Notes on Almon H. Ames (1850 - 1923)
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Notes on Almon H. Ames
From "History of Fayette County, Iowa" (1910)
ALMON H. AMES
The subject of this sketch, a retired farmer and for many years an honored citizen of Fayette county, is a native of St. Lawrence county, New York, where his birth occurred on December 26, 1850. His grandfather, Elijah Ames, a descendant of an old Vermont family, lived near Potsdam, New York, and served with a creditable record in the war of 1812. Thurman Ames, son of Elijah and father of the subject, was born in St. Lawrence county, near Potsdam, and when a young man married Clarinda Carver, whose parents, Oliver and Lois (Burnett) Carver, were natives of New York and Vermont respectively.
In October, 1858, Thurman Ames moved to Kane county, Illinois, where he lived until 1869, when he migrated to Kansas. He served in the Fifty-second Illinois Infantry during the late Rebellion, and his son also took part in the war, having been a member of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, both earning honorable records as brave and gallant soldiers.
Almon H. Ames was eight years old when his parents moved to Illinois and he spent his youthful life in Kane county, that state, growing to maturity in close touch with the soil and receiving his educational discipline in the public schools. He remained in Illinois until 1876, when he came to Fayette county, Iowa, and located in Scott township, where he engaged in the pursuit of agriculture, which honorable vocation he carried on with success and profit until his retirement from active life in the year 1907. On removing to the above township he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 19, which he at once began to improve and which under his effective labors and judicious management soon became one of the best and most valuable farms in the county of Fayette. He erected good buildings and made many other improvements and as a tiller of the soil ranked among the most energetic and enterprising of his compeers, adopting modern methods in all of his work and achieving success such as few attain. He lived on the farm for a period of thirty-one years, during which time he accumulated a sufficiency of this world's goods to make him independent and enable him to spend the remainder of his life in the enjoyment of the fruits of his many years of toil; accordingly, he bought a beautiful home in Oelwein where he and his wife are now living in honorable retirement.
Mr. Ames was married January 29, 1873, to Hannah Wadley, daughter of Calvin and Mary (Vincent) Wadley, of Michigan, but later of Kane county, Illinois, where Mrs. Ames grew to womanhood and exchanged her family name for the one she has since worthily borne. Three children have blessed the union of this estimable couple, viz: Elva, Wesley and Earl. Elva married Henry Ernst, who died in December, 1896, leaving besides his widow one son, Loren Ernst, who died in December, 1896, leaving besides his widow one son, Loren Ernst; subsequently Mrs. Ernst became the wife of Otis Whiteside, of Clarion, Iowa, where she and her husband now reside. Wesley Ames is a traveling engineer for the Stillwater Threshing Machine Company, of Minnesota, and has had in charge a large area of territory in that and other states. He married Grace Ford and is the father of one son, who answers to the name of Almon. Earl, the youngest of the subject's offspring, lives on the family homestead and manages the same, being one of the progressive young farmers of Scott township. He too is married and the father of one son, Jack F. Ames, the wife and mother having formerly been Blanch Hough, of Fayette county.
Since taking up his residence in Oelwein Mr. Ames has identified himself with the varied interests of the city and keeps abreast of the times on all matters of local and general moment. He belongs to the order of Yeomen, and, with his wife, is a regular attendant of the Christian church and a liberal contributor to its material support, Mrs. Ames being a devoted member and active in all the utilities under the auspices of the congregation. Mrs. Ames's parents are living at Sycamore, Illinois, both having reached the ripe old age of seventy-nine years and retaining to a marked degree their physical and mental powers.
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