Since I'm not a spring chicken, I'm putting this on this web site, so others of this line can know what I know about the Ames family.
Mary McGarr (descendant of Elizabeth Watson Ames Carlisle, my great grandmother.)
I have pictures of John Lee Ames, Elizabeth Ames and the graves of Sylvanus Ames and Abigail Nabby Lee Johnson Ames. Nabby Lee Johnson Ames is a direct descendant of Mary Chilton, James Chilton, and his wife, all Mayflower passengers.
I've talked to a representative of the Nabby Lee Ames Chapter of the DAR, who told me that a descendant came to Athens, Ohio a few years ago and paid to have the graves cleaned up. She said I was the first descendant that she had ever talked to.
Descendants of Sylvanus Ames II
Generation No. 1
1. SYLVANUS12 AMES II (SYLVANUS11, THOMAS10, THOMAS WILLIAM9, JOHN8, WILLIAM7, JOHN "RICHARD"6, JOHN5, JOHN4, WILLIAM AMES3 EAMES, JAMES2 IV, HENRY1 STEWART) was born 26 Mar 1771 in West Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA, and died 23 Sep 1823 in Amesville, Athens County, OH. He married ABIGAIL (NABBY) LEE JOHNSON 07 Sep 1795 in West Bridgwater, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, daughter of DANIEL JOHNSON and BETSEY LEE. She was born 15 Mar 1771 in Marblehead, Massachusetts or Harvard, Worcester County, MA, and died 18 Apr 1854 in Amesville, Athens County, Ohio.
Notes for SYLVANUS AMES II:
Judge.
Education: Ohio Universitiy
Occupation: Colonel, Statesman
Religion: Episcopalian
Moved to the "Northwest Territory" in 1798. Settled Amesville, 1800. Colonel, Ohio Militia, 1812; second Sheriff of the County; Trustee, Ohio University; Associate Judge 1813-1823; Representative to 16th and 17th General Assembly.
Any info. on Sylvanus Ames?
Posted by: Mary Ames St. John Date: December 29, 2000 at 22:21:55
of 170
Once sherriff of Athens County, common pleas judge, trustee of the Ohio University and member of the Ohio Legislature.
Silvanus Ames, long known in this county as Judge Ames, was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, March 26, 1771. His father, whose ancestor, William Ames, came from England in 1643, was a graduate of Harvard college (in 1757), and an Episcopalian clergyman. He preached several years at Trinity church, in Taunton, Massachusetts, was afterwards a chaplain in the revolutionary army, and died in the camp at Valley Forge, during the hard winter of 1777-78.
Silvanus Ames II married Nabby Lee Johnson in 1795, and moved to the northwestern territory in 1798. They settled temporarily in Belpre, whence they removed to Ames township, in May, 1800, and settled on the farm now owned by the Henrys, and still familiarly called the "Ames farm." Mr. Ames' strong sense and solid judgment gave him a commanding influence among the early settlers, and he was soon brought into the public life of that day. He was the second sheriff of the county, colonel of militia, trustee of the Ohio university for many years, and associate judge from 1813 to 1823. He was also several times elected representative to the state legislature, and in all of these positions evinced a capacity for public affairs, and gained the approbation of the community. Intimately connected, as he was, with the political movements of the day, Judge Ames' house became the resort of the political leaders in southern Ohio, and a favorite stopping place of public men, when making their long trips between the east and west. He was an active and liberal supporter of all educational and religious movements, and an acknowledged leader in the community for several years. He died September 23, 1823. At the time of his death his family consisted of five sons and four daughters, of whom four sons and two daughters are now living, viz: the Rev. Bishop E. R. Ames, John, in Kansas, Charles B., in the state of Mississippi, and George W., at Greencastle, Indiana. One of the daughters, Mrs. Eliza Dawes, lives at Ripon, Wisconsin, and the other, Mrs. A. B. Walker, at Athens. Another daughter, Mrs. de Steiguer, died at Athens, July 29, 1851; a son of her's, Rodolph de Steiguer, a native of the county, is a leading lawyer at Athens.
Genealogy information and records concerning
ancestors in the thirteen original American colonies.
