Robert Eames (also spelled Robert Emes) was an American miller and politician who served as Saugus's first representative to the

Massachusetts House of Representatives The Massachusetts House of Representatives is the lower house of the Massachusetts General Court, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of Massachusetts. It is composed of 160 members elected from 14 counties each divided into ...

Early life

Eames was born to Robert and Sally Eames in about 1790 in present-day

Roxbury, New Hampshire Roxbury is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 220 at the 2020 census. History The smallest town in Cheshire County, Roxbury was incorporated in 1812 from portions of Nelson, Marlborough, and Keene. ...

. His family was involved in politics, with his father serving as Roxbury's first town moderator and brother Daniel Adams Eames also holding political office in Roxbury before moving to Saugus. Through Daniel Adams Eames, Eames was the uncle of

Joseph Alexander Ames Joseph Alexander Ames (1816–1872) was an American artist, primarily known for portrait and genre painting. Biography Originally named Joseph Emes, he was born in Roxbury, New Hampshire. Ames began painting at a young age. At the age of twelve ...

and

Nathan Ames Nathan Ames (November17, 1826August17, 1865) was a patent solicitor who held the first patent in the United States for an escalator-like machine. The patent (#25,076) was granted on August 9, 1859, for an invention he called "Revolving Stairs". ...

. Eames had one son, Lucius (born 1815) and one daughter, Elizabeth Willis (born 1817).

Business career

In 1809, Eames constructed a

fulling Fulling, also known as tucking or walking ( Scots: ''waukin'', hence often spelt waulking in Scottish English), is a step in woollen clothmaking which involves the cleansing of woven cloth (particularly wool) to eliminate ( lanolin) oils, ...

mill below the Sluice Pond Dam in

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest List of municipalities in Massachusetts, municipality in Massachusetts, United States, and the largest city in Essex County, Massachusetts, Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line ...

. He sold the mill in 1815 to silk dyers Andrew and John Hall of

Malden, Massachusetts Malden is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. At the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 66,263 people. History Malden is a hilly woodland area no ...

. In 1811, Eames' brother Joseph started a

Morocco leather Morocco leather (also known as Levant, the French Maroquin, Turkey, or German Saffian from Safi, a Moroccan town famous for leather) is a vegetable-tanned leather known for its softness, pliability, and ability to take color. It has been widely ...

manufacturing business on the

Saugus River The Saugus River is a river in Massachusetts. The river is long, drains a watershed of approximately , and passes through Wakefield, Lynnfield, Saugus, and Lynn as it meanders east and south from its source in Lake Quannapowitt in Wakefiel ...

. He later added a

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

and fulling mill to the property. Robert Eames joined his brother in this business in 1813. In 1817 the gristmill was converted into a facility to grind dyes, particularly

camwood ''Baphia nitida'', also known as camwood, barwood, and African sandalwood (although not a true sandalwood), is a shrubby, leguminous, hard-wooded tree from central west Africa. It is a small understorey, evergreen tree, often planted in villag ...

. In 1821, the Eames brothers ended their partnership and Joseph Eames ran the business solo until it burned down in 1847. He sold the property to Francis Scott of

Salem, Massachusetts Salem ( ) is a historic coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the North Shore (Massachusetts), North Shore of Greater Boston. Continuous settlement by Europeans began in 1626 with English colonists. Salem was one ...

and it became the site of Scott's Mills. From 1815 to 1822, Eames leased the grist and saw mills previously owned by Benjamin Sweetser to manufacture

dyewoods A dyewood is any of a number of varieties of wood which provide dyes for textiles and other purposes. Among the more important are: * Brazilwood or Brazil from Brazil, producing a red dye. * Catechu or cutch from Acacia wood, producing a dark bro ...

, principally camwood.

Politics

In 1814, Eames was one of the citizens of Lynn's West Parish who petitioned the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. Th ...

to have the area set off from Lynn and established as a separate municipality. On February 17, 1815 the West Parish was incorporated as the town of Saugus, Massachusetts. Eames was chosen to represent Saugus in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eames, Robert 1790s births Members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Millers People from Roxbury, New Hampshire People from Saugus, Massachusetts Year of death missing 19th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court