Miller, replacing Augustus H. Hanchett who had served the previous year without pay. In contrast, Henry’s pay was substantial for the time. Richard accompanied Henry to Lake Vermilion to report on the region’s iron ore. However, the brother’s discovery of gold there quickly eclipsed their confirmation of rich Vermilion iron ore. After all, it would take decades before the region’s infrastructure could support iron ore exploitation, but gold might be acquired with simple, water-driven stamps to crush ore.
Yet even as the brothers attempted to secure their future, Richard did not place all his hopes on Vermilion gold. In November of 1865, he set off with letters of introduction from Governor Miller to tour the oil regions of Pennsylvania and the East Coast, hoping the experience might aid him in the search for Minnesota oil. Naturally, Richard included a visit to the Philadelphia Mint, where some of their Lake Vermilion gold samples were assayed.
On May 1, 1866, Richard was officially appointed as Minnesota’s Assistant State Geologist by the State Geologist, his brother Henry. For undisclosed reasons, his appointment was not officially witnessed by Secretary of State, Henry C. Rogers, until October 10 of that year.
As the Lake Vermilion gold rush began to falter, the Eames brothers, ever pragmatic, remembered their original mission had been iron ore. On September 13, 1867, articles of agreement were filed between E. W. Anderson of Superior, Wisconsin and H. H. Eames and R. M. Eames of Saint Paul transferring joint stock to the Eames brothers for the purposes of extracting precious metals from sulphureous iron. At the time, they held title to land that supposedly contained a forty-foot-wide vein in Lake County, Minnesota.
Richard Eames appointment as Assistant State Geologist
Although the brothers always presented a united front, Richard may have been the more pragmatic geologist. Henry’s report of 1865 had been a clarion call of the region’s gold potential, describing rich veins of gold-bearing quartz on nearly every exposed point, with individual veins being tracked great distances. In contrast, Richard’s 1866 update only claimed to have seen gold in two veins and his assayed values were far more modest than in Henry’s earlier report. Yet, Richard still ended his report with optimism that the Lake Vermilion gold would still prove their value. In their joint 1866 report, Henry also finally admitted the state’s prospects for economic coal deposits were bleak. Between that admission and the subsequent fallout from the failed Lake Vermilion gold rush, the state legislature refused to continue the second Minnesota Geological Survey and the Eames’ appointments ended in 1867. That year also saw the unexpected death of Henry’s wife, Elizabeth.
Despite those setbacks, it was still two years after Elizabeth’s death before Henry’s and Richard’s paths finally diverged, although they would remain in close contact. Having lost his appointment as State Geologist and grieving the loss of Elizabeth while having to care for two young children, Henry decided Philadelphia might provide an opportunity to begin again. Henry realized fallout over the dual collapse of the Lake Vermilion gold rush and the Cottonwood coal fields had fatally undermined his remaining prospects in Minnesota.
Duluth, Minnesota
In contrast, Richard opted to double down and make Minnesota his family’s home, although the family relocated from Saint Paul to Duluth. That move not only brought Richard closer to North Shore mineral prospects but also shielded his family from lingering resentments in Saint Paul. Richard still believed Lake Vermilion gold might prove profitable. In 1871, he returned to the lake in a futile attempt to resuscitate the area’s gold mining potential. However, Richard was far more successful seeking Dakota coal for the Northern Pacific Railroad and working with mining ventures along Lake Superior on both its American and Canada shores. He would continue those pursuits throughout the mid-1870s.
Before leaving Saint Paul though, Richard had attempted a second venture with Stephen Miller, the ex-governor who appointed Henry as State Geologist and helped launch the gold mining company which provided Richard with shares of its stock in exchange for his maps of the Lake Vermilion gold-bearing veins. Miller was desperate for funds after losing the governorship and his requests for other government appointments were thwarted. In 1866, during the height of the Vermilion gold rush, Richard and Miller worked together to launch the Minnesota Tripoli Company, which sought to develop tripoli deposits from an old glacial lake near Stillwater. Tripoli is a friable mix of chalcedony and microcrystalline quartz derived from the alteration or leaching of highly siliceous limestones. While tripoli particles are hard, they tend to be rounded rather than angular, so tripoli can be used as a mild abrasive to create a smooth polish. At the time, tripoli was a valuable polishing agent in dental practices. Unfortunately for Richard and Miller, Minnesota tripoli did not prove to be any more successful than Vermilion gold or Cottonwood coal.
