Fisher AMES

 

Fisher AMES.  For nearly half a century Fisher AMES stood as one of the leading representatives of the San Francisco bar.  He was singularly devoted to the practice of his profession, and while he accumulated a fortune and was identified with a number of business enterprises, his heart and soul were in the law.

 

He represented an old New England family of Colonial ancestry, and was born in New Hampshire, February 8, 1844.  He was reared on a farm, was educated in Plymouth Academy and Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire, was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1869, and in 1870 finished his law course at Albany, New York, and was admitted to the New York bar May 10, 1870.  Mr. AMES arrived in California in 1871, and was engaged in the practice of law steadily in San Francisco until his death forty-six years later, on December 8, 1917.  He brought to his profession unusual talent, though when he located in San Francisco he was comparatively unknown and without influential friends.  During 1872-74 he was assistant to W.C. Burnett, city and county attorney.  He was engaged in general practice, though he represented a number of business interests.  At one time he was a director of the Sutter Street Railroad Company, and was also a director of an insurance company.

 

He was one of the ablest leaders of the democratic party in California for a number of years.  He was a member of the San Francisco Board of Education from 1875 to 1877, and in 1874 was appointed special counsel by the Board of Supervisors.  He was a member of the Board of Freeholders, which framed a city charter in 1883, and from 1887 to 1892 was a member of the Board of Fire Commissioners.

 

Mr. AMES married Miss Emilie N. MORRISON, a native of Plymouth, New Hampshire.  Mrs. AMES resides in San Francisco, at the Colonial Hotel.  The two children of their marriage are both deceased.