A member of the Ames family, he served as head of the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls and as chaplain of the state institutions of Rhode Island.

[1][2][3] He was educated at Phillips Andover Academy, where he graduated as valedictorian, before studying medicine at Harvard Medical School.

[6][7] Though Ames was educated to undertake missionary work in West Africa, the poor state of health of his wife ultimately precluded him from traveling abroad.

[6] Ames was a firm believer in criminal rehabilitation and, in 1862, was made superintendent and chaplain of the Lancaster Industrial School for Girls.

[8] In 1874, after plans were announced to install workshops at the school, Ames – concerned that the new direction towards prison industry was transforming it into a jail – resigned in protest.