“Speak my name and I will live forever” – African proverb
DANIEL TITUS AMES (1835-1909)
Daniel T. Ames was a major figure in American ornamental penmanship, engrossing and illustration, and a leading expert in forgery detection who testified at many prominent trials in the U.S., Canada and other countries. He was also a pioneer in American penmanship publishing, who founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal' in New York City.
Daniel T. Ames was born on a farm in Vershire, Orange County, Vermont on December 19, 1835 to Jared Mann Ames and Sarah P. Titus. He had four brothers (George, Isabelle, Franklin and Thomas) and three sisters (Francelia, Emma and Florence).
He and his wife, Fannie L., had two children: Florence Isabel (b. 1863) and George J. (b. 1867).
He worked on the family farm during the summer and attended school in the winter. At the age of sixteen, while a student at Chelsea Academy, he received instruction in penmanship from Professor S. L. Lyman, a prominent traveling master. The next year, he studied under O. W. Smith and assisted him in teaching his classes. At nineteen, he entered Topsfield Academy, Topsfield, MA, where he remained for four years in preparation for Dartmouth College.
Ames taught penmanship to pay his tuition. In 1857, he returned to his father's farm and studied law under Judge Cobb, of Stratford, VT. There he gained experience testifying at various trials requiring knowledge of bookkeeping.
In 1858, Ames taught penmanship at Thetford Academy in Thetford, VT. In 1859, he taught at the Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute in Newbury Village, VT. He later went to Eastman's Business College, Oswego, NY, as a teacher of writing and student of bookkeeping, and soon became a part owner and principal of the college.
In 1861, he opened the Ames National Business College in Syracuse, New York, which was sold in about 1868 to the Bryant and Stratton chain. In 1869, Mr. Ames was admitted to the New York bar.
Mr. Ames then moved to New York City. Recognizing the potential of the designing and engrossing business, he opened a studio in 1873. He and penman Charles Rollinson expanded their staff and engrossing business, forming Ames & Rollinson at 205 Broadway. In 1876, he founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal,' which grew into one of the leading penmanship publications in the country.
In 1892, a large advertisement in the 'New York Tribune' for Ames & Rollinson, “Penmen, Designers & Publishers,” highlighted their "designing, engrossing and illumination" services, Daniel Ames’ expertise as an “examiner of questioned handwriting,” and annual subscriptions to the 'Penman’s Art Journal.'
Mr. Ames authored a number of books on penmanship, engrossing, designing and forgery detection. He testified as a handwriting expert in many important cases. In London, he was called as as a witness in the case of the Crown vs W. H. Hulbert. He was also a witness in the Davis will case, tried in Butte, Montana, in which $13,000,000 depended upon the authenticity of a single signature.
In 1899, Mr. Ames left his business in New York and moved to Mountain View, CA, a suburb of San Francisco, where he continued to testify at forgery trials and also taught at Heald’s Business College. He was living in the San Francisco area on April 18, 1906 when a great earthquake struck the coast of Northern California. Ames lost most of his life's savings as a result.
Following a ten-year period of illness, Daniel Ames died on August 26, 1909, at the age of 73. He was survived by his wife, Fannie L. Paine (1840-1918), a daughter, Florence Isabell (Mrs. Charles Oliver, 1863-1911), and a son, George J. Ames (1867-1944).
He was buried on August 28th at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, CA. His wife is buried in the same plot.
---------------------------------------------------
In October 1909, the editors of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal’ published these comments after learning of the death of Daniel T. Ames.
DANIEL T. AMES
On August 26, 1909, at his home in Mountain View, CA, and in the seventy-third year of his age, occurred the death of Daniel T. Ames, for many years editor and publisher of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal.’ The notice of his death came too late to be included in our September issue, one edition of the magazine being off the press.
It is a very sad occasion for any publication to lose its chief by death, but somehow it seems more so for a magazine of a professional nature, where the relationship which exists between the editor and the reader is closer than that which is based upon business solely. To thousands of men and women of this country Daniel T. Ames was more than an editor or handwriting expert. He was a friend. Trained in his early years for the bar, he brought to his subsequent labors all the strength and power of a thoroughly disciplined mind.
It has been six years since he last visited The Journal, although scarcely a month went by that a letter or paper was not received from him. He has been in feeble health for ten years, and in one of the last letters received from him he wrote as follows:
“I drop you a line that you may know that I still linger on this side of the great divide, although I have been uncomfortably close to it for some time past. Hope this may find you on full tide of prosperity. I am doing nothing professionally. You will see by my handwriting that my hand is very much out of control. Please favor me with a line and oblige, yours truly. D. T. Ames.”
This letter was dated April 28th. On May 15 he wrote us what was destined to be his very last letter.
We mourn the loss of our chief.
------------------------------------------------
Michael Sull, master penman, expert on penmanship, author of books on cursive handwriting and Spencerian script and ornamental penmanship, wrote these comments in February 2010 about the Horace G. Healey Penmanship Collection, part of the Zaner-Bloser Collection at the University of Scranton's Weinberg Library, Scranton, PA:
Horace G. Healey (1867-1938) was a respected and industrious penman during America’s Golden Age of Penmanship. In 1892 he became associated with Austin N. Palmer in the ownership of the Cedar Rapids Business College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During his years at this institution, he taught shorthand and penmanship. He was highly skilled in business writing and widely admired for his superb talent in rendering Engrosser’s Script. In approximately 1898-1899 he moved to New York City, where he became acquainted with Daniel Ames - one of America’s most admired and established penmen. It is here that the story of this collection really begins.
