Obituaries

With the deepest sorrow and regret, we are called upon to announce to the public, the death of Hon. Fisher Ames . This mournful event, which took place at his paternal seat in Dedham , on the 4^th instant, will be considered a great national calamity, and excite the general sorrow of the whole country.

Ames was born in Dedham , Massachusetts . His father, a physician, died when Fisher was but six years old, but his mother resolved, in spite of her limited income, to give the boy a classical education. At the age of six he began the study of Latin, and at the age of twelve, he was sent to Harvard College graduating in 1774 when he began work as a teacher. While teaching school Ames also studied law. He was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Dedham in 1781.

His father, Dr. Nathaniel Ames, was a man of an acute and active mind, and is best known as the author of the Ames almanack, "which were the inspiration for the Poor Richard's Almanacs."[1]

In 1788, he served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He became a member of the Massachusetts convention that ratified the United States Constitution that same year.

Ames was elected to the First, having beat Sam Adams for the post.[2] He also served in the Second and Third Congresses and as a Federalist to the Fourth Congress. He served in Congress from March 4, 1789 to March 3, 1797. During the First Congress, he was chairman of the Committee on Elections. In 1796, he was not a candidate for renomination but resumed the practice of law in Dedham . He stayed in politics and was a member of the Governor's Council from 1798 to 1800. In his new role, Ames offered one of the great orations on the death of President Washington. He also published a number of essays, critical of Jefferson 's followers.

In 1805, Ames was chosen president of Harvard University . He declined to serve because of failing health. Four years later, in 1808, he died in Dedham on July 4. He was interred in the Old First Parish Cemetery after a public funeral in Boston .

Despite his limited number of years in public service, Fisher Ames ranks as one of the more influential figures of his era. Ames led Federalist ranks in the House of Representatives. His acceptance of the Bill of Rights garnered support in Massachusetts for the new Constitution. His greatest fame however may have come as an orator. Ames offered one of the first great speeches in American Congressional history when he spoke in favor of the Jay Treaty. -- Wikipedia

[The Centinel ( Gettysburg , Pennsylvania ), July 13, 1808 - Contrib. by N. Piper]

DEDHAM, Mass., Sept. 3.—Thomas F. Bayard died at half past 4 o'clock this afternoon at Karlstein. the summer residence of his daughter, Mrs. Samuel D. Warren, after an Illness of six weeks. His death was without pain. His wife, his two daughters
Mrs. Warren and Miss Florence Bayard, and his son, Thomas P. Jr. saw him draw his last breath and his third daughter, Countess Lauenhaupt, was on her way to Dedham. The remains will be conveyed to Delaware, and the funeral services will
be held Saturday In the old Swedish Church at Wilmington.
[Indiana Journal October 5, 1898 - contributed by Barb Z.]

Adams, Thomas Boylston, age 59, bro. X-Pres. J.Q. Adams, died at Quincy, Mass. lately. [22 March 1832, National Intelligencer, contributed by Kim Torp]

Jabez, Chickering - of Dedham, Mass., was drowned about 8 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, 4 May 1832, after the state coach upset. [18 May 1832, National Intelligencer, contributed by Kim Torp]

Tufts, Cotton
In Weymouth - The Hon. Cotton Tufts, aged 84. An eminent Physician and worthy citizen. [The North American Review, Jan. 1816 - Sub. by K. Torp]

Aged Couple Dead in Home, Victims of Cold

Weymouth, Mass. - Henry and Louise G. Nutting, aged respectively eighty-seven and eighty-two years, were found dead in their home, victims if cold and privation.
These two lifelong companions who during a long and fruitful married life had faced together the happiness and sadness of life, has accepted proudly and without flinching the tragic hardship that marked their end, and died together without any appeal to the outer world for aid. Altho a married daughter, Mrs. Adeline Humphries, lived as near as Braintree, the aged parents refrained from making known their need, even to one so near and dear.
With practically no food in the house and no fuel, the cause of the death was only too apparent. The old people even had but scanty clothing. The woman was found in a rocking chair, wrapped in a comforter. Her husband lay on the floor, one arm outstretched in the direction of the door, as tho the end had come while he was endeavoring to summon aid.

[4 Jan 1920, Lima News (OH), contributed by L. Dietz]

The wife of Hon. Josiah Quincy , senior died at their country residence in Quincy Mass. on Sunday morning 1st at the advanced age of 80

[Augusta Chronicle - Sep 10, 1850 - Submitted by Erica Beatty]

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