Site Map
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http://colonialancestors.com/harvard1767.htm (source)
Graduates of Harvard University (This is in regard to his father, Sylvanus Ames and his father in law, Daniel Johnson who both graduated from Harvard in 1767)
Bachelors of Arts (A.B)
From 1642 to 1869, inclusive, Bachelors of Arts were entitled to receive the degree of Master of Arts (A.M.) in course, three years after graduation.
1767
Died
Thomas Bernard, A.M., also from Archb. Canterbury 1801; LL.D. Edinb. 1801; Baronet 1809 1818
Adam Winthrop, A.M. 1774
Edward Oxnard, A.M. 1803
Lemuel Cushing, A.M. 1776
Samuel Hancock, A.M. 1776
Isaac Mansfield, A.M.; A.M. (Hon.) Dart. 1790 1826
Josiah Moulton, A.M. 1794
John Rogers, A.M. 1827
Isaac Smith, A.M.; Tutor; Librarian 1829
Daniel Johnson, A.M. 1777
Simon Tufts, A.M. 1802
William Mayhew, A.M.; Librarian 1785
Zephaniah Briggs, A.M. *----
Elisha Thayer, A.M. 1774
Henry Herrick, A.M. 1800
Edmund Freeman, A.M. 1780
Burrill Devereaux 1796
Samuel Willard, A.M. 1811
Increase Sumner, A.M.; Fellow Am. Acad.; Just Supr. Court Mass.; Gov. Mass. 1799
Nicholas Dudley, A.M. *----
Abraham Wood, A.M. 1823
William Moore, A.M. *----
William Turner, A.M. 1771 1808
Jeremiah Shaw, A.M. 1834
Simeon Chase, A.M. 1829
Enos Hitchcock, A.M.; A.M. (Hon.) Yale 1781; S.T.D. Brown 1788 1803
Samuel Cheney, A.M. 1820
Asa Dunbar, A.M. 1787
Sylvanus Ames, A.M. 1778
Timothy Farrar, LL.D. 1847; Just. Supr. Court N.H. 1849
Joseph Farrar, A.M. 1816
Nathaniel Kidder, A.M. 1828
Jonathan Frost, A.M. 1771
Asarelah Morse, A.M. 1803
Aaron Bordman, A.M. 1772
William Gamage, A.M. 1821
John Porter 1813
Amos Cotting, A.M. 1807
Moses Holt, A.M. 1772
William Kelly 1813
Nathaniel Merrill 1791
John Marston Minot *----
* deceased - Date unknown
Source: Quinquaennial Catalogue of the Officers and Graduates of Harvard University 1636 - 1915 Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press in the Two Hundred and Seventy-Ninth Year of the College 1915.
More About SYLVANUS AMES II:
Burial: Cutler Cemetery, Route 280, Amesville, OH
Notes for ABIGAIL (NABBY) LEE JOHNSON:
Obit
Added by jdennie_1 on 20 May 2008
Originally submitted by toddlawson1 to Lawson/Tierney/Wylie Family Tree on 28 Apr 2008
This tombstone in the Cutler Cemetery, just off Route 280 out of Amesville, marks the grave of Nabby Lee Ames, pioneer woman, mother of 12 children and sturdy example of the courage of early settlers of Athens County. In 1933, the Nabby Lee Ames Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution marked the grave, nearly 80 years after her death.
The tablet was unveiled in the prsence of about 50 persons whose Athens group was named in her honor.
Nabby Lee Ames was born in 1771 in the East and in 1798 came to the Northwest Territory, settling first at Belpre. Later the family came to Ames Township via the Ohio and Hocking Rivers and Federal Creek. The old homes of the Ames family can be seen from the Cutler Cemetery. Other old homes in the vicinity that can be seen from the cemetery are those of the Cutler family, the first Coonskin Library site, the home of Captain Benjamin Brown, the Ewing home, and the Walker home, all homes where pioneers since settled.
Judge Sylvanus Ames, the husband of Nabby Lee Ames, was once Sheriff of Athens County, he was a common pleas judge, trustee of the Ohio University and a member of the Ohio Legislature.
Nabby Lee Ames was the mother of 12 children. Mrs. Ames died at the home of a daughter, Mrs. A. B. Walker, in Athens, in 1854, at the age of 83. Bishop Edward Ames of the Methodist Church was her son. Ben Ames Williams, famous writer, is a great-grandson and other grandsons were Judge Rudolph deSteiguer and Charles W. Walker, author of an early history of Ames County.