Among the ranks of professional penmen, Daniel Ames (1835-1909) was noteworthy for several reasons. He was one of the most prolific engrossers our country ever produced, creating countless certificates and promotional pieces that featured exceptional lettering in numerous alphabet styles, off-hand flourishing, portraiture, banners, scrolls, line-work and compositions so complex that they defied description. His skill was truly legendary. In addition to his engrossing abilities, he was also America’s most recognized examiner of questioned documents, detecting forgeries and testifying in this regard at numerous court proceedings. He authored several significant books on penmanship, but his work Ames On Forgery (1900) was regarded as the definitive text on the subject. (Throughout his career he served as a handwriting expert in over 1,200 forgery cases in 4 countries!) In 1876 he became founder and editor of the Penman’s Art Journal and served in that capacity for over 20 years. During this period, the Penman’s Art Journal was the leading penmanship magazine in America.
Due to his professional commitment of maintaining the highest standards of quality in all his endeavors, Mr. Ames himself penned the artwork for many of his magazines and books, including the covers, articles, lessons, headings and promotional advertising. In later years he commissioned such pen masters as Dennis, Brown, Marlatt and Malone to contribute artwork for this purpose. And as the decades went by, he saved all of this artwork as an on-going collection in his studio.
The majority of Daniel Ames’ career found him working in New York City, where he met Charles Rollinson, a reputable penman and engrosser from the area. Together they co-founded the Ames & Rollinson Company, a firm that became a leader in its field of providing engrossing services on a commercial basis (the company still exists today!). In the late 1890’s, however, Mr. Ames decided that with his busy schedule divided between his engrossing company and forgery detection business, he no longer had time to invest his energies in the realm of publishing. Also, his health had begun to decline by this time and he desired to relocate to California in a manner of semi-retirement. Indeed, six years earlier, in 1894, Ames had hired William J. Kinsley, a penman he had known since 1884, to become the new managing editor of The Penman’s Art Journal...in 1899, Daniel Ames moved to Mountain View, California, a city in the San Francisco Bay area.
Among the resources that came with the Penman’s Art Journal, was Ames’ large collection of pen-art that had been commissioned since the 1880’s for the magazine. Mr. Ames had taken his three personal scrapbooks and one large folder, all of which contained specimens of his own penmanship, with him to California along with a number of his writing tools, publications and a slender journal in which he pasted dozens of newspaper clippings that cited references to noted forgery cases in which he was involved. Also, included were photographs of him and his wife. In 1906 his residence and studio were heavily damaged in the famous San Francisco earthquake - and photographs of this incident were taken and added to the large folder. He re-built his facilities and persevered, but his fragile health continued to decline. He died at his home in Mountain View at age 74 on August 26, 1909.
--------------------------------------------
Other sources:
Karin J. Thomas, history of the family of Jared Mann Ames & Sarah P. Titus, Ancestry.com;
"Album of Biography and Art," Profile of Daniel T. Ames, Thomas E. Hill. Standard Book Co, Chicago, 1881, 327 pgs;
"The Blue Book, Photographs & Sketches of a few Commercial Artists - Daniel T. Ames," L. E. Stacy. Tribune Publishing Co., Meadville, PA, 1907, pg. 76.
"Penman's Art Journal," October 1909; Ames & Rollinson, 202 Broadway, NY City;
"The Business Educator," Zaner-Bloser Co., Columbus, Ohio, October 1909;
"Newspapers.com" - articles, advertisements & obituaries;
Annual catalogs for Thetford Academy and Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute;
"Ancestry.com" - US, NY & CA Censuses, city directories, birth and death records;
Photos of artwork from various penmanship journals and websites.
-----------------------------------------------
OBITUARY - The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
August 27, 1909
“Death Claims Daniel T. Ames”
Handwriting Expert Passes Away at Mountain View Home.
Mountain View, August 26.—Daniel T. Ames, who had won national prominence as a handwriting expert, and who had been retained in many celebrated cases both in the east and in California, died at his home in Mountain View at 5 o’clock this morning.
Ames was 83 years old and his death was due to a general breaking down of his vital powers. He had been in an enfeebled condition for the last three years, a part of the time being confined to his room. He had been about the house on Sunday and had retired a little earlier than usual. When his wife followed him a little later she found him in a semi-conscious condition, and, although he recognized her, he did not rally.
Born in Vermont, Ames became a student in chirography early in life and taught a school of penmanship for some time, coming into prominence later as a witness in celebrated cases where the authenticity of handwriting was disputed. One of the principal cases with which he was connected was that of the Morley [sic] letters, which purported to give President Garfield’s opinions on the Chinese labor question. He is also understood to have been called upon to examine several of the documents in the Dreyfus case.
He came to California first in connection with the Fair will case and was later retained in the Davis will case, although the bulk of the work in that instance was done by other experts, and in the Botkin trial. He was the author of several works, among them being “Ames on Forgery.”
He leaves a widow, a son and daughter living in Mountain View, two sisters at Branden, Vt., and two brothers at Clinton, Wis. The funeral will be held on Saturday from the family residence. The interment will be at Alta Mesa Cemetery.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This memorial to Daniel T. Ames was researched and compiled by Thomas W. Costello, great-grandson of penman, P. W. Costello (1866-1935), a friend and colleague of Mr. Ames.
Mr. Costello's early engrossings, from the 1880s and 1890s, show Ames' influence in design, borders, lettering and decoration. Both men were superb illustrators. Mr. Costello often traveled by train from Scranton, PA to New York City to meet with Daniel Ames and, later, with Horace G. Healey, at the Ames & Rollinson Studio and offices of the "Penman's Art Journal" on Broadway. He brought photographs of his portraits and engrossed resolutions for publication. As he often did for his friends and family, he also gave them original drawings for their own collections.
