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[Upstate, New York, ca. 1888]. Broadside, 11.5” x 6.5”, with printed text in 8 paragraphs (No. 1 to No. 8), joined with a cabinet card photograph (4.25” x 6.5”). CONDITION: Good, some dampstains, edgewear, and a few minor tears along margins; photo very good, strong tonality, light wear.

A curious broadside genealogy of the Eames family covering both the survivors of the 1676 Eames Massacre and another sort of survivor, accident prone descendant Daniel W. Eames, who is pictured in an integral photograph.

This broadside tells the story of eight members of the Eames family, beginning with Thomas Eames (1613–1680), who was born in England and immigrated to America in 1638. As explained here, “his wife and five children were killed by Indians in 1676, and two boys taken captives but soon recaptured.” The incident, known as “The Eames Massacre,” occurred at the height of King Philip’s War (1675–78), and took place on Mount Wayte in Framingham, Mass., involving the Eames family, without Thomas, and eleven Nipmuc men, who burned the family’s dwelling to the ground. Thomas was absent as he had traveled to Boston to seek military protection for his from the Native Americans. Some accounts of the massacre identify four children taken captive by the Nipmuc men. Thomas had served as a soldier in the Pequot War (1636–38) and was working as a farmer in Framingham when the massacre occurred. In October 1676, Thomas petitioned the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony for a grant of land in compensation for his losses from the Indian attack. In May 1677, the General Court approved the grant to Thomas of 200 acres located in the northwest corner of the Indian plantation of Natick.

Brief biographical sketches are given for seven of Thomas Eames’s progeny, six of whom are named Daniel(!): 

1. Thomas Eames’s seventh child, Nathaniel Eames (1663–1746), was, when a boy, “taken prisoner by the Indians in King Phillips war, in February 1676.” Nathaniel was returned by the Indians along with Samuel and Margaret Eames.

2.Daniel Eames (1712–?) was the seventh child of Nathaniel Eames. 

3.Daniel Eames (1720–1812), the first child of Daniel, “was a soldier in the Revolutionary War.” 

4.Daniel Eames (1767–1855) was the third child of Daniel. 

5.Daniel Wight Eames (1797–1888) was the sixth child of Daniel V. 

6.Daniel Duane (1824–?) was the first child of Daniel Wight. 

7.Daniel Winfield (1852–?) was the first child of Daniel Duane. 

The longest and most interesting note touches on incidents in the life of Daniel Wight Eames (1797–1888), who had many brushes with serious injury or death from his youth to old age:

The sixth child of Daniel fifth. Born Feb. 16th, 1797. At seven years of age, he fell from a tree and was hurt so severely that he lay senseless over two hours. At 16 while at the raising of a barn frame he was knocked from the top of one of the posts to the ground head first, about fifteen feet, but with so little injury that he assisted to finish the raising. In 1814, at the age of seventeen, he went to Sacketts Harbor [New York] as a substitute for a soldier [for] twenty five days. At twenty one, at the raising of his father’s house in Rutland, N.Y. he fell from garret beams to the cellar 28 feet, without breaking any bones, but injuring him so much as to make him an invalid for over a year. In his 90th year he fell from the third step of his chamber stair to the floor so injuring his hip that severe inflammation set in, which was however overcome by the application of prepared Horse Radish Leaves, and he was restored to comparative health. This he considered the closest corner he ever passed through.

The accompanying photo of Eames, which shows him with a model of a railroad car which he presumably made, bears the following caption: “Daniel Wight Eames, 85 Years, 1882. A model of [a] railroad truck and a section of rail.” Born in Western, Herkimer County, New York, Daniel Wight Eames married Laura P. Cone in 1822, the couple having one son, Augustus Almanson Eames. Daniel Eames died on January 24th 1888 in Constableville, Lewis County, New York—evidently within about a year of the creation of this broadside.

Daniel Eames (1720–1812) was an officer in the Revolutionary War. In 1775, he served as 1st Lieutenant in Capt. Gilbert Dench’s 7th (Hopkinton) company, in 5th Middlesex County regiment of Massachusetts militia, and in Capt. Henry Lealand’s company. In 1776, he fought with Col. Wyllys’s regiment. In 1777, he served as a Captain in Col. Benjamin Hawes’s regiment which marched on a secret expedition to Rhode Island, and then with the 7th (Hopkinton) company, and Col. Samuel Bullard’s 5th Middlesex County regiment of Massachusetts militia.

An unusual genealogical document featuring a genuine survivor of a mishap-filled life.

REFERENCES: Contreras, Cesareo. “Framingham History Center exhibit aims to re-contextualize ‘Eames Massacre’” (2022) at Metro West Daily News online; “Daniel Wight Eames” at Find A Grave online; “Daniel Eames II (abt. 1740 - 1812)” and “Thomas Eames (abt. 1618 - 1681)” at Wiki Tree online.

Item #8729

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