Bishop Ames was born in Ames Township in 1806 and attended Ohio University and in 1852 was elected Bishop of the Methodist Church after years of travel over the Middle West. During most of his adult life he resided in Indiana, later removing to Baltimore. This world famous son of Nabby Lee Ames died in Baltimore in 1879.
Judge Sylvanus Ames was born in Massachusetts in 1771, son of an Episcopalian clergyman and a graduate of Harvard. His father was a chaplain in the Revolutionary army and died in camp at Valley Forge during the severe winter of 1777-78 when so many colonial soldiers suffered from cold and hunger and died. Sylvanus Ames married Nabby Lee Johnson in 1798 and they settled on Federal Creek on the farm long owned by the late Edward Jones, known for generations as the "Ames Farm". In addition to his many offices of public trust, he was Colonel of Militia and his home was a favorite stopping place for men of prominence traveling through the Ames area. He died in 1823, leaving five sons and four daughters. His children lived in several states of the Middle West with two living in Athens Mrs. deSteiguer and Mrs. Walker.
At the side of the graves of Judge and Mrs Ames are those of three of their young children, Hector who died at the age of 4, Marcia who lived to be 16 years old and Dana Johnson Ames who died when he was a year old.
The land for this burying ground was given by Ephraim Cutler, many years before 1811 when he deeded it for burial purposes. The first burial was made in the ground in 1805. Jason Rice, a soldier in the Revolutionary War is buried there, as is Susan ---, wife of a Hessian soldier.
(The cemetery is called the Cutler Cemetery)
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~longstrt/0025-n.htmlShe wrote home to Massachusetts about her solid walnut staircase (a knotched log). Story in my file or at
http://john.rootsweb.com/Ames/0024-f.htmlTombstone Marks Grave
HERE RESTS NABBY LEE AMES
By C. H. Harris
(Picture) Shown here is the stone marking the graves of Judge Sylvanus Ames and his wife Nabbie Lee Ames. The marker in honor of Mrs. Ames stands at the foot of the stone.
This tombstone in the Cutler Cemetery, just off Route 280 out of Amesville, marks the grave of Nabby Lee Ames, pioneer woman, mother of 12 children and sturdy example of the courage of early settlers of Athens County. In 1933, the Nabby Lee Ames Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution marked the grave, nearly 80 years after her death.
The tablet was unveiled in the presence of about 50 persons whose Athens group was named in her honor.
Nabby Lee Ames was born in 1771 in the East and in 1798 came to the Northwest Territory, settling first at Belpre. Later the family came to Ames Township via the Ohio and Hocking Rivers and Federal Creek. The old homes of the Ames family can be seen from the Cutler Cemetery. Other old homes in the vicinity that can be seen from the cemetery are those of the Cutler family, the first Coonskin Library site, the home of Captain Benjamin Brown, the Ewing home, and the Walker home, all homes where pioneers since settled.
Judge Sylvanus Ames, the husband of Nabby Lee Ames, was once Sheriff of Athens County, he was a common pleas judge, trustee of the Ohio University and a member of the Ohio Legislature.
Nabby Lee Ames was the mother of 12 children. Mrs. Ames died at the home of a daughter, Mrs. A. B. Walker, in Athens, in 1854, at the age of 83. Bishop Edward Ames of the Methodist Church was her son. Ben Ames Williams, famous writer, is a great-grandson and other grandsons were Judge Rudolph deSteiguer and Charles W. Walker, author of an early history of Ames County.
Bishop Ames was born in Ames Township in 1806 and attended Ohio University and in 1852 was elected Bishop of the Methodist Church after years of travel over the Middle West. During most of his adult life he resided in Indiana, later removing to Baltimore. This world famous son of Nabby Lee Ames died in Baltimore in 1879.
