Oakes Angier Ames
Oakes Angier Ames | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth date North Easton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | September 19, 1899 (aged 70) |
| Occupation(s) | Entrepreneur, financier, benefactor |
| Known for | President of Oliver Ames and Sons Corporation; settling 1889 labor strike; philanthropy in Easton, Massachusetts |
Oakes Angier Ames (April 15, 1829 – September 19, 1899) was a notable American entrepreneur, financier, and benefactor hailing from the distinguished Ames family of North Easton, Massachusetts.
Born into a lineage celebrated for both commercial achievement and community philanthropy, he inherited leadership roles within the Oliver Ames and Sons Corporation as well as the Ames Shovel and Tool Company. Beginning as superintendent in 1873, he progressed to President by 1877, overseeing manufacturing operations. He is particularly recognized for effectively settling a significant labor strike in 1889 that endured nearly two months.
Before passing away, Ames directed a thriving family enterprise and commissioned public buildings in Easton, including a schoolhouse in North Easton. His financial leadership extended to serving as President of North Easton Savings Bank, Vice-President of Easton National Bank, Director at Lincoln National Bank of Boston and Kingsley Iron Machine Company, trustee of the State Lunatic Asylum in Taunton (now Taunton State Hospital), Director of American Loan and Trust Company and United Electric Securities Company, and co-proprietor of a sugar plantation in Louisiana.
Family
Oakes Angier Ames was the firstborn son of Massachusetts Congressman Oakes Ames (1804–1873), a pivotal figure in the development of the Union Pacific Railroad, and sibling to Oliver Ames (governor) (1831–1895), who served as Massachusetts’ 35th Governor. His brothers included Frank Morton Ames and Henry Gilmore Ames, with Susan Eveline (Ames) French as his sister. His mother, Evelina Orville Gilmore, was descended from Joshua and Hannah (Lothrop) Gilmore of Easton, Massachusetts. The Ames ancestry traces back to William Ames, an early New England settler arriving in 1635. His great-grandfather Capt. John Ames and grandfather Oliver Ames Sr. established the Ames Shovel Works, a key supplier during the canal and railroad construction period. The family was among the wealthiest in Massachusetts.
Early life
Oakes Angier received his early education in Easton’s public schools before attending Fruit Hill Academy in Rhode Island and Leicester Academy in Massachusetts. At eighteen, he entered the family enterprise to gain expertise in shovel production and labor management.
The Oliver Ames and Sons Company, originally founded by his grandfather Oliver Ames Sr. ("Old Oliver"), operated near Shovelshop Pond in Easton. On March 2, 1852, Oakes Angier experienced a catastrophic fire that destroyed all company buildings. After suffering smoke inhalation, he was sent to Cuba for recuperation; upon his return, his health improved.
The fire originated when a lantern accidentally ignited varnish within the finishing shop. This event inspired Oakes Angier to construct both his residence—Queset House—and the new shovel factory using stone materials, a method adopted in subsequent family projects.
He resided with his parents on Main Street until Queset House was completed, after which he relocated there with his wife Catherine Hobart Ames to raise their family.
Business
Following the death of Oliver Ames Sr. in 1863, ownership of Oliver Ames and Sons Company passed equally to his grandsons Oakes Angier, Oliver, and Frederick Lothrop Ames who became business partners. Frank Morton Ames pursued an independent career as President of Kingsley Iron and Machine Company.
During the Civil War period, these three grandsons expanded their inherited business ventures: Oliver handled operations beyond Easton; Frederick acted as treasurer and secretary; while Oakes Angier served as supervisor, general manager, and from 1877 until his death as President. By that time, the company was manufacturing approximately 117,500 dozen shovels annually employing 500 workers on ten-hour shifts.
In 1863, Oakes Angier secured a patent for a welding furnace that enhanced temperature control during welding between shovel blades and straps.
In 1873, together with his brother Frank, he acquired Southside and Estelle Plantations located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana for $180,000. These plantations were technologically advanced for sugar harvesting and processing—producing between 60,000 to 70,000 pounds daily. His earlier convalescence period in Cuba likely influenced this southern investment.