DANIEL TITUS AMES (1835-1909)
Daniel T. Ames was a major figure in American ornamental penmanship, engrossing and illustration, and a leading expert in forgery detection who testified at many prominent trials in the U.S., Canada and other countries. He was also a pioneer in American penmanship publishing, who founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal' in New York City.
Daniel T. Ames was born on a farm in Vershire, Orange County, Vermont on December 19, 1835 to Jared Mann Ames and Sarah P. Titus. He had four brothers (George, Isabelle, Franklin and Thomas) and three sisters (Francelia, Emma and Florence).
He and his wife, Fannie L., had two children: Florence Isabel (b. 1863) and George J. (b. 1867).
He worked on the family farm during the summer and attended school in the winter. At the age of sixteen, while a student at Chelsea Academy, he received instruction in penmanship from Professor S. L. Lyman, a prominent traveling master. The next year, he studied under O. W. Smith and assisted him in teaching his classes. At nineteen, he entered Topsfield Academy, Topsfield, MA, where he remained for four years in preparation for Dartmouth College.
Ames taught penmanship to pay his tuition. In 1857, he returned to his father's farm and studied law under Judge Cobb, of Stratford, VT. There he gained experience testifying at various trials requiring knowledge of bookkeeping.
In 1858, Ames taught penmanship at Thetford Academy in Thetford, VT. In 1859, he taught at the Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute in Newbury Village, VT. He later went to Eastman's Business College, Oswego, NY, as a teacher of writing and student of bookkeeping, and soon became a part owner and principal of the college.
In 1861, he opened the Ames National Business College in Syracuse, New York, which was sold in about 1868 to the Bryant and Stratton chain. In 1869, Mr. Ames was admitted to the New York bar.
Mr. Ames then moved to New York City. Recognizing the potential of the designing and engrossing business, he opened a studio in 1873. He and penman Charles Rollinson expanded their staff and engrossing business, forming Ames & Rollinson at 205 Broadway. In 1876, he founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal,' which grew into one of the leading penmanship publications in the country.
In 1892, a large advertisement in the 'New York Tribune' for Ames & Rollinson, “Penmen, Designers & Publishers,” highlighted their "designing, engrossing and illumination" services, Daniel Ames’ expertise as an “examiner of questioned handwriting,” and annual subscriptions to the 'Penman’s Art Journal.'
Mr. Ames authored a number of books on penmanship, engrossing, designing and forgery detection. He testified as a handwriting expert in many important cases. In London, he was called as as a witness in the case of the Crown vs W. H. Hulbert. He was also a witness in the Davis will case, tried in Butte, Montana, in which $13,000,000 depended upon the authenticity of a single signature.
In 1899, Mr. Ames left his business in New York and moved to Mountain View, CA, a suburb of San Francisco, where he continued to testify at forgery trials and also taught at Heald’s Business College. He was living in the San Francisco area on April 18, 1906 when a great earthquake struck the coast of Northern California. Ames lost most of his life's savings as a result.
Following a ten-year period of illness, Daniel Ames died on August 26, 1909, at the age of 73. He was survived by his wife, Fannie L. Paine (1840-1918), a daughter, Florence Isabell (Mrs. Charles Oliver, 1863-1911), and a son, George J. Ames (1867-1944).
He was buried on August 28th at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, CA. His wife is buried in the same plot.
---------------------------------------------------
In October 1909, the editors of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal’ published these comments after learning of the death of Daniel T. Ames.
DANIEL T. AMES
On August 26, 1909, at his home in Mountain View, CA, and in the seventy-third year of his age, occurred the death of Daniel T. Ames, for many years editor and publisher of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal.’ The notice of his death came too late to be included in our September issue, one edition of the magazine being off the press.
It is a very sad occasion for any publication to lose its chief by death, but somehow it seems more so for a magazine of a professional nature, where the relationship which exists between the editor and the reader is closer than that which is based upon business solely. To thousands of men and women of this country Daniel T. Ames was more than an editor or handwriting expert. He was a friend. Trained in his early years for the bar, he brought to his subsequent labors all the strength and power of a thoroughly disciplined mind.
It has been six years since he last visited The Journal, although scarcely a month went by that a letter or paper was not received from him. He has been in feeble health for ten years, and in one of the last letters received from him he wrote as follows:
“I drop you a line that you may know that I still linger on this side of the great divide, although I have been uncomfortably close to it for some time past. Hope this may find you on full tide of prosperity. I am doing nothing professionally. You will see by my handwriting that my hand is very much out of control. Please favor me with a line and oblige, yours truly. D. T. Ames.”
This letter was dated April 28th. On May 15 he wrote us what was destined to be his very last letter.
We mourn the loss of our chief.
------------------------------------------------
Michael Sull, master penman, expert on penmanship, author of books on cursive handwriting and Spencerian script and ornamental penmanship, wrote these comments in February 2010 about the Horace G. Healey Penmanship Collection, part of the Zaner-Bloser Collection at the University of Scranton's Weinberg Library, Scranton, PA:
Horace G. Healey (1867-1938) was a respected and industrious penman during America’s Golden Age of Penmanship. In 1892 he became associated with Austin N. Palmer in the ownership of the Cedar Rapids Business College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During his years at this institution, he taught shorthand and penmanship. He was highly skilled in business writing and widely admired for his superb talent in rendering Engrosser’s Script. In approximately 1898-1899 he moved to New York City, where he became acquainted with Daniel Ames - one of America’s most admired and established penmen. It is here that the story of this collection really begins.
