OAKES AMES

Biographical History of Massachusetts
Biographies and Autobiographies of the Leading Men in the State
by Samuel Atkins Eliot, M. D.D. 1916

. OAKES AMES was born in Canton, Massachusetts, February 24, 1863. He died at his home in Milton, Massachusetts, February 23,1914. He was the son of Frank Morton Ames (born August 14, 1833; died August 23, 1898) and Catherine Hay ward (Copeland) Ames; and a grandson of Oakes Ames (born July 10, 1804; died May 8, 1873) and Evelyn 0. Gilmore Ames; and on his mother's side, of Hiram Copeland (born February 9, 1798; died July 13, 1861) and Lurana Copeland.

The ancestor of the family in New England was William Ames, who was born at Bruton, Somersetshire, England, in 1666, a great grandson of John Ames, who died in Bruton, England, in 1560. He settled in Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1641, and died there in 1654. Mr. Ames' grandfather, Oakes Ames, was a Congressman from Massachusetts, and one of the chief promoters and builders of the Union Pacific Railroad. His uncle, Oliver Ames, was a former Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

His father, Frank M. Ames, was a prominent Massachusetts manufacturer, having been for many years the President of the Kinsley Iron and Machine Works at Canton, and was also President of the Lamson Store Service Company of Boston.

Oakes Ames had an aptitude for mechanics. In early life he took a great interest in athletics, being principally interested in baseball, in which he was locally celebrated as a pitcher, and in bicycle contests in which he took a number of prizes.

He attended the primary schools of Canton, was graduated from the Canton High School, and then entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the class of 1885. After two years at the Institute he entered upon the active duties of life with the Kinsley Iron and Machine Works of Canton, of which he eventually became President. Upon his father's death he became President of the Lamson Store Service Company and recognizing the great possibilities of pneumatic transmission he developed apparatus along this line. The Lamgon Company became connected with the American Pneumatic Service Company of which he was elected vice-president. At the time of his death he was, in addition to the above positions, President of the Martin Cash Carrier Company and the Air Line Carrier Company, Director of the Batcheller Pneumatic Company, Chicago Postal Pneumatic Tube Company, Boston Pneumatic Transit Company, International Pneumatic Service Company, Massachusetts Pneumatic Tube Company, New York Mail & Transportation Company and St. Louis Pneumatic Tube Company. He was also associated with gas and electric companies in several Massachusetts cities and with other corporations. He was a member of the Massachusetts Automobile Club, the Country Club, the Norfolk Country Club, the Hoosick Whisick, and the Engineers Clubs.

Mr. Ames was a Republican in his affiliations, but in the late division of the party, joined with the Progressive wing. He never aspired to political office, but was content to devote his energies to the promotion of the large interests with which he was connected.

Mr. Ames was married October 28, 1886, to Florence, daughter of Joshua S. and H. Amelia (Thurber) Ingalls of Detroit, Michigan, who survives him. Mrs. Ames is a granddaughter of Ira A. and Huldah (Clark) Thurber and of Simeon and Rhoda (Smith) Ingalls. Mr. Ames is also survived by their three children, Amelia C. Ames, who resides at home, Oakes Ingalls Ames, and Charles E. Ames, both students at Harvard University.

Mr. Ames died in the full tide of a life of great success. He did much, and made a point of doing well everything that he undertook. He was a leader among men, and used his executive ability in promoting financial ventures with a masterly hand. He never betrayed the confidence of those who followed his lead.

His interest in his college class was unusually strong, and his relations with his classmates were among his greatest pleasures. In a tribute to his memory one of his classmates says: "It is twelve years since Death has entered the ranks of the class of '85. He could have taken no more loyal member, more steadfast friend or truer gentleman than Oakes Ames, whose memory we shall hold perennially fragrant in our hearts."