Sophia Augusta Wall Ames

Sophia Augusta Wall Ames, 1861-1892
Baptist Minister’s Wife

Buried in Masons Cemetery, Block 9, Lot 3, Grave 5

(Grave marker photo courtesy of the Pioneers’ Cemetery Association, Inc.)

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Sophia Augusta Wall was born on June 24, 1861, in De Ruyter, Madison County, New York. Her parents were William Frederick Wall and Mary Jane Coon, farmers. 

On June 22, 1886, she married a divinity student, John Fremont Ames, in a double ceremony with her sister Zella, who married Fred Hendee. The newlyweds honeymooned at Niagara Falls, after which John accepted a call to work as an assistant pastor in Genoa, New York. The Ameses’ first child, Francis, was born there on April 19, 1887. Ames was ordained to the Baptist ministry on December 9, 1887. He then decided to study theology at Rochester Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in June 1890. 

Having indicated that he wanted to serve a congregation that really needed him, even though it couldn’t afford to pay him a salary commensurate with his education, Ames accepted a call to a church in Madison, South Dakota.  While in South Dakota, the Ameses had a little daughter, Mary Lorena, born on August 2, 1891. Unfortunately, Sophie developed an intractable cough and was shortly diagnosed with tuberculosis.

In hopes of improving Sophie’s health, the family moved in 1892 to Milton, Tennessee, where they rented a house from relatives. However, Tennessee did not suit them. The rainy weather aggravated Sophie’s cough, and John disliked the racial segregation which forbade him to preach to whites and blacks at the same gathering. Ames was then offered the pastorate of a Baptist Church in Phoenix. It seemed an attractive offer as the dry climate of Arizona was said to be salubrious for invalids. So the Ameses moved once more.

On July 31, 1892, Reverend Ames was in his buggy on his way to church in downtown Phoenix when he overtook and passed a steam threshing engine. When the driver blew his whistle twice, the unexpected noise so frightened the reverend’s horse that it took off in a mad run. As the buggy careened around a corner, Dr. Ames either tried to jump or was thrown from the buggy. He suffered head trauma and his left leg was broken. He was carried into Frakes’ Livery, where Drs. Hughes and Dameron stabilized him. However, they were not optimistic about his chances for recovery. Since Sophie herself was too ill and distraught to nurse her husband, Rev. Ames was attended by others. He died on August 12, almost two weeks after his accident.

Already an invalid, Sophie was prostrated by her husband’s death. She could not bear light or sound; throughout the hot summer evenings she sat on the porch with a wet cloth over her face. Though cared for by her sister-in-law, Fannie Card Wall, Sophia declared in October 1892 she was ready to join her husband. She lingered until November before passing away. The Ameses were buried in the Masons Cemetery.

The orphaned Ames children were raised by George and Fannie Wall in Woodbury County, Iowa.

© 2025 by Donna L. Carr. Last revised 4 February 2025.

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