Among the ranks of professional penmen, Daniel Ames (1835-1909) was noteworthy for several reasons. He was one of the most prolific engrossers our country ever produced, creating countless certificates and promotional pieces that featured exceptional lettering in numerous alphabet styles, off-hand flourishing, portraiture, banners, scrolls, line-work and compositions so complex that they defied description. His skill was truly legendary. In addition to his engrossing abilities, he was also America’s most recognized examiner of questioned documents, detecting forgeries and testifying in this regard at numerous court proceedings. He authored several significant books on penmanship, but his work Ames On Forgery (1900) was regarded as the definitive text on the subject. (Throughout his career he served as a handwriting expert in over 1,200 forgery cases in 4 countries!) In 1876 he became founder and editor of the Penman’s Art Journal and served in that capacity for over 20 years. During this period, the Penman’s Art Journal was the leading penmanship magazine in America.
Due to his professional commitment of maintaining the highest standards of quality in all his endeavors, Mr. Ames himself penned the artwork for many of his magazines and books, including the covers, articles, lessons, headings and promotional advertising. In later years he commissioned such pen masters as Dennis, Brown, Marlatt and Malone to contribute artwork for this purpose. And as the decades went by, he saved all of this artwork as an on-going collection in his studio.
The majority of Daniel Ames’ career found him working in New York City, where he met Charles Rollinson, a reputable penman and engrosser from the area. Together they co-founded the Ames & Rollinson Company, a firm that became a leader in its field of providing engrossing services on a commercial basis (the company still exists today!). In the late 1890’s, however, Mr. Ames decided that with his busy schedule divided between his engrossing company and forgery detection business, he no longer had time to invest his energies in the realm of publishing. Also, his health had begun to decline by this time and he desired to relocate to California in a manner of semi-retirement. Indeed, six years earlier, in 1894, Ames had hired William J. Kinsley, a penman he had known since 1884, to become the new managing editor of The Penman’s Art Journal...in 1899, Daniel Ames moved to Mountain View, California, a city in the San Francisco Bay area.
Among the resources that came with the Penman’s Art Journal, was Ames’ large collection of pen-art that had been commissioned since the 1880’s for the magazine. Mr. Ames had taken his three personal scrapbooks and one large folder, all of which contained specimens of his own penmanship, with him to California along with a number of his writing tools, publications and a slender journal in which he pasted dozens of newspaper clippings that cited references to noted forgery cases in which he was involved. Also, included were photographs of him and his wife. In 1906 his residence and studio were heavily damaged in the famous San Francisco earthquake - and photographs of this incident were taken and added to the large folder. He re-built his facilities and persevered, but his fragile health continued to decline. He died at his home in Mountain View at age 74 on August 26, 1909.
--------------------------------------------
Other sources:
Karin J. Thomas, history of the family of Jared Mann Ames & Sarah P. Titus, Ancestry.com;
"Album of Biography and Art," Profile of Daniel T. Ames, Thomas E. Hill. Standard Book Co, Chicago, 1881, 327 pgs;
"The Blue Book, Photographs & Sketches of a few Commercial Artists - Daniel T. Ames," L. E. Stacy. Tribune Publishing Co., Meadville, PA, 1907, pg. 76.
"Penman's Art Journal," October 1909; Ames & Rollinson, 202 Broadway, NY City;
"The Business Educator," Zaner-Bloser Co., Columbus, Ohio, October 1909;
"Newspapers.com" - articles, advertisements & obituaries;
Annual catalogs for Thetford Academy and Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute;
"Ancestry.com" - US, NY & CA Censuses, city directories, birth and death records;
Photos of artwork from various penmanship journals and websites.
-----------------------------------------------
OBITUARY - The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
August 27, 1909
“Death Claims Daniel T. Ames”
Handwriting Expert Passes Away at Mountain View Home.
Mountain View, August 26.—Daniel T. Ames, who had won national prominence as a handwriting expert, and who had been retained in many celebrated cases both in the east and in California, died at his home in Mountain View at 5 o’clock this morning.
Ames was 83 years old and his death was due to a general breaking down of his vital powers. He had been in an enfeebled condition for the last three years, a part of the time being confined to his room. He had been about the house on Sunday and had retired a little earlier than usual. When his wife followed him a little later she found him in a semi-conscious condition, and, although he recognized her, he did not rally.
Born in Vermont, Ames became a student in chirography early in life and taught a school of penmanship for some time, coming into prominence later as a witness in celebrated cases where the authenticity of handwriting was disputed. One of the principal cases with which he was connected was that of the Morley [sic] letters, which purported to give President Garfield’s opinions on the Chinese labor question. He is also understood to have been called upon to examine several of the documents in the Dreyfus case.
He came to California first in connection with the Fair will case and was later retained in the Davis will case, although the bulk of the work in that instance was done by other experts, and in the Botkin trial. He was the author of several works, among them being “Ames on Forgery.”
He leaves a widow, a son and daughter living in Mountain View, two sisters at Branden, Vt., and two brothers at Clinton, Wis. The funeral will be held on Saturday from the family residence. The interment will be at Alta Mesa Cemetery.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This memorial to Daniel T. Ames was researched and compiled by Thomas W. Costello, great-grandson of penman, P. W. Costello (1866-1935), a friend and colleague of Mr. Ames.
Mr. Costello's early engrossings, from the 1880s and 1890s, show Ames' influence in design, borders, lettering and decoration. Both men were superb illustrators. Mr. Costello often traveled by train from Scranton, PA to New York City to meet with Daniel Ames and, later, with Horace G. Healey, at the Ames & Rollinson Studio and offices of the "Penman's Art Journal" on Broadway. He brought photographs of his portraits and engrossed resolutions for publication. As he often did for his friends and family, he also gave them original drawings for their own collections.