Judge Sylvanus Ames was born in Massachusetts in 1771, son of an Episcopalian clergyman and a graduate of Harvard. His father was a chaplain in the Revolutionary army and died in camp at Valley Forge during the severe winter of 1777-78 when so many colonial soldiers suffered from cold and hunger and died. Sylvanus Ames married Nabby Lee Johnson in 1798 and they settled on Federal Creek on the farm long owned by the late Edward Jones, known for generations as the "Ames Farm". In addition to his many offices of public trust, he was Colonel of Militia and his home was a favorite stopping place for men of prominence traveling through the Ames area. He died in 1823, leaving five sons and four daughters. His children lived in several states of the Middle West with two living in Athens Mrs. deSteiguer and Mrs. Walker.
At the side of the graves of Judge and Mrs Ames are those of three of their young children, Hector who died at the age of 4, Marcia who lived to be 16 years old and Dana Johnson Ames who died when he was a year old.
The land for this burying ground was given by Ephraim Cutler, many years before 1811 when he deeded it for burial purposes. The first burial was made in the ground in 1805. Jason Rice, a soldier in the Revolutionary War is buried there, as is Susan ---, wife of a Hessian soldier.
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Athens Messenger, Thursday, November 25, 1954, p. 22
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May have been born in Harvard, Worcester, Mass. Wayne Tabor
Tombstone Marks Grave
A History of Athens, Ohio D.A.R.
taken from
http://www.angelfire.com/ks2/Ames/apage4.htmlThe Nabby Lee Ames Chapter, D. A. R., was formally organized in Athens, Ohio, January 23, 1903, with twelve charter members.
The name was chosen to honor the most notable pioneer woman of Athens County and closely related to our best townspeople.
Nabby Lee Johnson was married October 15, 1795, to Sylvanus Ames and moved from Bridgewater, Massachusetts to the North West Territory, carrying their year old son on horseback and settled on a tract of land near what is now Amesville, Athens County, Ohio. She endured all the dangers and hardships of pioneer life on that semi-wilderness, with a courage and cheerfulness that proved her a noble character. Her resourcefulness was shown by taking apart a shabby coat, stitch by stitch, even the button holes, washing, pressing, turning and remaking it into a seemingly new coat, whereby Judge Ames was made presentable as a new member of the Ohio Legislature; which serves as a sample of her many imaginary feats as related by a granddaughter's diary. She was the mother of twelve children "twelve miles from a doctor; yet seven of them living to bring up honorable families.
Bishop Edward R. Ames of the Methodist Church was their sixth child. A grandson, Charles M. Walker was the author of our cherished "History of Athens County." Another grandson was the late Judge Rudolph de Steiguer of Athens Bar. A great grandson is the present Rear Admiral Louis R. de Steiguer of the U. S. Navy.
Nabby Lee Ames was a cultured gentlewoman, given to hospitality, which many occasions for entertaining public men journeying from East to West while her husband was Judge Ames and later State Representatvie.
She died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Lucy Ames Walker, in Athens, aged 84 years and was laid to rest beside her husband in Amesville Cemetery.
Nabby Lee Ames by Augusta Walker (Dating this piece from the content, I ascertain that it was written in 1888. MM)
"Grandma had some very pretty clothes when she came from Massachusetts. Ma remembers her cloak of plum colored satin. It was called a double satin and was very heavy, lined with white flannel. It was a full circle trimmed with curled ermine. It had a lined hood that Grandma said could be drawn over her bonnet when she went sleighing in New England. She had also a dove colored dress called tabby silk, so heavy and rich it would almost stand alone, and another snuff-colored silk. These dresses were made with trains and were not very suitable to wear in a log cabin, but for several years, once in a great while, Grandma wore them. These things were brought from England by her Grandfather, who owned several trading vessels. The cloak was made in England, but the dresses she made herself, for Grandma could do anything with her needle that any other lady could do, and it was well she had learned this.
After the country was a little more settled and Ohio was made a state, Grandpa Ames became quite a prominent man. The first time he was elected to the Legislature, he could not afford to buy a new coat to wear, and his best coat was a little thread-bare. Grandma ripped every stitch of it, even the buttonholes, sponged and pressed each piece, and put it together again the other side out, and it was as good as new.
Once when there was just the beginning of a town where Athens now is, Grandpa came over here on business, and it was a little dark when he started home. There was not a road, and it grew so dark that he could no longer see the trees which had been blazed to mark the way. He went on as well as he could until he thought he ought to be near home. But he became so sonfused that he could not tell which way to go, and could not find a blazed tree. He concluded he must spend the night in the woods where he was and wait for the light of day. He tied his horse to a tree and lay down on the ground with his saddle for a pillow and slept soundly. When he woke in the morning, he found he was only a few rods from his own door.
