John Fremont Ames was born 13 May 1858 in De Ruyter, New York, to Fordyce Ames and Electa Elmira Ray. He lost his mother at age 20, a tragedy which may have inspired him to enter the ministry.
After graduating from a Madison, New York, university in
1886, he married Sophie Wall on June 22nd.
Sophie’s sister Zelda was married in the same service to a Fred Hendee. The newlyweds honeymooned at Niagara Falls,
after which John accepted a call to work as an assistant pastor in Genoa, New
York. The Ameses’ first child, Francis,
was born in April 1887.
Ames was ordained to the ministry on December 9, 1887. He then decided to study theology at
Rochester Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in June 1890. Having indicated that he wanted to serve a
congregation that really needed him, even though it couldn’t afford to pay him
a salary commensurate with his education, he accepted a call to a church in Madison,
South Dakota.
While in Madison, the Ameses had a daughter, Mary Lorena,
born in 1891. Unfortunately, Sophie then
developed an intractable cough and was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
In hopes of improving Sophie’s health, the family moved in
1892 to Milton, Tennessee, where they rented a house from relatives. However, Tennessee did not suit them. The rainy weather aggravated Sophie’s cough,
and John disliked the racial segregation which forbade him to preach to whites
and blacks at the same gathering. Ames was
then offered the pastorate of a Baptist Church in Phoenix. It
seemed an attractive offer as the dry climate of Arizona was said to be
salubrious for invalids. Accordingly, the
Ameses moved to Arizona and took up residence on the ranch of a parishioner who
lived east of the city.
On July 31, 1892, Reverend
Ames was in a buggy on his way to church in downtown Phoenix when he overtook a
steam threshing engine on the street.
When the driver blew his whistle, the unexpected noise so frightened the
reverend’s horse that it took off in a mad run.
As the buggy careened around the corner of Washington and Montezuma, Dr.
Ames either tried to jump or was thrown from the buggy. He fell against an electric light pole with
such force that he suffered head trauma and his left leg was broken below the
hip. He was carried into Frakes’
Livery, where Drs. Hughes and Dameron stabilized him. However they were not optimistic about his
chances for recovery.
Since Ames could not be moved, he was cared for at Mr.
Elwell’s house. He regained
consciousness enough to take water and medicine, but was unable to recall what
had happened or to recognize family members.
Though attended by three physicians, he died August 13th.
Ames’s wife Sophie, already an invalid, was prostrated by
his death. She could not bear light or
sound; throughout the hot summer evenings she sat on the porch
with a wet cloth over her face. In
October 1892 she declared that she was ready to join her husband. She lingered until November before passing
away. The Ameses were buried in the
Masons Cemetery.
- by Donna Carr
