Marcus Ames
{{Short description|American minister and school administrator}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Marcus Ames
| image = File:Marcus_Ames.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 1828
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death year and age|1887|1828}}
| death_place =
| citizenship = United States
| other_names =
| occupation = Minister
| spouse = Jane Ames (née Vandenburg)
| relatives = Herman Vandenburg Ames (son)
| family = Ames family
|title = Reverend
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Marcus Ames (1828–1887) was an American minister and prison chaplain who was an early reformer in juvenile corrections. A member of the Ames family, he served as head of the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls and as chaplain of the state institutions of Rhode Island.
Early life
A member of the Ames family, Marcus Ames was the son of Azel Ames and Mercy Ames (née Hatch).{{cite book|last1=Shaw|first1=Albert|title=The American Monthly Review of Reviews, Volume 24|date=1901|page=121}}{{cite book|title=Register|date=1902|publisher=Order of the Founders and Patriots of America|page=41|url=https://archive.org/details/register01amergoog}}{{cite book|last1=White|first1=Almira|title=Genealogy of the descendants of John White of Wenham and Lancaster, Massachusetts|date=1909|publisher=Nicholas Print|pages=[https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce004whit/page/60 60]–64|url=https://archive.org/details/genealogyofdesce004whit}} He was educated at Phillips Andover Academy, where he graduated as valedictorian, before studying medicine at Harvard Medical School.{{cite book|last1=Chamberlain|first1=Joshua|title=University of Pennsylvania: Its History, Influence, Equipment and Characteristics; with Biographical Sketches and Portraits of Founders, Benefactors, Officers and Alumni|date=1901|publisher=R. Herndon Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/universityofpenn01cham/page/442 442]|url=https://archive.org/details/universityofpenn01cham}}{{cite book|last1=Hinman|first1=Royal|title=A Catalogue of the Names of the Early Puritan Settlers of the Colony of Connecticut|publisher=Case, Tiffany|date=1852|page=[https://archive.org/details/acataloguenames02hinmgoog/page/n59 50]|url=https://archive.org/details/acataloguenames02hinmgoog}}{{cite book|last1=Ford|first1=David|title=History of Hanover Academy|year=1899|publisher=H.M. Hight|pages=[https://archive.org/details/historyhanovera00fordgoog/page/n174 164]–165|url=https://archive.org/details/historyhanovera00fordgoog}}
Career
He was ordained to the clergy in 1854, becoming a "brilliant, fervent, and impressive" Congregational preacher who ministered throughout Massachusetts.{{cite book|last1=Adoniram|first1=Rich|title=Historical Discourse Delivered on Occasion of the One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Anniversary of the Congregational Church, and the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Sunday School, in Westminster, Mass., September 9, 1868|date=1869|publisher=S. Bowles|page=124|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYMsAAAAYAAJ|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218211032/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZYMsAAAAYAAJ|archivedate=February 18, 2018}} Though Ames was educated to undertake missionary work in West Africa, the poor state of health of his wife ultimately precluded him from traveling abroad.
Ames was a firm believer in criminal rehabilitation and, in 1862, was made superintendent and chaplain of the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls. Two years later he expressed, in writing, his concerns for what he saw as a growing problem with a lack of skilled education, and prevalence of idleness, among working class girls, and opined that without education many would be destined for unemployment and homelessness.{{cite book|last1=Brenzel|first1=Barbara|title=Daughters of the State: A Social Portrait of the First Reform School for Girls in North America, 1856-1905|date=1985|publisher=MIT Press|pages=108, 114}} In 1874, after plans were announced to install workshops at the school, Ames – concerned that the new direction towards prison industry was transforming it into a jail – resigned in protest.{{cite book|last1=Schneider|first1=Eric|title=In the Web of Class: Delinquents and Reformers in Boston, 1810s–1930s|date=1993|publisher=NYU Press|isbn=0814788785|page=89|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uovCCyyN2ggC|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218211032/https://books.google.com/books?id=uovCCyyN2ggC|archivedate=2018-02-18}} His resignation was joined by most of the school's matrons.{{cite book|last1=Lawrence|first1=Richard|title=Juvenile Justice|date=2008|publisher=SAGE|isbn=978-1412950367|pages=356–357|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f16YcxObAfUC&pg=PA357|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218211032/https://books.google.com/books?id=f16YcxObAfUC&pg=PA357|archivedate=2018-02-18}} After leaving the Lancaster School, he was appointed chaplain of state institutions of the State of Rhode Island, which included the state's insane asylum, prison, almshouse, and workhouse.{{cite book|title=The Social Welfare Forum: Official Proceedings [of The] Annual Forum|date=1881|publisher=National Conference on Social Welfare|pages=215–216|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6U5AQAAMAAJ|url-status=live|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218211032/https://books.google.com/books?id=o6U5AQAAMAAJ|archivedate=2018-02-18}}
Personal life
With his wife, Jane Ames (née Vandenburg), Ames had two sons, Marcus and Herman, and a daughter, Ella.{{cite book|title=Dictionary of American Biography|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer17amer|date=1943|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofamer17amer/page/28 28–29]}}
References
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Category:Harvard Medical School alumni
Category:Religious leaders from Massachusetts
Category:Heads of American boarding schools
Category:American Congregationalist ministers