AMES, George W. - Putnam

The family of this name is of an ancient English stock whose representatives became identified with the development of New England at a very early day. William Ames, founder of the American branch, was born at Briton. Somersetshire, England, October 6, 1605, and in early manhood came to the colony of New Plymouth, now Duxbury, Massachusetts. Rev. Sylvanus Ames, one of his descendants, was graduated from Harvard College in 1767 and occupied the pulpit of Trinity church in Taunton. Massachusetts. He was a chaplain in the army of the Revolution and died at Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-78. His son, Sylyanus, was born March 26, 1771. and died September 23, 1823. His son, George W. Ames, was born at Athens, Ohio. January 14, 1814. He came with his father to Ohio, with the early pioneers, who crossed the Alleghanies to settle in the fertile bottoms of the [Muskingum, the Scioto and the Miamis. He w^as the youngest of twelve children and when a boy attended the common schools of Athens, besides the non-sectarian college situated in that place. When about twenty-five years nld he situated in Salem, Indiana, where he followed the profession of a gospel minister and was one of the pioneer preachers whose assiduous work and privations were so instrumental in helping the cause of progress. In the fall of 1855 he removed to Greencastle and engaged in the hardware business and became a man of varied activities and influence. He was financial agent for DePauw University and superintendent of the asylum for the blind at Indianapolis. He was a great reader and student and a man of wide information and unusual abilities. He was a brother of Eishop Ames, one of the pioneers and founders of Indiana Methodism. During the Civil War he was chaplain of Colonel Black's regiment. He died June 3. 1881, at his old homestead which still stands on Washington street as one of the landmarks of the city. While living in Salem he met Alary Booth, who was born in that place September 11, 1819. To this lady he was married September 20, 1843, and she proved a faithful wife, an intelligent companion and an affectionate mother. Her parents were Beebee and Hannah (Pitts) Booth, the mother of North Carolina birth and the father from Connecticut. The Litter's forefathers came originally from England and settled in New England in 1843. Beebee Booth located in Salem, Indiana, in the early day of the state and engaged in the publishing business under the firm name of Patrick & Booth. They published the first book ever issued in Indiana, the title of which was "The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte". Mr. and Mrs. George W. Ames had eight children: Hannah, Emma, Elizabeth, Hilary, Alice, Genevieve, George Booth and Newton Sylvanus. Five of the daughters are living, Misses Elizabeth and Genevieve occupying the old homestead in Greencastle. The mother died February 24, 1909. She was an aunt of Booth Tarkington, the noted author.