Richard Eames' Minnesota Tripoli Company Certificate signed by Stephen Miller - Minnesota Historical Collection
Once in Duluth, Richard quickly moved to establish his reputation as a geologist. An April 1st, 1871, announcement by Thomas Dowse, a Duluth real estate seller bragged of his partnership with Richard.
To those especially interested in mineral property, I would say, that Prof. Eames, a graduate of a German scientific University, a thorough geologist and chemist, has his laboratory in connection with my office, (where he can be found or addressed) and he is ready at all times to make assays and analyses of all rocks and minerals, thus showing their true value. Seven years continued experience in this section, and for several years as Assistant State Geologist, give him great practical information of the value and locations of property in his line.
The notice’s April Fool’s date was appropriate considering the article presented Richard as a university-trained professor, a graduate of a German scientific university, a chemist as well as geologist, and then multiplied his solitary year as an Assistant State Geologist into several years’ experience.
During the 1870s, Richard did not confine his activities to the Duluth region but prospected for coal in the Dakota territory in 1873 to 1874 before concentrating on the North Shore of Lake Superior, extending his activities to Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1875. Richard never filed as many patents as either of his brothers did, but on November 2, 1875, he filed one Canadian patent for improvements on apparatus and process for the reduction of ores.
Richard’s geological activities were widely known and reported. In 1874, John Butler, a New York land speculator, advertised land titles along the North Shore. In his ad, he included a transcription of one of Richard’s lectures on the area’s copper, iron, and silver potential. He also added a Duluth newspaper’s description of a visit to Richard’s office that highlighted copper ore samples Richard had assayed at up to 24% copper and silver ores samples Richard assayed at a staggering $1,533 and $3,000 per ton. The advertisement closed with:
I have the control of several valuable plots of land on the North Shore of Lake Superior, near the great development of silver. All these lands carry very rich silver lodes, and were discovered and located by Prof. R. M. Eames, State Geologist of Minnesota, of several years field experience on the north shore, whose official report is generally under and never overrated.
Richard’s scrapbook also contains numerous notices of his scientific lectures on geology during this time. Those included local talks at Duluth’s Baptist Hall, in Oneota, and in Brainard, but also lectures he gave in New York. One fall, Richard exhibited a collection of specimens from the Lake Superior region at the American Institution in New York City. His growing reputation even resulted in Richard being elected as an honorary member of Minneapolis’ Minnesota Academy of Sciences on October 7, 1873, which was one of the most prestigious local measures of scientific recognition.
Richard realized the importance of integrating himself and his family in the local community and building ties to facilitate business connections. And any connection might make a difference, as Richard’s finances were in constant flux and were often unstable.
In the 1870 U. S. Census, Richard and Frances, with their four surviving children, only claimed a personal estate of one hundred dollars, well below most of their neighbors. The census also records the family’s migratory history, with each child having been born in a different state.
Although Richard would claim to have salaries of five thousand dollars for the years 1873 through 1875 from different mining ventures, his accounts also carried large debits still owed to him. Nevertheless, by 1875, Richard’s account listed $3,733 cash in hand, a considerable increase from his self-reported hundred-dollar estate in the 1870 census.
Richard Eames Lecture Announcement for Feb. 7, 1872
Richard Eames scrapbook - Minnesota Historical Society collections
The most recent playbill saved in Richard’s scrapbook was for a July 16th, 1872, production at Ray’s Hall on Superior Street for the benefit of the Duluth Ladies Aid Society. Although the actors used pseudonyms, as with Richard’s first performance back in London in 1846, one of the plays presented was ‘Box & Cox’. In that performance, the part of Cox was played by R. M. Rock, undoubtedly Richard Megevan Eames.
A year earlier though, Richard saved playbills and articles from a July 3, 1871, Duluth performance by Madame Vito Viti’s Italian troupe. It was not the madame’s performance that intrigued him, but that of the exceptionally young actress who played the role of Little Tot Amerino and recited the address of welcome. She was Richard’s four-year-old daughter, Minnie (Minnesota) Ruth Eames, who would follow her father’s path, performing in amateur theater groups through her teens and up to the age of thirty-four. However, Minnie’s latter performances would not take place along the North Shore. Within five years of her stage debut, Minnie and her family had left their adopted state to move to North Carolina.
