Oliver H. Ames Biography


	This biography appears on pages 117-118 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	                  Additions and Corrections

	Granddaughter Virginia Cisewski <feather2s@aol.com> has 
	additional information about Oliver H. Ames.



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			JUDGE OLIVER H. AMES.  

	Judge Oliver H. Ames, who is now serving for the fifth 
consecutive term on the bench of the county court of Clark county and 
makes his home in the city of Clark, was continuously engaged in the 
practice of law from 1898 until called to his present position, and 
comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence is the basis 
of his success both as an attorney and a jurist. He was born in St. 
Paul, Minnesota, November 21, 1875, a son of Oliver and Emma B. 
(Benson) Ames, the former a farmer by occupation. Both parents are now 
deceased.  

	Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, Judge Ames 
attended the public schools of St. Paul and afterward entered the 
University of Minnesota, in which he prepared for the legal profession, 
and was graduated with the class of 1898. The same year he was admitted 
to the bar and entered upon practice in connection with J. B. and E. P. 
Sanborn at St. Paul with whom he remained for six years. In 1904 he 
came to South Dakota, settling in Clark, where he won a liberal share 
of the public patronage in the field of law practice. While his 
attention to his clients, interests was proverbial, he never forgot 
that he owed a still higher allegiance to the majesty of the law. In 
the fall of 1906 he was elected county judge of Clark county, entering 
upon the duties of the position the following year, and he is now 
serving for the fifth consecutive term, his reelections coming to him 
in evidence of the confidence reposed in him by the public.  

	Judge Ames holds membership in the Episcopal church. His 
political allegiance is given to the republican party and he is a 
prominent figure in fraternal circles, holding membership with the 
Shriners, the Masons, the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the 
Elks, the Modern Woodmen and the United Workmen. In Masonry he has 
taken the degrees of the royal arch chapter and has also attained the 
thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite. He has social qualities and 
personal characteristics which render him popular and which have gained 
for him the high and enduring regard of all with whom he has been 
brought in contact. He never allows outside interests, however, to 
interfere with the faithful performance of his professional duties and 
his course upon the bench has been marked by a masterful grasp of every 
problem presented for solution.