Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 1).djvu/88

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
66
AMES
AMMEN

continuously in congress from 1862 to 1873 as representative from the 2d Massachusetts district. His relations with the Credit Mobilier led to an investigation, which resulted in his being censured by a vote of the house of representatives. Subsequent to his withdrawal from political life he resided at North Easton, where he died of apoplexy.—His brother, Oliver, manufacturer, b. in Plymouth, Mass., 5 Nov., 1807; d. in North Easton, Mass., 9 March, 1877, was a member of the Massachusetts state senate during 1852 and 1857. He was largely interested with his brother in the development of the Union Pacific railroad, and was its president pro tem, from 1866 until 1868. He was formally elected president of the company on 12 March, 1868, and continued as such until 8 March, 1871. He was connected with the Credit Mobilier, and in 1873 succeeded his brother as the head of the firm. — Oakes's second son, Oliver, financier, b. in North Easton, Mass., 4 Feb., 1831; d. there, 22 Oct., 1895. He was apprenticed in his father's shovel-manufactory, was later educated at Brown university, and in 1863 became a partner in Ames & Sons. For ten years he superintended the mechanical business of the establishment, and on his father's death assumed control of his numerous financial trusts, including shares in the Union Pacific railroad. By judicious management he paid debts and about $1,000,000 in legacies under his father's will. He was a member of the state senate in 1880-'1, and in 1882 he received the republican nomination for lieutenant-governor, being re-elected in 1883, 1884, and 1885. In 1886 he was governor of Massachusetts, and was re-elected in 1887 and 1888.


AMES, Samuel, jurist, b. in Providence, R. I., 6 Sept., 1806; d. there, 20 Dec, 1865. He was prepared for college at Phillips Andover academy, and was graduated at Brown in 1823. After graduation he attended the law lectures of Judge Gould at Litchfield, Conn., and became a member of the Rhode Island bar in 1826. He served in the Providence city council, was for many years in the state assembly, and was elected speaker of that body in 1844 and 1845. In 1839 he married Mary Throop Dorr, a niece of Thomas Wilson Dorr, famous as the leader of the rebellion in 1842. But this did not prevent Mr. Ames from taking a stand on the side of law and order, and he served as quartermaster of the state troops during the whole period of disturbance. In 1853 he was appointed by the legislature to represent the state in adjusting the boundary between Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In 1855 he was one of the commissioners to revise the statutes of Rhode Island, a work that was completed in 1857 mainly under his supervision. He was elected chief justice of the state supreme court in May, 1856, and resigned the office in November, 1865, because of failing health. He was a delegate to the peace convention in 1861. The law books of which he was author or editor are "Agnell and Ames on Corporations" and "Rhode Island Reports" (vols. iv. to vii.).


AMHERST, Jeffrey, soldier, b. in Riverhead, Kent, England, 29 .Jan., 1717; d. 3 Aug., 1797. His American career began in 1758, when he was commissioned major-general at the instance of William Pitt, and sent to cooperate with Prideaux in wresting Canada from the French. From boyhood he had been a soldier serving in Flanders and winning distinction under the duke of Marlborough. For his services in reducing the French strongholds he received the thanks of the house of commons and the order of the bath. In 1760 he was appointed governor-general of the British possessions in America, but proved unable to deal with the Indians under such a leader as Pontiac. In 1763 he was made governor of Virginia, his last American service. In England, Pontiac's conspiracy was generally unknown, and as Amherst was a favorite with the king, honors were heaped upon him, largely because he steadily favored the American war. In 1776 he was raised to the peerage as Lord Amherst, and in 1787 received a patent as Baron Amherst of Montreal, this being the name of his seat in Kent. See the "Gentleman's Magazine" for September, 1797; Parkman's "Conspiracy of Pontiac"; and Bancroft's "History of the United States," vol. iii. A fine portrait of Gen. Amherst by Gainsborough is in the national portrait gallery.


AMI, Henry Mark, Canadian scientist, b. in Belle-Riviere, 23 Nov., 1858. He was graduated at McGill college in 1882, and in June of the same year was appointed on the paleontological staff of the geological survey of Canada. In 1886 he was assistant paleontologist, and during the same year was engaged in the determination, identification, and classification of the fossil remains of Canada, in connection with the museum and geological survey at Ottawa. His first paper on geology was read at Ottawa in 1881, and in 1882 his work on "The Utica Formation in Canada" was published. Then followed "Notes on Triarthrus spinosus, Billings," and various reports on the stratigraphy and paleontology of Ottawa and vicinity, and a catalogue of fossils. In June, 1883, he became a permanent civil service officer in the department of the interior, geological survey branch.


AMIDAS, or AMADAS, Philip, navigator, b. in Hull, England, in 1550; d. there in 1618. He was the son of a Breton family who had for a century resided in England. He commanded one of the two ships in Arthur Barlow's voyage of discovery to the coast of North Carolina in 1584, undertaken with a view to establishing a permanent colony. They explored New Inlet, and returned with glowing accounts of the grapes, cedars, and other products of the country and of its people. Amidas was in charge of an expedition to Newfoundland a few years later.


AMMEN, Daniel, naval officer, b. in Ohio, 15 May, 1820; d. in Washington, D. C, 11 July, 1898. He was appointed midshipman, and served in the Wilkes exploring expedition, in the Mediterranean, in the East India squadron, and on the coast survey. As lieutenant (from 4 Nov., 1849) he was attached to a commission to select a naval station on the Pacific coast, accompanied the expedition to Paraguay river in 1853-'54, and was on the steam frigate " Merrimac " in 1859-60. In 1861. at the outbreak of the civil war, he was executive officer of the North Atlantic blockading squadron. At the reduction of Port Royal, 7 Nov., 1861, he commanded the "Seneca," and was sent ashore to hoist the flag over the surrendered forts, and hold them till the army took possession. He was promoted to be commander 21 Feb., 1863, was assigned to the monitor "Patapsco," and participated in the attack on Fort Macallister, 3 March, 1863. In May, 1864, he was despatched to the Pacific in command of 220 seamen as passengers on board a California steamer. Two days out from New York a well-organized attempt at mutiny was suppressed by Com. Ammen and Boatswain Bell, aided by Capt. Tinklepaugh, of the steamer, and a few volunteers from among the passengers. He participated in the two attacks on Fort Fisher in the winter of 1864-'65, was commissioned captain 26 July, 1866, and was on special and sea service until 11 Dec., 1877, when he was made rear-admiral and was