“Speak my name and I will live forever” – African proverb
DANIEL TITUS AMES (1835-1909)
Daniel T. Ames was a major figure in American ornamental penmanship, engrossing and illustration, and a leading expert in forgery detection who testified at many prominent trials in the U.S., Canada and other countries. He was also a pioneer in American penmanship publishing, who founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal' in New York City.
Daniel T. Ames was born on a farm in Vershire, Orange County, Vermont on December 19, 1835 to Jared Mann Ames and Sarah P. Titus. He had four brothers (George, Isabelle, Franklin and Thomas) and three sisters (Francelia, Emma and Florence).
He and his wife, Fannie L., had two children: Florence Isabel (b. 1863) and George J. (b. 1867).
He worked on the family farm during the summer and attended school in the winter. At the age of sixteen, while a student at Chelsea Academy, he received instruction in penmanship from Professor S. L. Lyman, a prominent traveling master. The next year, he studied under O. W. Smith and assisted him in teaching his classes. At nineteen, he entered Topsfield Academy, Topsfield, MA, where he remained for four years in preparation for Dartmouth College.
Ames taught penmanship to pay his tuition. In 1857, he returned to his father's farm and studied law under Judge Cobb, of Stratford, VT. There he gained experience testifying at various trials requiring knowledge of bookkeeping.
In 1858, Ames taught penmanship at Thetford Academy in Thetford, VT. In 1859, he taught at the Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute in Newbury Village, VT. He later went to Eastman's Business College, Oswego, NY, as a teacher of writing and student of bookkeeping, and soon became a part owner and principal of the college.
In 1861, he opened the Ames National Business College in Syracuse, New York, which was sold in about 1868 to the Bryant and Stratton chain. In 1869, Mr. Ames was admitted to the New York bar.
Mr. Ames then moved to New York City. Recognizing the potential of the designing and engrossing business, he opened a studio in 1873. He and penman Charles Rollinson expanded their staff and engrossing business, forming Ames & Rollinson at 205 Broadway. In 1876, he founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal,' which grew into one of the leading penmanship publications in the country.
In 1892, a large advertisement in the 'New York Tribune' for Ames & Rollinson, “Penmen, Designers & Publishers,” highlighted their "designing, engrossing and illumination" services, Daniel Ames’ expertise as an “examiner of questioned handwriting,” and annual subscriptions to the 'Penman’s Art Journal.'
Mr. Ames authored a number of books on penmanship, engrossing, designing and forgery detection. He testified as a handwriting expert in many important cases. In London, he was called as as a witness in the case of the Crown vs W. H. Hulbert. He was also a witness in the Davis will case, tried in Butte, Montana, in which $13,000,000 depended upon the authenticity of a single signature.
In 1899, Mr. Ames left his business in New York and moved to Mountain View, CA, a suburb of San Francisco, where he continued to testify at forgery trials and also taught at Heald’s Business College. He was living in the San Francisco area on April 18, 1906 when a great earthquake struck the coast of Northern California. Ames lost most of his life's savings as a result.
Following a ten-year period of illness, Daniel Ames died on August 26, 1909, at the age of 73. He was survived by his wife, Fannie L. Paine (1840-1918), a daughter, Florence Isabell (Mrs. Charles Oliver, 1863-1911), and a son, George J. Ames (1867-1944).
He was buried on August 28th at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, CA. His wife is buried in the same plot.
---------------------------------------------------
In October 1909, the editors of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal’ published these comments after learning of the death of Daniel T. Ames.
DANIEL T. AMES
On August 26, 1909, at his home in Mountain View, CA, and in the seventy-third year of his age, occurred the death of Daniel T. Ames, for many years editor and publisher of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal.’ The notice of his death came too late to be included in our September issue, one edition of the magazine being off the press.
It is a very sad occasion for any publication to lose its chief by death, but somehow it seems more so for a magazine of a professional nature, where the relationship which exists between the editor and the reader is closer than that which is based upon business solely. To thousands of men and women of this country Daniel T. Ames was more than an editor or handwriting expert. He was a friend. Trained in his early years for the bar, he brought to his subsequent labors all the strength and power of a thoroughly disciplined mind.
It has been six years since he last visited The Journal, although scarcely a month went by that a letter or paper was not received from him. He has been in feeble health for ten years, and in one of the last letters received from him he wrote as follows:
“I drop you a line that you may know that I still linger on this side of the great divide, although I have been uncomfortably close to it for some time past. Hope this may find you on full tide of prosperity. I am doing nothing professionally. You will see by my handwriting that my hand is very much out of control. Please favor me with a line and oblige, yours truly. D. T. Ames.”
This letter was dated April 28th. On May 15 he wrote us what was destined to be his very last letter.
We mourn the loss of our chief.
------------------------------------------------
Michael Sull, master penman, expert on penmanship, author of books on cursive handwriting and Spencerian script and ornamental penmanship, wrote these comments in February 2010 about the Horace G. Healey Penmanship Collection, part of the Zaner-Bloser Collection at the University of Scranton's Weinberg Library, Scranton, PA:
Horace G. Healey (1867-1938) was a respected and industrious penman during America’s Golden Age of Penmanship. In 1892 he became associated with Austin N. Palmer in the ownership of the Cedar Rapids Business College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During his years at this institution, he taught shorthand and penmanship. He was highly skilled in business writing and widely admired for his superb talent in rendering Engrosser’s Script. In approximately 1898-1899 he moved to New York City, where he became acquainted with Daniel Ames - one of America’s most admired and established penmen. It is here that the story of this collection really begins.
