Oakes Ames

Oakes Ames ( born January 10, 1804 in Easton, Bristol County, Massachusetts, † May 8, 1873 in North Easton, Massachusetts ) was an American politician. Between 1863 and 1873 he represented the state of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Career

Oakes Ames was the father of Governor Oliver Ames ( 1831-1895 ). He attended the common schools and the Dighton Academy. After that, he was engaged in the manufacture of shovels and buckets. He became a member of the Republican Party; in 1860 he sat in the Government of Massachusetts.

In the congressional elections of 1862 Ames was in the second electoral district of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC chosen, where he became the successor of James Buffinton on March 4, 1863. After four elections he could pass in Congress until March 3, 1873 five legislative sessions. These were shaped by the events of the civil war and its consequences. Since 1865 the work of the Congress was overshadowed by the tensions between the Republican Party and President Andrew Johnson, which culminated in a narrowly failed impeachment. Ames sat successfully for the transcontinental railroad company Union Pacific Railroad. His brother Oliver was president of that company. His involvement in this area led to his involvement in the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal, for which he was in February 1873 formally reprimanded in Congress.

In 1872, Ames gave up for reelection. He died on 8 May 1873 just weeks after the end of his time in Congress. The cities of Ames in Ames Iowa and Nebraska were named after him. His grandson, who also bore the name of Oakes Ames, was a distinguished botanist.