Ames Family Tree

 Oakes Ames (of Oliver and Anna Ames)

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Children of  Oakes and Blanche Ames

...excerpt from "Men of New England"...

DR. OAKES AMES

Botanist and Educator

The science of botany has been immeasurably enriched through the distinguished life work of Dr. Oakes Ames, who was throughout his career a member of the faculty of Harvard University, and particularly in the field of orchidology gained an international reputation. Dr. Ames was for some years professor of

botany at the great Eastern university; later filled the post of research professor of botany; and was also director of the Botanical Museum. He contributed works of lasting value to the literature of his profession, was honored as a member of many learned societies, and built up a library and an herbarium which greatly facilitate the advanced study of his beloved subject. New England can claim few professional men in recent years whose devotion to a single study has borne more worthwhile fruit.

Born in North Easton, Massachusetts on September 26, 1874, Dr. Oakes Ames was the son of Oliver Ames, financier whose influence had been particularly important in the development of the West, who in his retirement was elected Governor of Massachusetts. The professor's interest in botanical studies dated from his early childhood years, when he set for himself the assignment of learning the name of one new plant each day. Paul C. Mangelsdorf, who wrote the introduction to his "Orchids in Retrospect," relates that the youth "began a serious study of the local flora of North Easton, and with a tin biscuit box to serve as a vasculum, he roamed the woods and countryside, imagining himself to be exploring strange "and distant lands." His father shared this interest 'with him. On one occasion when the Governor was ill, the son visited him, and took a particular interest in some orchids which were brightening up the sickroom. In this way, Dr. Ames related in later years to a Florida newsman, "I fell in love with orchids and began collecting my own, using my small allowance to satisfy my fancy. I began to form an herbarium and to gather classics of orchidology for my rapidly growing library."

On completing his secondary education, he entered Harvard University, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1898 and Master of Arts the following year. As an undergraduate he made trips abroad and in these the focus of his interest remained the study of orchids.

Immediately upon receipt of his bachelor's degree, Oakes Ames accepted appointment as assistant in botany at Harvard. Two years later he was made instructor in the subject, and concurrent with his teaching, he served as assistant director, from 1899 to 1909, of the Botanic Garden of Harvard. He was its director from 1909 until 1922. In 1915 he was appointed assistant professor of botany at Harvard, and held the position of professor from 1926 to 1932. He was Arnold Professor of Botany from 1932 to 1935, and research professor of this subject from 1935 to 1941. He became research professor of botany, emeritus, on June 9, 1941, and held this title until the end of his life. Other capacities in which Dr. Ames served his university were as chairman of the comm1ttee on the future work and needs of the university in biology (by appointment of President Lowell in 1926); chairman of the division of biology (1926 to 1935); chairman of the Council of Botanical Collections; supervisor of the Biological Laboratory and Botanic Garden in Cuba, and also supervisor of the Arnold Arboretum, from 1927 to 1935; director of the Botanical Museum from 1937 to 1945; and associate director of that museum from 1945 until his death.

Nor does a listing of the posts held by Dr. Ames indicate the extent of his contribution to the advancement of the field. In the study of orchids his role was unique. Writes Mr. Mangelsdorf :

      ...The Orchidaceae, one of the largest and most complex of plant families, was but poorly understood when Oakes Ames

      as a young man began his systematic studies. Today, and in no small measure because of his work and that of his asso-

      ciates, the species of the Orchidaceae have probably been more thoroughly studied and more completely classified than

      those of any of the other larger plant families. Oakes Ames has himself described more than 1,000 new species."

The constructive outcome of this interest, to others as well as himself, has taken the form of over two hundred papers, dealing with orchids and related subjects, which he has authored, and which have appeared in botanical periodicals. The masterwork which was the definitive product of his studies was the seven-volume "Orchidaceae," published serially over a number of years. He also carried on an enumeration of orchids of the United States and Canada, and in consequence of these studies authored a book published in 1939 under the titles "Economic Annuals and Human Cultures," and "Enumeration of the Orchids of the U. S. and Canada." Dr. Ames received many honors in recognition of his place in the biological sciences. He was awarded the gold medal for eminent service to orchidology by the American Orchid Society in 1924; received the Centennial Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 1929; and in 1935 was the recipient of the George Robert White Medal of Honor for eminent service in the field of horticulture. His degree of Doctor of Science was conferred by Washington University in 1938. He had been elected to many learned societies, including the Linnean Society of London and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which he was a fellow. He had held office in a number of such groups: had been vice president of the American Orchid Society since 192 I; was vice president of the New England Botanical,Club from 1923 to 1926; and held the same office in the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for a number of terms, covering the years 1902-1903 and 1928 to 1941. He was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Naturalists, National Institute of Social Sciences, Association Internationale des Botanistes, the Orchid Circle of Ceylon, and the Canal Zone Orchid Society, having been honorary president of the last-named group. He belonged also to the New York Academy of Sciences, Washington Academy of Sciences, Biological Society of Washington, and the Boston Society of Natural History, the Torrey Botanical Club, and the American Fern Society. His fraternity was Sigma Xi.