The summer of 1806 was a very sickly season, and several of the children of the neighborhood died. Grandma had six children then: Hecotr, Eliza, Lucy, Daniel, Marcia and Edward. Edward was born in May, andin June, Daniel died; and Marcia in July. The sicknes was like dysentery and was considered contagious; to people were afraid to go where children were sick. There was no doctor nearer than Athens, twelve miles away. This was a very sad time for Grandma and Grandpa. It was very hot and dry. There was a fine spring of water that came out from under a large rock at the foot of the hill at quite a distance from the house. It was from here that water for cooking and drinking was brought that summer. Hector and Eliza usually went together for water, each carrying a small jug. Lucy, who was then five years old, was allowed to go with them once. And now, when she is eighty-seven years old, she remembers what a treat it was to her, and especially how cool the water felt to their little bare feet as they waded the brook before they came to the spring.
A little later Grandpa dug a well not far from the house. They called it a well, though it was not walled up and was large, more like a cistern. There was a board across it on which they walked out a little way, stooped down, and dipped up the water. One day, a neighbor returning something that had been borrowed, brought it in a little two-uart pail, which had been left on the tale. It looked so pretty to Lucy that she wished very much to go to the well with Hector and carry the little pail. He let her go with him, when he had finished filling his pail, he turned away. She walked out on the board and dipped up some water. It was too heavy for her, small as the little pail was, and as soon as it filled, she lost her balance and went to the bottom of the well. Hector heard the splash and ran back. Without waiting to call for help, he ran out on the board, and when she rose to the surface, he caught hold of her clothes and dragged her out. She remembers walking to the house with the water dripping from her clothes as she went. Grnadma and Grandpa were both very much frightened and thought Hector a wonderful boy.
Grandpa's and Judge Cutler's families were always very good friends and used to have many pleasant visits together. Sometimes Judge and Mrs. Cutler would come over to Grandpa's to spend the evening. Mrs. Culter would bring her work, and sh and Grandma would sit and sew by the light of one candle until about nine o'clock. Then Grandma would lay down her sewing and go make a cup of tea, bake biscuits, and get a nice supper, and they would have a merry time around the table. AFter which, the ladies sat down and sewed again until ten o'clock. After the company went home, Grandma would wash the dishes and have the room all ready for breakfast.
There were very few books and papers then, and everything to read was counted very precious. The almanac at the beginning of each year always gave them one good evening's reading. Grandpa took the National Intelligencer, published in Washington. This came every week, but the mails were carried on horseback, and the paper was a week or more old when it reached them. This was always read.
NABBY LEE AMES, HER LIFE, LEGEND, AND LEGACY
by
Beverly Schumacher
The Nabby Lee Ames Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution was incorporated under the Constitution of the National Society DAR and was formally organized in Athens, Ohio, January 23rd, 1903. This was just 13 years after the first national meeting was held, but it was one hundred years after Nabby Lee Ames, the woman, came to the area which we now know as Athens County.
Nabby Lee Ames was named Abigail Lee Johnson when she was born March 15, 1771, the eldest daughter of the Reverend Daniel Johnson and his wife, Betsy Lee.
Rev. Daniel Johnson was born in Bridgewater, Mass., in 1746, the son of Judge Daniel Johnson and his second wife, Bethiah, daughter of John Pryor. Rev. Daniel Johnson, Nabby's father, was graduated from Harvard College in 1767 at the age of 21. Two years later he became pastor of the Christian Church in Harvard, Massachusetts. He was in the ministry six years when he died at the age of 30 shortly after accepting the office of Chaplain in the American Army during the Revolutionary War. It was on September 23, 1777, and his daughter Nabby Lee was 6 ½ years old.
Betsy Lee Johnson, the daughter of Col. John Lee and his wife, Joanna Raymond, also died young. Nabby Lee was left an orphan at the age of ten. She lived with her grandmother or aunts in Salem, Marblehead, Newburyport, and Boston. She evidently was not the "poor little orphan" for her family and friends were wealthy, probably having slaves to do the work. Her grandfather owned several trading vessels. She was brought up to the finer things in life and learned how to be a gracious hostess.