Among the ranks of professional penmen, Daniel Ames (1835-1909) was noteworthy for several reasons. He was one of the most prolific engrossers our country ever produced, creating countless certificates and promotional pieces that featured exceptional lettering in numerous alphabet styles, off-hand flourishing, portraiture, banners, scrolls, line-work and compositions so complex that they defied description. His skill was truly legendary. In addition to his engrossing abilities, he was also America’s most recognized examiner of questioned documents, detecting forgeries and testifying in this regard at numerous court proceedings. He authored several significant books on penmanship, but his work Ames On Forgery (1900) was regarded as the definitive text on the subject. (Throughout his career he served as a handwriting expert in over 1,200 forgery cases in 4 countries!) In 1876 he became founder and editor of the Penman’s Art Journal and served in that capacity for over 20 years. During this period, the Penman’s Art Journal was the leading penmanship magazine in America.
Due to his professional commitment of maintaining the highest standards of quality in all his endeavors, Mr. Ames himself penned the artwork for many of his magazines and books, including the covers, articles, lessons, headings and promotional advertising. In later years he commissioned such pen masters as Dennis, Brown, Marlatt and Malone to contribute artwork for this purpose. And as the decades went by, he saved all of this artwork as an on-going collection in his studio.
The majority of Daniel Ames’ career found him working in New York City, where he met Charles Rollinson, a reputable penman and engrosser from the area. Together they co-founded the Ames & Rollinson Company, a firm that became a leader in its field of providing engrossing services on a commercial basis (the company still exists today!). In the late 1890’s, however, Mr. Ames decided that with his busy schedule divided between his engrossing company and forgery detection business, he no longer had time to invest his energies in the realm of publishing. Also, his health had begun to decline by this time and he desired to relocate to California in a manner of semi-retirement. Indeed, six years earlier, in 1894, Ames had hired William J. Kinsley, a penman he had known since 1884, to become the new managing editor of The Penman’s Art Journal...in 1899, Daniel Ames moved to Mountain View, California, a city in the San Francisco Bay area.
Among the resources that came with the Penman’s Art Journal, was Ames’ large collection of pen-art that had been commissioned since the 1880’s for the magazine. Mr. Ames had taken his three personal scrapbooks and one large folder, all of which contained specimens of his own penmanship, with him to California along with a number of his writing tools, publications and a slender journal in which he pasted dozens of newspaper clippings that cited references to noted forgery cases in which he was involved. Also, included were photographs of him and his wife. In 1906 his residence and studio were heavily damaged in the famous San Francisco earthquake - and photographs of this incident were taken and added to the large folder. He re-built his facilities and persevered, but his fragile health continued to decline. He died at his home in Mountain View at age 74 on August 26, 1909.
--------------------------------------------
Other sources:
Karin J. Thomas, history of the family of Jared Mann Ames & Sarah P. Titus, Ancestry.com;
"Album of Biography and Art," Profile of Daniel T. Ames, Thomas E. Hill. Standard Book Co, Chicago, 1881, 327 pgs;
"The Blue Book, Photographs & Sketches of a few Commercial Artists - Daniel T. Ames," L. E. Stacy. Tribune Publishing Co., Meadville, PA, 1907, pg. 76.
"Penman's Art Journal," October 1909; Ames & Rollinson, 202 Broadway, NY City;
"The Business Educator," Zaner-Bloser Co., Columbus, Ohio, October 1909;
"Newspapers.com" - articles, advertisements & obituaries;
Annual catalogs for Thetford Academy and Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute;
"Ancestry.com" - US, NY & CA Censuses, city directories, birth and death records;
Photos of artwork from various penmanship journals and websites.
-----------------------------------------------
OBITUARY - The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
August 27, 1909
“Death Claims Daniel T. Ames”
Handwriting Expert Passes Away at Mountain View Home.
Mountain View, August 26.—Daniel T. Ames, who had won national prominence as a handwriting expert, and who had been retained in many celebrated cases both in the east and in California, died at his home in Mountain View at 5 o’clock this morning.
Ames was 83 years old and his death was due to a general breaking down of his vital powers. He had been in an enfeebled condition for the last three years, a part of the time being confined to his room. He had been about the house on Sunday and had retired a little earlier than usual. When his wife followed him a little later she found him in a semi-conscious condition, and, although he recognized her, he did not rally.
Born in Vermont, Ames became a student in chirography early in life and taught a school of penmanship for some time, coming into prominence later as a witness in celebrated cases where the authenticity of handwriting was disputed. One of the principal cases with which he was connected was that of the Morley [sic] letters, which purported to give President Garfield’s opinions on the Chinese labor question. He is also understood to have been called upon to examine several of the documents in the Dreyfus case.
He came to California first in connection with the Fair will case and was later retained in the Davis will case, although the bulk of the work in that instance was done by other experts, and in the Botkin trial. He was the author of several works, among them being “Ames on Forgery.”
He leaves a widow, a son and daughter living in Mountain View, two sisters at Branden, Vt., and two brothers at Clinton, Wis. The funeral will be held on Saturday from the family residence. The interment will be at Alta Mesa Cemetery.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This memorial to Daniel T. Ames was researched and compiled by Thomas W. Costello, great-grandson of penman, P. W. Costello (1866-1935), a friend and colleague of Mr. Ames.
Mr. Costello's early engrossings, from the 1880s and 1890s, show Ames' influence in design, borders, lettering and decoration. Both men were superb illustrators. Mr. Costello often traveled by train from Scranton, PA to New York City to meet with Daniel Ames and, later, with Horace G. Healey, at the Ames & Rollinson Studio and offices of the "Penman's Art Journal" on Broadway. He brought photographs of his portraits and engrossed resolutions for publication. As he often did for his friends and family, he also gave them original drawings for their own collections.
DANIEL TITUS AMES (1835-1909)
Daniel T. Ames was a major figure in American ornamental penmanship, engrossing and illustration, and a leading expert in forgery detection who testified at many prominent trials in the U.S., Canada and other countries. He was also a pioneer in American penmanship publishing, who founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal' in New York City.