As President in 1879, Oakes Angier contributed half of the $1,400 expense required to build a church in Easton catering to Swedish immigrant workers associated with the Evangelical Covenant Church. Before this establishment existed, worship services were hosted privately. Additionally, he provided a hall on Main Street for congregational use. This initiative continued the Ames family's tradition of supporting religious facilities for their employees—including one on Pond Street serving Irish laborers.
Strike of 1889
In his work History of the Town of Easton, William Chaffin highlighted Oakes Angier Ames as possessing both the temperament and expertise essential for overseeing Company employees, traits that were crucial during the labor strike of 1889. Ames was respected for his honesty and empathy toward the workforce. Before this event, worker unrest had been relatively rare and less thoroughly recorded.
The strike centered around handlers who welded straps onto steel-edged shovels, protesting a Company policy that had been in place for some time. On February 22, 1889, a group of twenty-three handlers ceased work and organized a committee to negotiate with General Manager Oakes Angier Ames. Although Ames explained that the regulations were necessary and emphasized the Company’s reputation for fair compensation, the workers refused to resume duties. After establishing a deadline of March 4, Ames proceeded to recruit replacement workers, with his son Hobart and Governor Oliver Ames’ son William supervising their training and safeguarding them from intimidation by strikers. While Ames requested that striking employees leave Company tenement housing, he refrained from evicting them; only a single arrest related to violence occurred during the strike. The labor dispute concluded on April 12 when sixteen strikers returned under the existing conditions; five were excluded from reinstatement, although some secured alternative employment or positions on Ames family properties. Despite a downturn in shovel sales during the strike period, revenues still surpassed those of previous years by $950.27.
Queset House
The heritage of Oakes Angier Ames is preserved in Queset House, his stone residence situated beside Queset Brook behind the Ames Free Library. This home was later inherited by his son, theatrical producer Winthrop Ames, who lived there with his wife Lucy. Presently owned by the library, Queset House functions as a cultural venue. Designed in 1853 and completed in 1854, its façade was inspired by architectural plans from Andrew Jackson Downing working alongside Alexander Jackson Davis, exemplifying the Gothic Revival style. In 1873, John Ames Mitchell—an architect educated at Harvard and cousin to Oakes Angier who also designed Easton’s Unity Church—remodeled the rear portion and introduced copper-clad chimneys along with a staircase. The grounds were designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who collaborated with Ames to create the nearby The Rockery.
Together with his relatives, Ames commissioned Olmsted and architect H. H. Richardson to design several prominent buildings and landscapes in North Easton, including:
- Ames Gate Lodge
- Oakes Ames Memorial Hall
- Old Colony Railroad Station
- The Rockery
- F.L. Ames Gardener's Cottage
Personal
Oakes Angier was a practicing Unitarian and served as chairman of the Church Committee, seldom missing Sunday services. He wed Catherine Hobart in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts on July 19, 1855. The couple had six children, four of whom survived beyond infancy:
- Maria Hobart Ames (born October 13, 1856), married Richard Hickman Harte
- Hobart Ames (born August 21, 1865), married Julia A. (Hillis) Colony
- Winthrop Ames (born November 25, 1870), married Lucy K. Fuller
- Katherine Hobart Ames (born January 11, 1874), married Philip Leffingwell Spalding
Catherine Angier passed away on April 18, 1903. She led a reserved life but was recognized for her participation in local charitable activities despite not holding formal positions within organizations.
Selected works
- Oakes Ames and the Credit Mobilier, Boston, printed by F. Wood, 1880
- The Architecture of Country Houses, originally by A. Jackson Downing, New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1969
See also
Bibliography
- Dell Upton (1998) Architecture in the United States, Oxford University Press, p.95
- Forest Systems: Queset House
- Diary of a Yankee Housewife by Sarah L. Ames
- Boston Herald obituary for Mrs. Catherine H. Ames, April 19, 1903
- Interviews and publications from the Ames family and local historical societies
- Ingham, John N. (1983), Biographical Dictionary of American Business Leaders, Greenwood Press, p.16
- Kenneally, James J., "Even in the Best of Families: The 1889 Strike at the Ames Shovel Company," Easton Historical Society Reminiscences, vol.4 (2013), pp.12–21
- Swanson, Betsy (2004), Historic Jefferson Parish: From Shore to Shore, Pelican Publishing Company