Madame Vito Viti's L'Etoil du Nord Playbill 1871
Minnie Eames (age 4) gave welcoming speech
The Aurora Nov. 1874 publication by Richard M. Eames Jr. (age 14)
Minnie though, was not Richard’s only talented offspring. In 1874, at the age of fifteen, his son, Richard Megevan Eames Jr. was printing and publishing a four-page literary paper, the Aurora, which included a full page of paid advertising. However, during 1875 and 1876, Richard Jr. hedged his literary bets by accompanying his father as a geological assistant along the North Shore. That geological training began his subsequent career as a mining engineer and geologist.
In January of 1877, Richard’s mother, Sarah Megevan Eames, died in Greenwich, England. She had been living with Richard’s oldest brother John. Her death roughly coincided with Richard departure from Minnesota, either to pursue promising new opportunities in North Carolina or to escape legal entanglements in Minnesota.
Through much of their time in Minnesota, Henry and Richard had attempted to build their fortune as much through land speculation as by mineral claims. From 1867 to 1873 the brothers purchased at least 5,200 acres of land, although they also forfeited much of that land as their fortunes waxed and waned. While most of their land lay in northeastern Minnesota, it also included eighty acres in Ramsey County west of White Bear Lake.
However, some of their real estate ventures were obtained on shaky legal grounds that came back to haunt them. In the most famous case, the brothers’ land dealings were highlighted by testimony in the 1874 trial of Charles McIlrath, the ex-State Auditor. The September 3, 1874, edition of Saint Paul’s The Anti Monopolist reported the testimony of George P. Harris, an earlier business partner of the Eames brothers.
GEORGE. P. HARRIS
How a Certain Land Sale was Conducted – Special Boat Chartered – Sale at Four O’Clock in the Morning - $500 Paid to McIlrath.
A resident of St. Paul, and has lived in the State twelve years. Is personally acquainted with Richard M. and H. H. Eames, and has been since 1866.
Q. Have you even been connected with either, in business or any other enterprises? A. Henry and I were members of the Pioneer and Union Gold and Silver Mining Companies of Lake Vermilion. Richard was not known as a stockholder, but I understood him to have a common interest with Henry.
Q. Was this Henry Eames the State Geologist? A. He was in 1865-6, and his brother Richard was assistant.
Q. State whether you have ever had any conversation with either Henry H. or Richad M. Eames in relation to their, or either of them, purchasing a quantity of State school lands in Lake County, on the shore of Lake Superior. A. In the fall of 1870, Richard and I, and others, were on our way to Vermilion Lake on business connected with the development of the mineral interest of the mining companies, to ascertain if the mines contained commercial value or not; and sitting at the camp fire one evening, the question came up, and we were discussing how certain men had made money and accumulated wealth in this State. Richard then stated that he and his brother had made a purchase of a large tract of land in Lake county, at or near Caraboo Point, of Charles McIlrath, then State Auditor, and that in order to prevent competition they chartered a boat in which to convey themselves and McIlrath to Lake county, where the land was to be sold, and that they refused to allow other parties to go on their boat, so they might compete with them.
Q. Did he say whether they had paid McIlrath anything for going with them in their boat? A. He did. He said they paid him $500 for managing the affair in their interest, and make the sale as they desired.
Q. Did he tell you at what time of the day this sale took place? A. My impression is that he said the sale was made at 4 o’clock in the morning. But of the hour named I won’t be positive. I am certain he said the sale was made at an unseasonable hour.
Q. Did he state why and for what purpose they purchased this land? A. He said they bought it because they believed it contained minerals. He said there was a vein of grey copper in part of it.
Q. Did he state in what year and month they made this purchase? A. I do not recollect whether he did or not. All I know is that it was previous to that conversation.
Q. Where is this Henry H. Eames now? A. I do not know; the last I heard of him was that he was in Philadelphia last winter.
Q. Where is Richard Eames now? A. I understand that he makes his headquarters at Duluth, but I have not heard from him recently.
Q. Sate whether this is all you know, or have learned in relation to this transaction. A. It is as far as I recollect; I have heard considerable about it, and read of it in the papers soon after it took place, but what I have stated covers the whole ground.