Nabby Lee probably had no idea what she was getting into when she agreed to marry Silvanus Ames. Their fathers had been in the same graduating class at Harvard, they had both been ministers, and both died as chaplains in the Revolutionary War within a few months of each other. Nabby Lee and Silvanus were even born the same month - March 1771. They were 24 years old when they married on September 7, 1795. Their first son, Hector Revere, was born in 1797 in Massachusetts. They packed up that little baby and headed west on horseback. In 1798 they were in Belpre, Ohio.
The only place for them to live in Belpre was the school house. It only seemed to be needed for "singing school." There was only one room but the family had little furniture to rearrange. For the trip west, they had packed some of their things in a white-pine chest. This chest was now used for a table even when serving company.
Once, when Nabby Lee was having company, she had no flour, and she wanted to serve cake, so she made it from cornmeal. After supper one of the ladies asked for her recipe. The story goes that the lady thought it was "so nice." Perhaps it was our Nabby Lee who actually invented cornbread.
The school had a loft for storage. There was a black walnut log with notches cut in it for steps and it was leaning from the floor to the large square hole in the loft. When Nabby Lee and her husband, Silvanus, wrote back home to New England, they told of their solid black walnut stair case. It sounded so elegant, but of course they said it as a joke.
It was here in Belpre that their second child, Elizabeth Johnson Ames, called Eliza, was born March 4th, 1800. About two months later they moved to what is now Ames Township. It was part of Washington County. It was five years before Athens County was established. They took their belongings from Belpre to the mouth of the Hocking River (about 12 miles if they went along the river). Then they loaded into a small boat and rowed up the Hocking to Federal Creek, then up the creek until they reached their landing place about a quarter of a mile from the home of Judge Ephraim Cutler.
The Cutlers gave them a warm welcome and invited them to stay until their cabin was built. They unloaded the boat, placing their belongings not quite far enough from the bank. There was a storm that night with one of those flash floods and some of their things were washed away. Although they were able to retrieve most of it they did lose a half barrel of sugar. The nearest replacement was in Marietta and it had to be brought over on horseback in small quantities. Imagine what Nabby Lee must have been going through. Here she was in the middle of nowhere with two babies, Indians lurking behind trees, wild animals ready to pounce on her, and her best dress is floating down the creek. Oh, to be back in Boston with a nice warm cup of tea.
Nabby had some very pretty clothes when she came from Massachusetts. She had a cloak of plum-colored satin. It was called double satin and was very heavy, lined with fine white flannel. It was a full circle trimmed with curled ermine and had a large hood that could be drawn up over her bonnet when she went sleighing in New England. She also had a dove-colored dress called tabby silk, so heavy it could almost stand alone, and another snuff-colored silk. They were made with trains and Nabby Lee had made the dresses herself. Her cloak had come from England on her grandfather's trading vessel. Not very practical clothes for the life she now led, but once in a while, for several years, she would wear them.
There weren't many neighbors - the Cutlers, George Ewing's family, Captain Benjamin Brown's family. There were probably others who came several miles to help get the cabin built. It wasn't "call the contractor" in those days. It was: first, you start by cutting down the trees. They weren't building fancy - it was one large all-purpose room with two little bedrooms and a loft for storage. It wasn't what she left behind in the East, but Nabby Lee had her own home.
She hadn't been there long and Silvanus had left her alone with the children. She was scared half to death when she saw some wild animals near the house. She was getting breakfast at the time but breakfast got left behind when she headed for the loft with her children. She was still frightened, not knowing what those animals could do to them. She climbed back down from the loft, wrapped the baby in a blanket and, taking Hector's hand, she went the only path she knew- along the creek to Judge Cutler's home. It was a long walk with the children - and no breakfast- but they were finally safe with Mrs. Cutler. When she told her about the animals Mrs. Cutler said they were harmless cattle belonging to Mr. Ewing. They stayed for breakfast and the Ewing children escorted them home and drove the cattle away.