Further, Dr. Ames was an extensive collector, who enriched Harvard University's botanical accessions by the gift of a collection of sixty-four thousand dried and pressed plants. Now known as the Cakes Ames Orchid Herbarium, it was presented to the university in 1938 together with endowment funds to provide for its maintenance. His collection of living orchids was the most complete in the United States. In his later years he made his winter home near Ormond, Florida, and there, in an unpretentious little greenhouse, continued to devote six uninterrupted months per year to his lifelong interest. There he devoted particular attention to raising delicately colored Philippine moth orchids, as well as the more common cattleyas and other varieties. Dr. Ames pioneered in the teaching of economic botany at Harvard, and he had traveled extensively to prepare himself in this field, making a trip to Brazil with Mrs. Ames in 1915. The library which Mr. Ames built up in the field of his specialty represents as thorough an undertaking as did his work of plant collecting. There are sixteen thousand books in this library, and their subject matter is card-indexed in a file containing two hundred and fifty thousand entries. Mr. Mangelsdorf places this estimate upon the value of this lifetime work: "Since no effort or expense was spared in obtaining books and specimens concerned with economic plants, this library, together with its accompanying herbarium and other material, is now the world's most complete in the field of economic botany and is the second of the important and priceless collections which Professor Ames has created in his lifetime."

During World War I, Dr. Ames served on the Botanical Raw Products Committee of the National Research Council. When in the course of World War II our supplies of important botanical resources from Asia and the Pacific were cut off, many men who had trained under the professor were instrumental in solving the government's resulting botanical problems. Dr. Ames' preeminence in scientific pursuits did not preclude activities in the business sphere. He was a director of the First National Bank of Easton, and of the Ames Shovel and Tool Company. He was a member of the Harvard Club, and in his religious faith was a Unitarian. On May 15, 1900, Dr. Oakes Ames married Blanche Ames, who was the daughter of General Adelbert Ames. "Seldom in botanical history," remarks his earlier biographer, "have science and art been so happily and fruitfully joined." He terms Mrs. Ames "undoubtedly the foremost botanical artist of her time." She is as interested in orchids as, was her late husband; is an able portrait painter who utilizes her skill only for the benefit of close friends and members of the family; has perfected a system of indexing colors for painting; and has compiled a file of three thousand cards with m9re than that number of identifiable colors on them. These, she says, have furnished her with a catalog of all the colors utilized by the old masters. By the use of cards and matching tubes, she can then duplicate any color. Her inventive abilities have been turned constructively to many practical problems. Mrs. Ames' mother, the former Blanche Butler, was the daughter of General Butler; and her father, after distinguishing himself in the Union cause during the Civil War, served as military governor of Mississippi in Reconstruction days, and later as senator from that state. The Mississippi government has requested of Mrs. Ames a portrait of the General to add to their collection.

Dr. and Mrs. Ames became the parents of four children:

1. Pauline, who married Francis T. P. Plimpton of New York City. Their children:

            i. George Ames.

ii. Francis T. P., Jr.

iii. Oakes Ames.

iv. Sarah Gay.

      2. Oliver, who served as a commander in the United States Naval Air

      Force during World War II. He married Ellen Mosely and has two

      children:

      i. Oliver.

ii. Angier.

      3. Amyas, who married Evalyn Ingeborg Perkins. Their children:

            i. Oakes.

ii. Edward Amyas.

iii. Oliver.

iv. Jean.

      4. Evelyn, wife of John Paschall Davis of New York. Their children:

            i. Blanche Ames.

ii. John Paschall.

iii. Evelyn Ames.

iv. Ames.

Dr. Ames died on April 28th, 1950.