Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 01.djvu/102

AMES.AMES. of the Disciples, Boston. Two hundred of his sermons were published, and he contributed many articles, including several poems, to current literature. A little volume of religious studies, entitled, "As Natural as Life," was well received; and an essay on "George Eliot's Two Marriages" passed through five editions. During the war period Mr. Ames delivered many patriotic addresses. He was always actively interested in education, philanthropy and social reform. In 1896 he received from Bates college the degree of D.D. AMES, Edward Raymond, M. E. bishop, was born at Athens, O., May 20, 1806. In 1828 he entered the Ohio university at Athens, and remained there for two years, earning his board and tuition by teaching. He was the founder of a school at Lebanon, Ill., which afterwards grew into McKendree college. In 1830 he entered the itinerant ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church; in 1832 was ordained deacon, and in 1834 elder. At the general conference held in Baltimore in 1840, he was a delegate, and was afterwards chosen corresponding secretary to the missionary society for the south and west. In 1844 he was elected presiding elder in the Indiana conference, and served in that capacity for eight years. He received the degree of A.M. in 1844 from the State university of Indiana. In 1848 he declined an election as president of Asbury university. He was made a bishop in 1852, and died April 25, 1879. AMES, Fisher, statesman, was born at Dedham, Mass., April 9, 1758, son of Nathaniel and Mary (Fisher) Ames. He belonged to one of the oldest families in Massachusetts, and in the line of his foreign ancestry was the Rev. William Ames, a famous English divine, who, in search of greater religious liberty, emigrated to the Netherlands in the early part of the seventeenth century. Both the father and grandfather of Fisher were physicians, and the father supplemented his moderate practice by keeping a tavern and publishing an almanac. When Fisher was six years of age his father died, leaving him and an older brother to the care of their mother. Despite her straightened circumstances, the widow determined that Fisher, who early manifested intellectual superiority, should have a good education, and soon after the completion of his twelfth year he was admitted to Harvard college, and was graduated in 1774. For some years young Ames taught school and later read law for a time in the office of William Tudor, an eminent lawyer of Boston; was admitted to the bar in 1781, and at once commenced practice at Dedham. He soon became prominently known by writing a series of brilliant political papers, which under the noms des plumes of "Lucius Junius Brutus," and "Camillus," appeared in Boston journals, and attracted a great deal of attention. In 1781 he was sent as one of the Dedham delegates to the convention which met to devise measures for the relief of the widespread discontent which a depreciated paper currency had created. Young Ames made so able and convincing a speech that the sentiments of the assembly were changed; his words electrified the convention, and it adjourned without committing itself to the disastrous policy which had been contemplated. This speech made the reputation of the young advocate, and when it became known that he was the author of the pseudonymous articles in the Boston journals he was immediately sought out by the eminent Federalists of the day, and became prominently identified with them and the principles they represented.

In the spring of 1788 he was elected a member of the general court of Massachusetts, and by his valuable services created such universal confidence in his ability and integrity, that he was chosen a member of the Massachusetts convention for ratifying the Federal constitution. When the Federal government was established he was sent to Congress as the first representative of the Boston district, being elected over Samuel Adams, the most popular man in New England, and the one who, more than any other individual, was instrumental in bringing about the Declaration of Independence. No better evidence could be given of the high regard which the contemporaries of Fisher Ames had for his transcendent abilities. He remained in Congress during the eight years of Washington's administration, and took active and prominent part in the discussion of all the momentous questions which came before that body. His eloquence and statesmanship were unequalled, and his power of moving men was remarkable. In the debates regarding the appropriation for the Jay treaty in 1796, the Republicans who opposed the appropriation were counting on a clear majority of six. Ames was confined to his lodgings by a severe illness, but when the time approached for the vote to be taken on this question, which, in his opinion, involved the validity of the Constitution and the future welfare of the United States, he was driven to the house and, seeing the almost inevitable probability of defeat, he arose and, by the