Richard and Henry did not respond to the published summons for the trial, although neither was still living in Saint Paul at the time. It would not be the last time a summons was issued for Richard concerning his land acquisitions. In February and March of 1881, four years after he left Minnesota, three notices were published in Ramsey County, summoning Richard as a defendant in a case filed by A. K. Barnum. While in 1919, two years before his death, Richard was the subject of a court summons in Crow Wing County, in a case involving land filed by Barome Doucett. Ironically, Richard’s co-defendants in that legal case included several Ojibwe people, relatives of those who had been displaced from Lake Vermilion because of Richard and Henry’s ill-founded gold rush.
Sept. 5, 1874 Star Tribune headline of article on McIlrath Scandal
Salisbury, North Carolina
Whatever their reason, Richard and his family left Minnesota in 1877 to try their luck in North Carolina, luck that would once again involve gold. On March 31, 1877, a letter of understanding was signed between Eli Russel of Montgomery County, North Carolina and Richard Eames of New York City granting Richard 30 days to purchase the Russell Mine. By October of 1877, Richard was negotiating to have a boiler delivered to him in Salisbury, North Carolina, the city where he would spend the remainder of his life.
By the 1880 U. S. Census, the Eames family was living in Salisbury. Richard was listed as a geologist while Richard Jr. was a miner. Their household also included a thirteen-year-old Black servant. Richard and two of his daughters survived one near disaster in May of 1887 when their horse bolted and Richard, Mary, and Minnie were all thrown from the carriage. Richard was run over by the carriage wheels, but all survived with only bruises to show for their experience. However, a later accident would have far more tragic consequences.
Salisbury proved an excellent choice for Richard’s family as they achieved considerable success there. By the time of the 1900 U. S. Census, Richard’s clan was prospering and owned their own home. Minnie and Mary were living with Richard and Frances, but Richard Jr. was a successful mining engineer in his own right. Jenny was married to Theodore Buerbaum, who owned a bookstore and with Richard Jr. also ran the local newspaper. The only differences in the 1910 census for Richard’s immediate household were the family’s ages and the information that Richard and Frances were naturalized citizens of the United States. Missing though, was the recognition that the family had suffered a terrible loss with the death of Richard Eames Jr.
Richard Eames Jr. had become a well-known and well-traveled mining engineer, managing mines in North Caroline from 1877 to 1882, and exploring mines in Nevada and California. From 1883 to 1885, he worked gold mines in Honduras and New Hampshire, along with a corundum mine in North Carolina. Over the next few years, he examined tin deposits at Kings Mountain, managed a graphite mine in Rhode Island, and explored Colorado mines.
On June 29th, 1887, Richard Jr. took time from his travels to marry Mary Elizabeth ‘Lizzie” McCorkle. The couple would raise two sons and one daughter. Although his mining ventures were a full-time concern, Richard Jr. must have fondly remembered his teenage experience publishing the Aurora. A year before his marriage, he partnered with his brother-in-law Theodore Buerbaum to start the North Carolina Herald, which they ran successfully for several years before selling the newspaper. Richard Jr. and Buerbaum were also proficient photographers who respectively documented the region’s gold mining activities and the city of Salisbury.
For a brief time after his marriage, Richard Jr. focused on North Carolina, managing gold mines there, although also remaining a metallurgist for India’s Indian Gold Mine and working with some Arizona mines from 1896 to 1902. In 1895, Richard Jr. formed a partnership with Henry A. Judd, an Englishman, as consulting engineers in Salisbury. Eventually, their partnership expanded into the Salisbury Supply and Commission Company, which focused on mining and other machinery. Their building later housed the first bus service in North Carolina. Its historical importance to the Salisbury economy was such that when the Richard Eames Building was finally demolished in 1979, the city erected a memorial tablet to mark its location.
As a mining engineer, Richard Jr. traveled extensively by rail and early in the morning of December 15, 1909, he died in a train wreck at Reedy Fork Creek, eleven miles north of Greensboro. Richard Jr. was one of twelve who perished when a broken rail caused their train to derail and plunge twenty-five feet into the creek. His death not only devastated the Eames family but severely undercut their financial security.
The Charlotte Observer Dec. 16, 1909 article on train crash that killed Richard Megevan Eames Jr.
Four years later, the family was hit again by Frances’ unexpected death at the age of seventy-eight.
Salisbury Evening Post, Friday, March 21, 1913
SUDDEN DEATH OF MRS. RICHARD M. EAMES
Aged Salisbury Woman Expires Rather Suddenly – Was a Native of England and had Lived in This Country Since 1858 – Had Reared Honored Family of Children – Survived Also By Aged Husband.