The first public library in the Northwest Territory was established in the area. We now refer to it as the "Coonskin" library because some of the money to purchase books came from the sale of furs. When the books were brought back from the East, they were brought to Nabby Lee's house, where at a meeting on December 17, 1804, they were put into the care of the first named librarian, Ephraim Cutler. Silvanus Ames had been one of the first to purchase two shares in the library. Also on the list, perhaps added later, was Lucy Ames - one share. Lucy Willis Ames was the third child of Silvanus and Nabby Lee.
Ames Township was one of four townships in the county. At one time it included Marion and Homer Township in Morgan County, Ward, Green, and Starr townships in Hocking County, Trimble, York, Dover, Bern, and Ames in Athens County.
The second school in Ames Township was built in 1811 on Nabby Lee's farm and served as a school house and meeting house for the settlement for several years. Sophia Walker taught the first quarter. Her father, Dr. Ezra Walker, taught the winter of 1811-1812. Nabby's daughter, Lucy, later married the teacher's son, Archibald B. Walker.
The second post office in Ames Township was established in 1821 and was named Amesville, although the village of Amesville was not laid out until 1839.
The Amesville Presbyterian Church was organized March 26, 1829. Nabby Lee Ames joined the church May 14, 1830, and was a member until her death.
Silvanus was very involved with the establishment of the area. He and Elijah Hatch were Associate Judges for the first Court of Common Pleas held July 8, 1805. He was elected again in 1806. In 1807 and 1808 he served as the county's second sheriff, and in 1813 until his death in 1823, he served many terms as Associate Judge. He was also elected Representative to the State Legislature several times. He was an appointed Trustee of Ohio University in 1808 until his death at the age of 52. He was undoubtedly a very influential man.
Nabby Lee Johnson Ames was probably rather influential herself. Her home was always open to the visiting dignitaries or the settlers passing through. She would have had occasion to wear those lovely dresses she brought from the East or the new ones she so beautifully stitched. The first time Silvanus was elected to the State Legislature, he could not afford to buy a new coat to wear, and his best coat was a little threadbare. Nabby Lee took it completely apart, even to removing the buttonhole stitches. Then she carefully sponged and pressed each piece and sewed it back together again, the other side out, and it was as good as a new coat. She had learned well to make do with what she had and to adjust to whatever her husband's lifestyle brought her.
Nabby gave birth to 11 children- 5 girls and 6 boys. In 1806, Edward Raymond was born on May 20. The next month, Daniel Johnson, her second son, died at the age of four, and in July, her baby girl, Marcia, died, both from dysentery. It must have been a dreadful summer. Her oldest son was now 9 and her girls were 5 and 6, perhaps old enough to be of some help with the new baby. She named another baby Marcia, but she died at the age of 16. She wasn't well as a baby and perhaps she just wasn't strong enough. She died in 1827, and death records weren't kept for another 40 years, so we don't know why Nabby Lee lost her second Marcia. The next year her first born, Hector Revere, died at about age 31. Hector apparently never married.
And what of her other children?
Her oldest daughter, Eliza, married George Dawes in Athens County in 1825 and moved to Wisconsin.
Lucy Willis married her teacher's son, Archibald B. Walker, in 1825 and they moved to Athens the next year. She became the mother of two sons and four daughters. One of her sons, Charles M. Walker, is well known for the "History of Athens County, Ohio" which he wrote in 1869. Walker's history is the basis for much of our county histories and family genealogies.
Edward Raymond Ames was by far the most famous of Nabby Lee's children. He did not enter Ohio University until he was 20, perhaps due to the death of his father when he was 17. He remained at the university two or three years, supporting himself through teaching and odd jobs. He joined the Methodist church. Remember, although he never knew them, the father of both of his parents were ministers. Nabby Lee and Silvanus were apparently very religious. Edward moved to Illinois where he started a high school and was a very successful teacher. In 1830 he was licensed to preach. In 1840 he was elected to a position in the Methodist church which had him traveling 25,000 miles over the next four years. In 1852 he became "Bishop Ames." That same year he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Ohio University. He was a Chaplain in the Union Army during the Civil War and was known by President Lincoln. Bishop Ames was married twice and left a son and two daughters when he died at Baltimore, Maryland, April 25, 1879.
