American Silversmiths

Justin Martin Ames
(1799-1882)
Anna Harriet Chaffee
(1803-1859)
George Luther Ames
(1832-1894)

 

Family Links

Spouses/Children:

1. Ellen Lovisa Tinker

George Luther Ames
  • Born: 13 Jun 1832, Beckett MA
  • Marriage (1): Ellen Lovisa Tinker on 16 May 1855 in Chester MA
  • Died: 11 Mar 1894, Saratoga Springs NY

  General notes:

Jeweler and fancy goods merchant

  Events in his life were:

  • He worked in 1852-1861 as a jeweler in Schuylerville NY
  • He was a partner circa 1865 with Sampson Chaffee Ames in Saratoga Springs NY as GEO L. AMES & BROTHER.
  • He worked circa 1880 as a fancy goods merchant in Saratoga Springs NY with a shop at 404 Broadway.
  • Obituary printed in the The Schuylerville Standard (Schuylerville NY) on 21 Mar 1894
    George L. Ames, a prominent retired citizen, died at his home on North Broadway, Saratoga Springs, Sunday, March 11, at 12:50 p.m.

    George L. Ames was the son of Justin M. and Anna H. Chaffee Ames, and a native of Beckett, Berkshire county, Mass., where he was born June 16, 1832. He was the fourth child, and was reared and principally educated in his native village. After passing through the best schools of that place he entered Black River Academy, at Ludlow, Vt., and completed his academic course in that institution.

    In 1852, when twenty years of age, he came to New York, and settling at Schuylerville, this county, embarked in the jewelry business, which he continued until 1861, meanwhile studying law and being admitted to the bar of this county. In 1857 he was appointed to the positions of superintendent and general superintendent of the Champlain canal, and continued to discharge the functions of that office for a period of ten years, with an ability and mastery of details that proved very advantageous to the interests of the canal management. He also served four years a deputy canal commissioner for the eastern division, under commissioner George W. Chapman, with headquarters at Albany.

    He came to Saratoga Springs in 1870, and has been a resident of this village ever since, having occupied his handsome residence on Broadway, surrounded by all the comforts and luxuries necessary to refined living. In 1875 occurred the disastrous failure of the Commercial bank of Saratoga Springs, and Mr. Ames was appointed attorney for the receiver by the court, and directed to wind up his business. In doing this he closed out a large stock of hardware and the American Hotel and Geyser spring, that came into the hands of the receiver of the bank, and in all the trying circumstances connected with adjusting conflicting interests and arranging the complicated affairs of the bank, he displayed superior ability, sound judgment, and strictest integrity, together with a deep insight into human nature and a complete mastery of the general principles which underlie the vast structure of modern business. There was also considerable mechanical ability and skill in the make up of Mr. Ames, and he worked on a number of inventions, any one of which might have made him a fortune if he had cared enough about the matter to take out a patent. While superintendent and commissioner of the canal, he constructed several locks in which new devices were introduced, and new applications made of well known mechanical principles.

George married Ellen Lovisa Tinker on 16 May 1855 in Chester MA. (Ellen Lovisa Tinker was born on 23 Jan 1835 in Chester MA.)




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