Daniel T. Ames was born on a farm in Vershire, Orange County, Vermont on December 19, 1835 to Jared Mann Ames and Sarah P. Titus. He had four brothers (George, Isabelle, Franklin and Thomas) and three sisters (Francelia, Emma and Florence).
He and his wife, Fannie L., had two children: Florence Isabel (b. 1863) and George J. (b. 1867).
He worked on the family farm during the summer and attended school in the winter. At the age of sixteen, while a student at Chelsea Academy, he received instruction in penmanship from Professor S. L. Lyman, a prominent traveling master. The next year, he studied under O. W. Smith and assisted him in teaching his classes. At nineteen, he entered Topsfield Academy, Topsfield, MA, where he remained for four years in preparation for Dartmouth College.
Ames taught penmanship to pay his tuition. In 1857, he returned to his father's farm and studied law under Judge Cobb, of Stratford, VT. There he gained experience testifying at various trials requiring knowledge of bookkeeping.
In 1858, Ames taught penmanship at Thetford Academy in Thetford, VT. In 1859, he taught at the Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute in Newbury Village, VT. He later went to Eastman's Business College, Oswego, NY, as a teacher of writing and student of bookkeeping, and soon became a part owner and principal of the college.
In 1861, he opened the Ames National Business College in Syracuse, New York, which was sold in about 1868 to the Bryant and Stratton chain. In 1869, Mr. Ames was admitted to the New York bar.
Mr. Ames then moved to New York City. Recognizing the potential of the designing and engrossing business, he opened a studio in 1873. He and penman Charles Rollinson expanded their staff and engrossing business, forming Ames & Rollinson at 205 Broadway. In 1876, he founded and edited the 'Penman's Art Journal,' which grew into one of the leading penmanship publications in the country.
In 1892, a large advertisement in the 'New York Tribune' for Ames & Rollinson, “Penmen, Designers & Publishers,” highlighted their "designing, engrossing and illumination" services, Daniel Ames’ expertise as an “examiner of questioned handwriting,” and annual subscriptions to the 'Penman’s Art Journal.'
Mr. Ames authored a number of books on penmanship, engrossing, designing and forgery detection. He testified as a handwriting expert in many important cases. In London, he was called as as a witness in the case of the Crown vs W. H. Hulbert. He was also a witness in the Davis will case, tried in Butte, Montana, in which $13,000,000 depended upon the authenticity of a single signature.
In 1899, Mr. Ames left his business in New York and moved to Mountain View, CA, a suburb of San Francisco, where he continued to testify at forgery trials and also taught at Heald’s Business College. He was living in the San Francisco area on April 18, 1906 when a great earthquake struck the coast of Northern California. Ames lost most of his life's savings as a result.
Following a ten-year period of illness, Daniel Ames died on August 26, 1909, at the age of 73. He was survived by his wife, Fannie L. Paine (1840-1918), a daughter, Florence Isabell (Mrs. Charles Oliver, 1863-1911), and a son, George J. Ames (1867-1944).
He was buried on August 28th at Alta Mesa Memorial Park in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, CA. His wife is buried in the same plot.
---------------------------------------------------
In October 1909, the editors of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal’ published these comments after learning of the death of Daniel T. Ames.
DANIEL T. AMES
On August 26, 1909, at his home in Mountain View, CA, and in the seventy-third year of his age, occurred the death of Daniel T. Ames, for many years editor and publisher of the ‘Penman’s Art Journal.’ The notice of his death came too late to be included in our September issue, one edition of the magazine being off the press.
It is a very sad occasion for any publication to lose its chief by death, but somehow it seems more so for a magazine of a professional nature, where the relationship which exists between the editor and the reader is closer than that which is based upon business solely. To thousands of men and women of this country Daniel T. Ames was more than an editor or handwriting expert. He was a friend. Trained in his early years for the bar, he brought to his subsequent labors all the strength and power of a thoroughly disciplined mind.
It has been six years since he last visited The Journal, although scarcely a month went by that a letter or paper was not received from him. He has been in feeble health for ten years, and in one of the last letters received from him he wrote as follows:
“I drop you a line that you may know that I still linger on this side of the great divide, although I have been uncomfortably close to it for some time past. Hope this may find you on full tide of prosperity. I am doing nothing professionally. You will see by my handwriting that my hand is very much out of control. Please favor me with a line and oblige, yours truly. D. T. Ames.”
This letter was dated April 28th. On May 15 he wrote us what was destined to be his very last letter.
We mourn the loss of our chief.
------------------------------------------------
Michael Sull, master penman, expert on penmanship, author of books on cursive handwriting and Spencerian script and ornamental penmanship, wrote these comments in February 2010 about the Horace G. Healey Penmanship Collection, part of the Zaner-Bloser Collection at the University of Scranton's Weinberg Library, Scranton, PA:
Horace G. Healey (1867-1938) was a respected and industrious penman during America’s Golden Age of Penmanship. In 1892 he became associated with Austin N. Palmer in the ownership of the Cedar Rapids Business College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. During his years at this institution, he taught shorthand and penmanship. He was highly skilled in business writing and widely admired for his superb talent in rendering Engrosser’s Script. In approximately 1898-1899 he moved to New York City, where he became acquainted with Daniel Ames - one of America’s most admired and established penmen. It is here that the story of this collection really begins.
