Star marker "Veteran 61-65"

Charles Augustus Eames

C. A. Eames, a notice of whose rather sudden and unexpected death was in last week's Recorder, was born in Upton, Massachusetts, August 14, 1827, and was at his death seventy years, one month and twenty days old.

Colonel grew to manhood amid the rugged hills of his New England home, and there he was married December 1, 1847, to Maltina Bathrick, of Westboro, Massachusetts. At Upton he established a boot and shoe manufactory which he conducted until 1851, when he removed to Broylesville, East Tenn. There, in connection with his shoe factory, he established a large tannery and was so successful in business that when the war broke out in 1861, he was not only doing a large business, but had accumulated considerable property and was regarded as one of the leading business men of East Tennessee. The war, of course, soon ruined his business. He took south with him his New England imbued patriotism and antipathy to slavery, and was not slow in taking his place among the staunch and unconquerable Union men of that section. Among his compatriots were Parson Brownlee, Andrew Johnson, Horace Maynard and others that afterwards became distinguished as Union leaders. Col. Eames did not enlist in the army for the reason that his associates argued that he could accomplish more for the cause by remaining a loyal citizen. The events which followed proved the correctness of his friends' judgment.

Col. Eames was the counselor, adviser and friend of most of the Union generals that commanded in that section, and by reason of his knowledge of the country and people, rendered them invaluable aid in the various campaigns conducted during the four years of strife. On one occasion, by his energy and wisdom, he saved the 103d Ohio from capture, and would have saved the 100th if the commander had taken his advice. It was for this service that the army officers gave him the complimentary title of colonel.

After the war Colonel Eames was a delegate to the constitutional convention, called by Andrew Johnson, and assisted in making the new constitution of Tennessee which excluded human slavery and gave the state a good system of free schools. In 1866 he was sent as a delegate to a loyal convention held at Philadelphia, called for the purpose of sustaining congress in its contest with the Johnson administration.

July 22, 1868, Colonel Eames suffered a domestic bereavement in the death of his wife, with whom he had lived nearly twenty-one years, and who had borne him eight children, five of whom survive both father and mother, as follows: Miss Alice L. Eames, Frank C. Eames, Mrs. Georgia Godard, and Mrs. J. C. Witt, all of Whiting, and Henry A. Eames, of Persimmon, Okla.

Colonel Eames, with his family, came to Kansas in 1868, and settled in Whiting township on land purchased of the Central Branch Railroad Company. The effects of the war left him, financially almost ruined, and his removal to this state was an effort to retrieve his fortune. Like hundreds of others, he bought land on time, and for years he, like others, was compelled to struggle with debt, drought, grasshoppers, and other drawbacks to prosperity in this beautiful state, but in this struggle he finally conquered, and for the past few years has been the prosperous owner of one of the finest and most productive farms in Whiting township. With his oldest daughter, Alice, as his housekeeper, he made a home such as can be found nowhere outside of Kansas.

Everyone who knew Col. Eames, and his acquaintance was widespread, loved him as a broad-minded, high-toned, congenial gentleman, ready at all times to assist his neighbors and friends, or lend his services to his party when he could in any way advance those principles of patriotism which had cost him so much, and which he held so dear. His death caused widespread sorrow and his bereaved family have the sympathy of the many friends of the family.

THE HOLTON RECORDER

Holton, Kansas

Thursday, October 14, 1897

The Holton Recorder, Holton KS, 14 March 1935: South Whiting in the Pioneer Days, written by Mrs. Frank C. Eames - ... My husband, the late Frank C. Eames, came to Kansas after the close of the Civil War in 1866, locating 1 1/2 miles south of Whiting on the farm always known as the Col. C.A. Eames farm ...