Series VIII. PAPERS OF MARY LESLEY AMES (1853-1929) AND CHARLES WILBERFORCE AMES (1855-1921), 1853-2000 (inclusive), 1862-1929 (bulk) (#128.12-184.7, 238.3, 239.1v, FD.3, F+D.8-F+D.9, OD.3-OD.4, SD.2)

Mary Lesley was born to J. Peter Lesley and Susan Lyman Lesley in Philadelphia in 1853. She was educated primarily at home, and was influenced by her parents progressive views and wide-ranging intellectual interests. In her twenties she was the librarian of the American Philosophical Society. She traveled to Europe several times as a young woman, both with her father, and to visit her sister Margaret Lesley Bush-Brown, who studied art in Paris in 1880. In 1883, she married Charles Wilberforce Ames and moved to St. Paul, Minnesota.

Charles Wilberforce Ames was born in 1855 in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Charles Gordon Ames and Sarah Daniels Ames. His mother died when he was six, and he became close to his step-mother, Fanny Baker Ames. Charles Wilberforce Ames attended the Albany Boys Academy in Albany, New York, and then several public schools in California while the family was living there in the late 1860s. He apprenticed with the San Jose Mercury Newspaper from 1869 until 1871, and then was sent to Minneapolis to attend high school there. He lived with George Burdick Wright in Minneapolis, and worked on several railroad surveys in addition to his schooling. Charles Wilberforce Ames attended Cornell University (BA. 1878), where his group of friends included labor reformer Florence Kelley. For several summers during college he worked for his future father-in-law, J. Peter Lesley, on the Second Geologic Survey of Pennsylvania. He continued to work for the survey after graduation, and had a short-lived engagement to Louisa Head in 1879. That fall, he moved to Boston where his father was living, and worked at the publishing firm George H. Ellis Company. In 1882 he accepted a position with West Publishing Company in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he eventually rose to become president.

The Ameses had six children: Charles Lesley Ames (1884-1969), Margaret Ames Wright (1885-1956), Catherine Ames Turner (1887-1947), Alice Ames Crothers (1889-1976), Elizabeth "Betty" Ames Jackson (1894-1990), and Theodore Gordon Ames (1898-1969). The West Publishing Company, a law book publisher, grew quickly, and Charles Wilberforce Ames profited financially from its success. In 1886, the Ameses built a large home at 501 Grand Avenue in St. Paul. The Ames children attended private schools in St. Paul, and the Ames daughters were sent to Miss Windsor's School (now The Windsor School) in Boston. Both sons attended Harvard College. The Ames family traveled often, with many trips to the East Coast to visit family in Philadelphia, Boston, Milton, New Hampshire, and New York. In 1902 the entire family traveled to Europe, in part to see the coronation of England's King Edward VII. In 1913 most members of the family were in Italy, where daughter Elizabeth "Betty" Ames Jackson enrolled in a finishing school in Florence. In 1917, Charles Wilberforce Ames toured the American West with Elizabeth "Betty" Ames Jackson, which led to his purchase of the Diamond Ranche in Wyoming.

The Ameses were civic-minded, and when they found St. Paul lacking in organizations or institutions they needed, they worked to create them. Charles Lesley Ames attended the Barnard School in St. Paul, which Charles Wilberforce Ames felt was lacking in educational quality; he led a group of dissatisfied parents to remake the school into the St. Paul Academy in 1900. In 1915 he similarly transformed Miss Loomis's School for Girls, which Mary Lesley Ames had helped start, and where several of his daughters attended, into the Summit School. In 1903, Charles Wilberforce Ames formed the Informal Club, a discussion group with 60 members. In 1907 he founded the St. Paul Institute, a vocational school and community college; its mission to educate and uplift immigrants was similar to a settlement house, but it had no residential facilities. Mary Lesley Ames served as president of the St. Paul School of Fine Arts in 1907-1908, and was a director of the Brotherhood House association. She was a member of the New Century Club, a literary club for women. The Ameses supported many arts-related institutions with time and financial contributions, including the St. Paul Institute museum and the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. Charles Wilberforce Ames was a noted orator, and participated in many amateur theatrical productions.

The entire Ames family was involved in charitable work surrounding World War I, and both sons saw military service. Mary Lesley Ames was chairman of the hospital supply committee of the Ramsey County chapter of the American Red Cross. Additionally, her home at 501 Grand Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota, served as headquarters for the Society for Fatherless Children of France and the American Fund for French Wounded as a station for making, collecting, packing, and distributing supplies to French hospitals. Charles Wilberforce Ames served as a vice president of the American Fund for French Wounded and traveled to France in 1916 with son Theodore Gordon Ames to distribute American supplies to French hospitals. Three of the Ames daughters worked in France between 1916 and 1918. In 1919, Charles Wilberforce Ames received the Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur for his service during World War I.

The Ameses joined the Unity Church, a Unitarian congregation in St. Paul, shortly after its founding. They were active members, and Charles Wilberforce Ames also served as Vice President and Director of the American Unitarian Association. An avid reader and letter writer, Mary Lesley Ames was also interested in her family history. In 1909, she published Life and Letters of Peter and Susan Lesley , a compilation of correspondence between her parents. Charles Wilberforce Ames suffered from anemia for several months before passing away in 1921. Mary Lesley Ames died in 1929 after a stroke.