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Born 1818, Oneida County
From History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day (v. 1) (1883), Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (v. 1) (1899)
Henry Ames was born in Oneida County, N. Y., March 4, 1818. H is father, who was an agriculturist, removed with his family to Cincinnati in 1828, and engaged in the pork-packing business. There his two sons, Henry and Edgar, received thorough instruction in all the branches of an English education, and were then taken into their father’s establishment and carefully trained in all the details of his business. Henry, indeed, manifested a precocious aptitude for business, and was associated with his father as early as 1833, when but fifteen years old, and while yet a boy frequently went down the river on flatboats laden for the New Orleans markets. At that period navigation was most perilous, and on several occasions young Ames narrowly escaped with his life. Although but a boy, he was looked upon by the business men who knew him as possessing rare qualifications for mercantile life, and the foremost place was assigned him, a prediction which his subsequent career fully justified.
In 1 84 1, Nathan Ames, the father, became convinced that St. Louis, from her geographical position, would in time become the great metropolis of the West, and established himself in the growing town, still pursuing the business of pork-packing, which he conducted with great success. Mr. Ames died in 1852, universally respected. After his death Henry Ames continued the business with his brother Edgar, and with such signal success that the house ultimately ranked as one of the largest pork-packing establishments in the Union, and during the war its operations were of colossal magnitude. Besides the conduct of this immense business, other important enterprises engaged his attention. He was president of the Chamber of Commerce for two years, was vice-president of the State Savings Institution, and a director in the Merchants’ Insurance Company and many other institutions. In 1864 the Ames brothers built the Lindell Hotel, and for many years owned and managed much other valuable property.
Henry Ames was also one of the original directors in the Belcher Sugar Refinery, Atlantic and Mississippi Steamship Company, United States Insurance Company, St. Louis Elevator Company, State Savings Association, and the Memphis and St. Louis Packet Company.
His devotion to the city of his adoption was proverbial, and he was foremost in whatever it was thought might conduct to its welfare. His energy and vigor of mind were remarkable, as was evinced in his latest years, when, prostrated by paralysis and totally unable to walk, he was driven to his place of business, and was carried into the office, where he personally dictated the management of a large and intricate establishment. Thus for several years he lived, manifesting amid the decay of his physical strength the most extraordinary intellectual powers and the keenest business capacity. During his illness he visited South America, California, Canada, and Cuba in search of health, but fruitlessly, and died Aug. 14, 1866, at Minneapolis, Minn., while on a tour of this character. In St. Louis his death occasioned universal regret, for during a quarter of a century his activity in the commercial walks of St. Louis had been daily before the public eye, and his integrity and openness of character had been the constant subject of popular admiration. His candor, frankness, and rugged truthfulness, his hearty devotion to the interests of St. Louis and the Mississippi valley, and his princely way of aiding those interests made him one of the most remarkable men of a period distinguished for great men. Upon his death the Chamber of Commerce voiced the public sentiment in the adoption of the following resolutions:
“The death of our fellow-citizen, Henry Ames, who at one time presided over this body with the intelligence, ability, and justice which characterized him most eminently in all the relations of life, makes it fitting and proper that we should obey the dictates of our feelings, and take this occasion to place upon our records and before the world an expression of our love and esteem for him as a friend and most honorable merchant, and our sincere sympathy with his bereaved family; therefore be it
“ Henolved, That in the death of Henry Ames this Exchange has lost one of its brightest ornaments, a man recognized by us all as a model merchant, sagacious, prudent, and liberal, and that the community is deprived of one of the soundest minds that has over led to commercial success, which was controlled by a nature so genial, benevolent, and kind that those of us who had the good fortune to know him well remember him with as much affection as a friend as wo have admiration for him as a business man.”
Mr. Ames married Mrs. William E. McCloud, daughter of Dr. Charles Scudder. Mrs. McCloud had one child, Miss Sallie McCloud, now Mrs. J. L. Pearce. Henry Ames left one child, a son, Henry Ames, Jr., who is vice-president of the Lindell Hotel Association, and secretary of the new Lindell Hotel Company.
His widow married again, < Col. Vincent Marmaduke, of Saline County, Mo. Mrs. Ames rebuilt the Lindell Hotel in 1874.
