Ames
Samuel Ames Portrait
unknown

Samuel Ames

Gender:
Male
Born:
September 6, 1806
Died:
December 20, 1865
Home Town:
Providence, RI
Marriage(s):
Mary Dorr Ames (June 27, 1839)
Biographical Notes:
   Samuel Ames was the eldest son of Samuel and Anne Checkley Ames. He studied at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts in 1819 and graduated from Brown University in 1823. He then attended the Litchfield Law School in 1824. After he was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar in 1826, Ames opened a law office in Providence, Rhode Island, and in 1838 married Mary Dorr of Providence.
   In 1832, he assisted Joseph K. Angell in the preparation of his treatise on "Corporation Law". He served as quartermaster general for the state troops during the Dorr Rebellion (led by his wife's brother Thomas Wilson Dorr).
    Ames had an active role in Rhode Island politics and served as a City Council member in Providence and as a state representative in the Rhode Island ...
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Additional Notes:
   He was the co-author of Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Rhode Island, 1828-1887, and was the author of Rhode Island Rebellion, 1842 Extracts from Newspapers; Robert H. Ives vs. Charles T. Hazard (and others) Opening argument for Complainant
Education
Years at LLS:
1824
Other Education:
Attended Phillips Academy in 1819, and received a degree from Brown University in 1823.
Profession / Service
Profession:
Lawyer; Political Office; Business
Admitted To Bar:
Rhode Island in 1826
State Posts:
State Representative (Rhode Island)
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (Rhode Island)
State Committees:
Speaker of the State House of Representatives in 1844 and 1845. RI Representative to the 1865 Peace Conference in Washington, D.C.
Local Posts:
City Council (Providence, RI) 1841-1851
Related Objects and Documents
In the Ledger:
Other:
Samuel Ames family papers
Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1
help The Citation of Attendance provides primary source documentation of the student’s attendance at the Litchfield Female Academy and/or the Litchfield Law School. If a citation is absent, the student is thought to have attended but currently lacks primary source confirmation.

Records for the schools were sporadic, especially in the formative years of both institutions. If instructors kept comprehensive records for the Litchfield Female Academy or the Litchfield Law School, they do not survive. Researchers and staff have identified students through letters, diaries, family histories and genealogies, and town histories as well as catalogues of students printed in various years. Art and needlework have provided further identification of Female Academy Students, and Litchfield County Bar records document a number of Law School students. The history of both schools and the identification of the students who attended them owe credit to the early 20th century research and documentation efforts of Emily Noyes Vanderpoel and Samuel Fisher, and the late 20th century research and documentation efforts of Lynne Templeton Brickley and the Litchfield Historical Society staff.
CITATION OF ATTENDANCE:
Catalogue of the Litchfield Law School (Hartford, CT: Press of Case, Tiffany and Company, 1848), 20.
Secondary Sources:
Lewis, William Draper. Great American Lawyers, Vol. 5. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company, 1908.

Payne, Abraham. Reminiscences of the Rhode Island Bar. Providence, RI: Tibbitts and Preston, 1885.
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