DEMAS L. AMES, one of the prominent citizens of West Bethlehem township, is a son of John Ames, whose father, Jabez, was born in Maryland, where he grew to manhood and married Elizabeth Smith. Jabez Ames came to Washington county, and erected one of the first log cabins here. The country was very wild, and the Indians became so hostile that Mr. Ames, after repeated efforts to clear his land (for which he had previously secured a patent), turned Indian-fighter and hunter. In that lonely little cabin were born five sons and three daughters, all of whom are dead. John, who was the youngest of the boys, attended one of the first schools organized in Washington county, and at the early age of seventeen, in the year 1818, married Mary Thompson, a daughter of Thomas Thompson, who came to Washington county about the same time as the elder Ames, and whose family also consisted of five sons and three daughters. To John and Mary Ames the following named children were born: Rosa Ann, now living in Scottsburgh, Ind., widow of Otto Mayheart; Elizabeth, in Hillsborough, this county, widow of Henry Bush; Arthur, a prominent farmer of West Pike Run township; E. H., living in West Bethlehem township; Demas L., our subject; Mary Ann (Mrs. Samuel Yoder), who died in April, 1880; John Mertin, who died in 1878, and Joshua, Celia and Samuel, all three of whom died in infancy, Samuel breathing his last in the arms of his brother Demas. Demas L. Ames was born October 17, 1840, and his early life was spent upon the home farm, and in learning the trade of blacksmith, which he was eventually compelled to abandon because of defective eyesight. He then returned to farming, which he has since followed. He married Lydia A. Miller, daughter of Joseph Miller, of Amwell township, December 21, 1861, and to them the following children were born: Joshua, who died in infancy; Elizabeth, a resident of West Bethlehem township, wife of Isaiah Grable; Emmer Marsh, who lives at the home of his parents, and who married Louisa Gunloe, a daughter of Henry Gunloe, of West Bethlehem township; and Arabella, living in Somerset township, the wife of Jonathan Konkle. The mother of Demas, who is a remarkably prepossessing old lady, resides at his home. She enjoys the distinction of being the grandmother and the great-grandmother of forty-two descendants. During the war, Demas Ames was a member of Company A, 22d P. V. C., under James P. Hart; he was, however, transferred to Company B, 18th P. V. C., before the close of the struggle. He was a gallant soldier, and served his country long and well, but like many another, he contracted diseases while in the service, from which he is to-day suffering. Mr. Ames is a life-long Republican, although not an office-seeker, and has declined to accept nominations proferred by his party. Both himself and wife are earnest members of the Disciple Church.

Text taken from page 657 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed May 1997 by Laura M. Thomas of Enfield, CT as part of the Beers Project. Published May 1997 on the Washington County, PA pages at http://www.chartiers.com/ .

[ [Back to Beers Table of Contents] [Back to Beers Project Page]