Charles Gordon Ames (3 October 1828, Dorchester, Massachusetts - 15 April 1912) was a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Unitarian clergyman, editor and lecturer.

Biography

He was a foundling, adopted by his parents when he was three years old. Ames spent his early years on a farm and in a printing-office in New Hampshire. He graduated from the

Geauga Seminary The Geauga Seminary (also known as Western Reserve Labor Seminary) was a Free Will Baptist school in Chester Township, Geauga County, Ohio. President James Garfield attended the Seminary. History The school was founded in 1842 by the Western Res ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, and was ordained in 1849 as a

Free Will Baptist Free Will Baptists are a group of General Baptist denominations of Christianity that teach free grace, free salvation and free will. The movement can be traced back to the 1600s with the development of General Baptism in England. Its formal est ...

, and became the founding minister for a church of that sect in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

in 1851. He was secretary of the founding meeting of the Minnesota branch of the Republican Party in 1854, and from 1855 to 1857 edited the

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

''Republican'', the first Republican paper in the Northwest. He found his congregation wanting in the faith and attitude he expected, and after five years he left the Minneapolis church, and, for a time, the ministry. He settled in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

in 1859, became a Unitarian, and later succeeded

James Freeman Clarke James Freeman Clarke (April 4, 1810 – June 8, 1888) was an American minister, theologian and author. Biography Born in Hanover, New Hampshire, on April 4, 1810, James Freeman Clarke was the son of Samuel Clarke and Rebecca Parker Hull, though h ...

as pastor of the Church of the Disciples there. He edited the '' Christian Register'' of Boston from 1877 to 1880. In 1881, he was elected as a member to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

. In 1889 Ames succeeded the Rev. James Freeman Clarke as pastor of the Church of the Disciples (Boston). In 1896 he received the degree of D.D. from

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

. In 1863, he married activist Fanny Baker Ames. This was his second marriage: in 1850 he had married Sarah Jane Daniels.

Publications

* (with J. Peter Lesley) * ''

George Eliot Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819 – 22 December 1880; alternatively Mary Anne or Marian), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, poet, journalist, translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She wrot ...

's Two Marriages'' (1886) * ''As Natural as Life'' (1894) * ''Poems'' (1898) * ''Sermons of Sunrise'' (1901) * ''Five Points of Faith'' (1903)

Notes

References

External links

*
A collection of sermons
written by Charles Gordon Ames and collected by Ellen M. Shumway are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the academic study of religion or for leadership roles in religion, gov ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...

.
Letters
to

Clara Bancroft Beatley Clara Bancroft Beatley (, Bancroft; January 12, 1858 – October 20, 1923) was an American educator, lecturer, and author, as well as a clubwoman and suffragist. A a descendant of staunch Unitarians, for many years, she served as the principal of ...

from Charles Gordon Ames are in the Harvard Divinity School Library at

. *Papers of Charles Gordon Ames form part of th
Ames family historical collectionSchlesinger Library
Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ames, Charles Gordon 1828 births 1912 deaths American Unitarian clergy American editors