Among the ranks of professional penmen, Daniel Ames (1835-1909) was noteworthy for several reasons. He was one of the most prolific engrossers our country ever produced, creating countless certificates and promotional pieces that featured exceptional lettering in numerous alphabet styles, off-hand flourishing, portraiture, banners, scrolls, line-work and compositions so complex that they defied description. His skill was truly legendary. In addition to his engrossing abilities, he was also America’s most recognized examiner of questioned documents, detecting forgeries and testifying in this regard at numerous court proceedings. He authored several significant books on penmanship, but his work Ames On Forgery (1900) was regarded as the definitive text on the subject. (Throughout his career he served as a handwriting expert in over 1,200 forgery cases in 4 countries!) In 1876 he became founder and editor of the Penman’s Art Journal and served in that capacity for over 20 years. During this period, the Penman’s Art Journal was the leading penmanship magazine in America.
Due to his professional commitment of maintaining the highest standards of quality in all his endeavors, Mr. Ames himself penned the artwork for many of his magazines and books, including the covers, articles, lessons, headings and promotional advertising. In later years he commissioned such pen masters as Dennis, Brown, Marlatt and Malone to contribute artwork for this purpose. And as the decades went by, he saved all of this artwork as an on-going collection in his studio.
The majority of Daniel Ames’ career found him working in New York City, where he met Charles Rollinson, a reputable penman and engrosser from the area. Together they co-founded the Ames & Rollinson Company, a firm that became a leader in its field of providing engrossing services on a commercial basis (the company still exists today!). In the late 1890’s, however, Mr. Ames decided that with his busy schedule divided between his engrossing company and forgery detection business, he no longer had time to invest his energies in the realm of publishing. Also, his health had begun to decline by this time and he desired to relocate to California in a manner of semi-retirement. Indeed, six years earlier, in 1894, Ames had hired William J. Kinsley, a penman he had known since 1884, to become the new managing editor of The Penman’s Art Journal...in 1899, Daniel Ames moved to Mountain View, California, a city in the San Francisco Bay area.
Among the resources that came with the Penman’s Art Journal, was Ames’ large collection of pen-art that had been commissioned since the 1880’s for the magazine. Mr. Ames had taken his three personal scrapbooks and one large folder, all of which contained specimens of his own penmanship, with him to California along with a number of his writing tools, publications and a slender journal in which he pasted dozens of newspaper clippings that cited references to noted forgery cases in which he was involved. Also, included were photographs of him and his wife. In 1906 his residence and studio were heavily damaged in the famous San Francisco earthquake - and photographs of this incident were taken and added to the large folder. He re-built his facilities and persevered, but his fragile health continued to decline. He died at his home in Mountain View at age 74 on August 26, 1909.
--------------------------------------------
Other sources:
Karin J. Thomas, history of the family of Jared Mann Ames & Sarah P. Titus, Ancestry.com;
"Album of Biography and Art," Profile of Daniel T. Ames, Thomas E. Hill. Standard Book Co, Chicago, 1881, 327 pgs;
"The Blue Book, Photographs & Sketches of a few Commercial Artists - Daniel T. Ames," L. E. Stacy. Tribune Publishing Co., Meadville, PA, 1907, pg. 76.
"Penman's Art Journal," October 1909; Ames & Rollinson, 202 Broadway, NY City;
"The Business Educator," Zaner-Bloser Co., Columbus, Ohio, October 1909;
"Newspapers.com" - articles, advertisements & obituaries;
Annual catalogs for Thetford Academy and Newbury Seminary and Female Collegiate Institute;
"Ancestry.com" - US, NY & CA Censuses, city directories, birth and death records;
Photos of artwork from various penmanship journals and websites.
-----------------------------------------------
OBITUARY - The San Francisco Chronicle (California)
August 27, 1909
“Death Claims Daniel T. Ames”
Handwriting Expert Passes Away at Mountain View Home.
Mountain View, August 26.—Daniel T. Ames, who had won national prominence as a handwriting expert, and who had been retained in many celebrated cases both in the east and in California, died at his home in Mountain View at 5 o’clock this morning.
Ames was 83 years old and his death was due to a general breaking down of his vital powers. He had been in an enfeebled condition for the last three years, a part of the time being confined to his room. He had been about the house on Sunday and had retired a little earlier than usual. When his wife followed him a little later she found him in a semi-conscious condition, and, although he recognized her, he did not rally.
Born in Vermont, Ames became a student in chirography early in life and taught a school of penmanship for some time, coming into prominence later as a witness in celebrated cases where the authenticity of handwriting was disputed. One of the principal cases with which he was connected was that of the Morley [sic] letters, which purported to give President Garfield’s opinions on the Chinese labor question. He is also understood to have been called upon to examine several of the documents in the Dreyfus case.
He came to California first in connection with the Fair will case and was later retained in the Davis will case, although the bulk of the work in that instance was done by other experts, and in the Botkin trial. He was the author of several works, among them being “Ames on Forgery.”
He leaves a widow, a son and daughter living in Mountain View, two sisters at Branden, Vt., and two brothers at Clinton, Wis. The funeral will be held on Saturday from the family residence. The interment will be at Alta Mesa Cemetery.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This memorial to Daniel T. Ames was researched and compiled by Thomas W. Costello, great-grandson of penman, P. W. Costello (1866-1935), a friend and colleague of Mr. Ames.
Mr. Costello's early engrossings, from the 1880s and 1890s, show Ames' influence in design, borders, lettering and decoration. Both men were superb illustrators. Mr. Costello often traveled by train from Scranton, PA to New York City to meet with Daniel Ames and, later, with Horace G. Healey, at the Ames & Rollinson Studio and offices of the "Penman's Art Journal" on Broadway. He brought photographs of his portraits and engrossed resolutions for publication. As he often did for his friends and family, he also gave them original drawings for their own collections.
Inscription
DANIEL T. AMES
1835 - 1909
FANNIE L. AMES
1840 - 1918