Laura Watson Ames married John Rudolph deSteiguer, a descendant of Baron Rudolph deSteiguer, who brought his own Swiss colony to Athens in 1819. Judge Rudolph deSteiguer of Athens was the eldest son of Laura. They were probably the parents of eight children listed with them in the 1850 Athens Census. Nabby Lee probably lived with Laura and John part of the time after her husband died. According to her obituary, she had lived with her children since 1830.
John Lee married a Charlotte Watson in 1834 in Alabama. He is known to have lived in Kansas, Mississippi, and Missouri. He was a Methodist minister.
Charles Bingley went to Mississippi about the same time as his brother, John. He married there and became a lawyer, judge, a minister, and a professor of religion. He is the grandfather of the author, Ben Ames Williams, who wrote House Divided, a novel about the Civil War's effect on families.
George Washington Ames, the 11th child, moved to Greencastle, Indiana. He was also a minister and a Chaplain for the Union Army during the Civil War.
When Nabby Lee Ames was growing old she must have been a very proud lady. All four of her surviving sons were ministers. On a Tuesday evening, April 18, 1854, at the age of 84, Mrs. Nabby Lee Ames died at the residence of her daughter, Lucy. Lucy was her only child living in Athens County at that time. Her lovely obituary was written by her son-in-law, Archibald B. Walker. Her grave in the Cutler Cemetery near Amesville was marked by the Nabby Lee Ames Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution. We can be proud that 85 years ago our Chapter was named for Nabby Lee Ames, one of Athens County's first ladies.
REFERENCES:
Walker, Charles M., History of Athens County. 1869. 1967 reprint with index.
Beatty and Stone. Getting to Know Athens County, 1984
The Centennial Atlas of Athens County, 1905 - and index.
History of Hocking Valley, 1883.
DAR Collection in the Athens County Historical Society and Museum, Athens, Ohio.
Nabby Lee Ames, by Augusta Walker, unnumbered, no date, circa 1888.
Obituary of Nabby Lee Ames.
A presentation for the Nabby Lee Ames Chapter, DAR
Saturday, January 16, 1988
The Sportsman Restaurant, Athens, Ohio
By Beverly Cochran Schumacher
(revised 2003)
More About ABIGAIL (NABBY) LEE JOHNSON:
Burial: Cutler Cemetery, Route 280, Amesville, Ohio
Children of SYLVANUS AMES and ABIGAIL JOHNSON are:
i. HECTOR REVERE13 AMES, b. 05 Nov 1797, West Bridgewater, Plymouth County, MA; d. 1801, Amesville, Athens Co., OH.
Notes for HECTOR REVERE AMES:
Died young.
2. ii. ELIZABETH JOHNSON AMES, b. 11 Mar 1800, Belore or Belpre, Washington County, Ohio; d. Ripon, Wisconsin.
3. iii. LUCY WILLIS AMES, b. 28 Aug 1801, Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio; d. 21 Jun 1893, Athens, Athens County, Ohio.
iv. DANIEL JOHNSON AMES, b. 08 Nov 1802, Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio; d. 26 Jun 1806, Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio.
v. DANA JOHNSON AMES, b. 03 Feb 1805.
Notes for DANA JOHNSON AMES:
May be same as Daniel J.
Died when he was a year old.
4. vi. EDWARD RAYMOND AMES, b. 20 May 1806, Ames Township, Athens County, OH; d. 25 Apr 1879, Baltimore, Baltimore County, MD. Bishop of the Methodist Church
5. vii. LAURA WATSON AMES, b. 13 Feb 1808, Ames Township, Athens County, OH; d. 29 Jul 1851, Athens, Athens, Ohio.
6. viii. JOHN LEE AMES, b. 14 Jan 1810, Amesville or Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio; d. 12 Dec 1891, Fairview, Newton Co., Missouri or Grangeville, Missouri.
ix. MARCIA ORIN AMES, b. 29 Apr 1811, Ames Township, Athens County, OH; d. 19 Sep 1827, Ames Township, Athens County, OH.
7. x. CHARLES BINGLEY AMES, b. 01 Oct 1812, Ames Township, Athens County, OH; d. 03 Aug 1888, Macon, Noxubee County, Mississippi.
8. xi. GEORGE WASHINGTON AMES, b. 14 Jan 1815, Ames Township, Athens County, OH; d. 03 Jun 1881, Greencastle, Indiana.
I will file posts on the children as I can.
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