| Summary: | 1152 COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. member of the M. W. A., and is widely known throughout the county, and has the respect and es-teem of all. ANDREW J. AMES, a prominent attorney of Towner, Xorth Dakota, is now serving as states attorney of McHenry county, and is an efficient and popular public official. (Jur subject was born in Byron Center, New York, January i8, 1838. His father, Charles Ames, was a shoemaker and farmer and the family are of English descent. Jonathan Higby. the mother's ancestor, came to .America prior to the French and Indian war in this country. The grandfather of our subject, Isaac Ames, was an American sea cap-tain, and took part in the early wars. The parents of our subject were married in the state of New York, and of their family of nine children our sub-ject was the eldest. He was reared on a farm in Seneca county, Ohio, and attended the common schools, and later an academy. He began for him-self when he was eighteen vears of age, and April 18, 1861, he enlisted in the Twenty-fifth Ohio \'ol-unteers. They were sent to West \'irginia and the first engagement was at Phillippi, and he was through West Mrginia and Virginia, and partici-pated in the battle of Cedar Mountain, Chan-cellorsvile, Antietam, South Mountain, Fred-ericksburg and Gettysburg. He then left the Army of the Potomac and went to Folly Island, of? Charleston Harbor, and he assisted in taking Fort Craig, and also in the bombardment of Fort Sumter and Batteries B and C. Tlie regiment then veteranized, and then went back to the sea coast in South Carolina, and took part in the sea coast de-fense, and opened communication with Sherman's army. They participated in all the minor engage-ments in the rear of Sherman's army, including Honey Hill, and the regiment remained in South Carolina until July, 1866, when they were dis-charged. Our subject was in active service five and a half years, and was wounded several times. At Chancellorsville he was wounded and was in the hospital eight months, and later received a sabre wound in the head at Rappahannock Ford, and was later wounded at Getty.sburg. From one of these wounds the ball has never been extracted. He re-turned to the carpenter's trade in 1866, and in the spring of the following year settled in Douglas county, Minnesota, with his family. He followed farming there five years, and in 1870 was elected register of deeds, and re-elected twice, serving si.x years in that capacity. He was apix)intcd jus-tice of the peace in 1871, and held the office eleven years. He studied law and was admitteil to the bar December 7, 1878, and practiced some in Minnesota, and in 1886 he went to Fargo, Xorth Dakota, and engaged in his profession there, and was admitted to the Xorth Dakota bar in September, 1886. He went to Towner in October, 1888, and established the pioneer law office of ^IcHenry county. He was appointed legal advisor for the board of county commissioners and in the fall of 1889 was elected state's attorney. He resigned, and was again elected in 1892, and resigned the office. He was re-elected in 1896, and again in 1898, and is now serving the last part of two terms in that office. He has built up a good practice in his profession. Our subject was married, in 1864, to Miss Phoebe Harford, a native of New York, and a daughter of a farmer. One daughter has been born to Air. and Mrs. Ames, who is named Mary J. Mrs. Ames died in 1886. Mr. Ames is a member of the G. A. R., and has held numerous offices in the post. He is a Republican politically, and is prominent in the affairs of his party, and is chairman of the county central committee, and attends all conventions. JOHN S. HOCKIXG, a prosperous and highly esteemed farmer of Cass county, makes his home in section 34 in Empire township, and is one of the pioneers of that locality. He has acquired a tine estate through honest industry, and stands fore-most in his calling. Our subject was born in Cornwall, England, June 24, 1 846, and was a son of Edmund and Tabitha (Bennetts) Hocking, both of whom were natives of Cornwall. His father was a tin miner and passed his life in England, and the mother died there in 1896. Four sons and three daughters were born to them, our subject being the only one of the fam-ily in the United States. The family is one of the oldest and best known in England. The grandfather of our subject, Sanuiel Hocking, was a soldier under Wellington at Waterloo and was awarded several medals during his service for bravery. Mr. Hocking was reared and educated in his native isle until nineteen years of age, and in 1866 came to America, landing at New York. He located in Xew Haven county, Connecticut, and worked there as a miner one year and then went to North Carolina, where he worked in the copper and gold mines, and in 1868 went to Lake Superior, in the copper mines of Michigan, and remained thus en-gaged until the spring of 1878, when he went to Cass county, and began farming. He entered claim to land in section 4, of Wheatland township, as a homestead, and later took land as a tree claim in Empire township, in section 34, w^hcre he has resided continuously ever since. The land was all wild at the time he settled thereon and there was but one settler between his place and Cas-selton. Mr. Hocking is now the owner of two and a quarter sections of land, all of which is under plow, and he has met with unbounded success in his vocation. Our subject was married, in 1870, to Miss Mary Matters, a native of Devonshire, England. Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hocking, named as follows. Ella, now ]\Irs. R. S. Smith Jen-nie, now Mrs. Walker; Edmund, Samuel, Richard. John, William, Thomas, Harry and Isaac Newton. Internet Archive
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