As printed in History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day (v. 1) (1883). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
Ames, Henry, who was for many years a conspicuous figure in the commercial circles of St. Louis, and who was also one of the city's most public-spirited citizens, was born in Oneida County, New York, March 4, 1818. His father was Nathan Ames, who was engaged in agricultural pursuits in early life, later embarked in pork-packing in Cincinnati, Ohio, came from there to St. Louis and founded a great pork-packing establishment in this city in 1841, and died here in 1852. After receiving a thorough English education Henry Ames began his business career as an employe in his father's pork-packing house in Cincinnati, The elder Ames was a sagacious man oí affairs, and the son received under his supervision a very careful training for commercial pursuits, and demonstrated, while still a youth, that he had a genius for trade and rare judgment, and could be trusted to discharge important duties. When only fifteen years old, he began making trips down the river on his father’s flatboats laden for the New Orleans market, and so well did he manage the business committed to his charge in и у soon became recogtact in the river tide REAS CAP ey hug ому Gare as a man in ability, alice eee beat 2 years and stature, When а ed his business to St. Louis € associated with him as a partner, and, after the elder Ames' death tinued the pork-packing enterprise in, s сүс DOE Prise inaugurated by him with such Success that the ultimately took rank ато; Е ео ЗО ng the greatest porkpacking institutions of the United Stat.
operated, especially during the Civil Wa ad a colossal scale. As his wealth increased, his activities extended into various fields of ene terprise, and he became identified officially and as an investor with many important cor. porations. He was at one time vice-president of the State Savings Institution, was a director in the Merchants’ Insurance Company, а di. rector of the Belcher Sugar Refinery, of the Atlantic & Mississippi Steamship Company, of the United States Insurance Company, of the State Savings Association, and of the Memphis & St. Louis Packet Company. He and his brother, Edgar Ames, built the Lindell Hotel in 1864, and in 1869 he organized the St. Louis & New Orleans Packet Company, which became the successor of the Atlantic & Mississippi Steamship Company. Mr. Ames was one of the largest stockholders in this enterprise, was a director of the corporation, and the old-time steamer “Henry Ames” was so named in his honor. In 1860, acting in conjunction with Edgar Ames and Albert Pearce, he set on foot a movement to construct the first grain elevator erected in St. Louis, but met with such opposition from city officials that it was not until 1864 that the projected elevator was built. It stood on the levee, between Biddle and Ashley Streets, and was the property of what was known as the St. Louis Elevator Company. Mr. Ames was noted always for his devotion to the welfare of Bt. Louis, and every movement which had for its object the advancement of its material interests received his substantial aid and encouragement. He had remarkable energy and an indomitable will, and during the later years of his life, after he had been prostrated by a paralytic stroke and rendered totally unable to walk, he was driven regularly to his place of business, carried into his office, and personally directed the conduct of affairs of large magnitude. While suffering from this illness, he visited California, Canada, Cuba and South America in the hope of regaining his health, but his efforts in this direction were fruitless, and he died at Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 14, 1866. It has been said of him by one of his biographers that “his candor, frankness and tugged truthfulness, his hearty devotion to the interests of St. Louis and the Miso Valley, and his princely way of aiding о тайе him one of the most D Erin uu а period distinguished for Кес ins € was president of the Спа аа егсе from 1856 to 1858, and а ath that body gave expression to its ОМП and the public sentiment as well by the adoption of the following resolution:
“The death of our fellow-citizen, Henry Ames, who at one time presided over this body with the intelligence, ability, and justice which characterized him most eminently in all the relations of life, makes it fitting and proper that we should obey the dictates of our feelings and take this occasion to place upon our гес- cords and before the world an expression of our love and esteem for him as a friend and most honorable merchant, and our sincere sympathy with his bereaved family; therefore, be it
“Resolved, That in the death of Henry Ames, this Exchange has lost one of its brightest ornaments, a man recognized by us all as a model merchant, sagacious, prudent and liberal, and that the community is deprived of one of the soundest minds that has ‘ever led to commercial success, which was controlled by a nature so genial, benevolent and kind, that those of us who had the good fortune to know him well remember him with as much affection as a friend as we have admiration for him as a business man.”
His portrait, in oil and of heroic size, now hangs in the hall of the Merchants’ Exchange, successor to the Chamber of Commerce, a ‘constant reminder to those who now throng this busy mart of trade of one who did much to make St. Louis what it is to-day. Mr. Ames married Mrs. William Е. McCloud, daughter of Dr. Charles Scudder, and left at his death one son, who has since managed his estate in conjunction with his mother. Some years after the death of Mr. Ames, Mrs. Ames married Colonel Vincent Marmaduke, and she is still a resident of St. Louis. In 1874 she rebuilt the Lindell Hotel, which had been ‘destroyed by fire.
As printed in Encyclopedia of the history of St. Louis, a compendium of history and biography for ready reference (v. 1) (1899). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.
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