Biographical Sketch

John Worthington Ames (1833-1878) was born 23 November 1833 in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Seth Ames (1805-1881) and Margaret Stevenson Bradford Ames (1804-1847). He graduated Harvard College in 1854, and in December of that year, he sailed to China and British Hong Kong on the Storm King, spending time in Canton and Fuzhou. During his time in China, he stayed at Western trading sites, including the American trading house of King & Co. He returned to Boston in December of 1855 aboard the Don Quixote. At some point, he studied engineering at the Lawrence Scientific School. In 1858, he traveled to Arkansas while working as a civil engineer for the Little Rock and Fort Smith Railroad Company. He then settled in Bloomington, Illinois, for a time and went into business with a friend. By 1861, he was in Texas to help build a road when the Civil War began and was nearly drafted into the Confederate Army while in Galveston. Ames was able to return north, where he was subsequently appointed first lieutenant in the 16th United States Infantry Regiment on 18 June 1861. On 31 June, he transferred and was nominated as captain in the 11th United States Infantry Regiment, then receiving his commission, went to Fort Independence on 15 August and was assigned to Company C in the 1st Battalion.

After training at Fort Independence, Ames was assigned to a recruiting post in Springfield, Massachusetts. He then joined his regiment in Maryland. As part of the Army of the Potomac, the 11th Infantry Regiment was at times attached to Sykes' Brigade and the V Army Corps, participating in the Siege of Yorktown (5 April-4 May 1862), Battle of Mechanicsville, Battle of Malvern Hill, the Second Battle of Bull Run, Battle of Antietam, Battle of Fredericksburg, Battle of Chancellorsville, and Battle of Gettysburg.

In the fall of 1863, Ames was promoted to colonel of the 6th United States Colored Infantry Regiment. The regiment was organized in the summer of 1863 and, by October, was at Yorktown, Virginia. While attached to the XVIII Corps, part of the Army of the James, the 6th participated in numerous expeditions; the capture of City Point, Virginia; Battle of Baylor's Farm; Battle of Chaffin's Farm and New Market Heights, where Ames was shot through the leg; and Battle of Fair Oaks and Darbytown Road. The 6th was then attached to the XXV Corps and participated in the First and Second Battle of Fort Fisher, as well as Sugar Loaf Hill. The regiment was then attached to the X Corps during the advance and capture of Kinston, Goldsboro, and Raleigh, North Carolina, and was present at the surrender of General Joseph Eggleston Johnston at Bennett Place, North Carolina. The regiment was mustered out 26 September 1865. Ames mustered out of volunteer service and rejoined the 11th in 1865. He was given a recruiting post in Portland, Maine, before resigning from the military in the fall of 1866.

Following his resignation from the army, Ames moved to Burlington, Iowa, where he was employed by the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company as a land agent and then as the company's treasurer. In 1873, he left for San Francisco and was appointed president of the European and Oregon Land Company. After the company was disincorporated in fall of 1874, he briefly worked in the mercantile business. In 1876, Ames began to experience health issues from his time in the military. At the beginning of 1877, he went to Hawaii to improve his health. After returning home to California, he was made Surveyor General of California in September of 1877. His health continued to deteriorate, and he died of liver disease on 6 April 1878.

In 1865, John Worthington Ames married Margaret Corlis Plumly (1843-1919), the daughter of legislator and abolitionist Benjamin Rush Plumly (1816-1887) and Rebecca Wilson Plumly. They had three children, Frances Margaret Bradford Ames Randall (1866-1968), Rebecca Worthington Ames Adams Ames (1868-1966), and John Worthington Ames, Jr. (1871-1954).