The community was shocked this morning shortly after 10 o’clock by the announcement that. Mrs. Eames, the aged wife of Dr. R. M. Eames, was dead, death having been rather sudden and is attributed to heart failure. Mrs. Eames, on account of infirmity, often rose later than other members of the family and when she did not appear at the breakfast table this morning when the family ate nothing was thought of it. Later, when her room was visited it was discovered that she was dead, death having to all indications resulted only a short while previous.
Mrs. Eames’ maiden name was Francis Sophia Baines, and she was born in Bath, England, June 17th, 1835, and was therefore in her 78th year. She was educated at Cambridge, London, and Hamburg, and in 1858 was married at St. George’s church, Hanover Square, London, to Dr. Richard M. Eames. Immediately after the ceremony they sailed for New York and have lived in this country ever since. They resided in Virginia, Indiana, and Minnesota and came to North Carolina in 1877 and have lived in Salisbury ever since.
Surviving are the aged and honored husband, three daughters, Mrs. Theo. Buerbaum, Misses Mary E., and Minnie R. Eames, and a number of grandchildren. Her eldest child, the late Richard M. Eames, Jr., was born in New York in 1860, and met an untimely death several years ago in a railroad accident.
An invalid for ten years, her demise was quiet, painless, she just went to sleep to wake up in Heaven. Mrs. Eames was a quiet, unassuming woman. She was to her family a kind wife and mother, a Saint upon earth, and the world has been the gainer by her having lived in it. She was a faithful member of the Episcopal church.
The funeral will take place from the residence 212 West Bank street tomorrow at 3 o’clock conducted by Rev. Dr. F. J. Mallet of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and the interment will be in Chestnut Hill cemetery.
Frances Eames obituary in Salisbury Evening Post, March 21, 1913
Frances had been the orphaned daughter of a trunk maker who was sent to live with her tailor uncle’s family, and whose highest education was the Hamilton Terrace Lady’s School. Yet, thanks to the Eames brothers’ long-standing propensity to imaginative self-promotion, Frances was now a graduate of Cambridge, London, and Hamburg, dying with an educational pedigree that would have been the envy of any woman of her time – if only it had not been imaginary.
In Salisbury’s 1913-14 city directory, Richard was listed as president of the Salisbury Supply and Commission Company, with Richard Jr’s two sons, Philip McCorkle and Richard Davis serving respectively as the company’s electrician and secretary-treasurer.
In Salisbury’s 1913-14 city directory, Richard was listed as president of the Salisbury Supply and Commission Company, with Richard Jr’s two sons, Philip McCorkle and Richard Davis serving respectively as the company’s electrician and secretary-treasurer.
By the time he approached his 86th birthday, Richard was a well-known and well-respected member of the Salisbury community.
Salisbury Evening Post – Wednesday, September 13, 1916
To Celebrate 86th Birthday.
Should he live till Friday, and there is every prospect that he will, Dr. Richard M. Eames will celebrate his 86th birthday at his home on West Bank street, Dr. Eames never fails to take special cognizance of these annual events and he enjoys having his relatives and special friends with him on these days.
Dr. Eames is a native of England, has been in this country many years, living in Salisbury 35 of these and he is among the best loved and most honored citizens of the community. While aged in years he is still somewhat of a young man and his friends hope he may celebrate many more anniversaries.
Three years later, the Greensboro Daily News confirmed that Richard had not only survived to see his 86th birthday but his 89th as well (1920 U.S. Census).
Greensboro Daily News – Saturday September 18, 1920
Salisbury, Sept. 17. – Dr. Richard M. Eames, one of Salisbury’s oldest and best known citizens this week celebrated his 89th birthday.
Ten months later though, Richard died of a cerebral hemorrhage in the early hours of July 12, 1921. His obituary would not only highlight his non-existent Berlin education, but it also falsely claimed he was the first person to discover iron ore in the Lake Superior region. There was understandably no mention made of his failed Lake Vermilion gold strike.
Richard Megevan Eames obituary in The Salisbury Post July 12, 1921
Richard began his professional life as a gas-fitter and amateur thespian. Despite having no training or background as either, upon emigrating to the United States, he claimed to be a mining engineer and geologist. Yet over the decades, Richard became what he had once fraudulently claimed to be - and he taught his son to become a successful mining engineer. In many ways, Richard lived a classic American success story. Although others, especially the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa, had paid the price for his pretentions and previous lack of experience.