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 George H. Ambrose
Indian agent, railroad president, lynch mob target, orange farmer.
"WESTWARD HO!"--Yesterday passed through our city, en route for Oregon, well equipped in good spirits--Joseph R. Young, wife and three children; James H. Brown, wife and seven children; Stephen Hussey, wife and five children; Dr. George Ambrose and wife, besides several young men--all from this county. Our townsman and brother typo, A. M. Ballard, wife and four children, with Geo. Owen, and one or two other young men, left at the same time. They all have our best wishes. Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, April 4, 1850, page 3 Going to Oregon.
OAK
DALE, Mo, April 19, 1850.
Dear Sir:Agreeably to promise, I avail myself of a few leisure minutes to let you know how we are getting along in our journey. Our trip so far has been full of incidents and accidents. We have had a vexatious and unpropitious start. In the first place, we found a scarcity of forage for our stock--on which account, we were compelled to deviate from the main road to find grass--in which we were mistaken. Of all the muddy roads that ever were traveled, I think, the one we came was the worst. Circuitous and roundabout, we wound around from one mudhole to ditto. You will be better able to form an idea of the state of the roads when I tell you it would require ten yoke of cattle to disengage our wagons from some muddy places through which we had to pass. We came by the way of Beardstown, Bushville, Quincy and Palmyra, south to the Hannibal road, west to Shelbyville, Mo. We were detained several days at Quincy. Boreas blew such a gale that we were afraid to venture out in our tea-kettle steamer. On Monday, when ready for a start, when we had a flurry of snow, and after that, all kinds of disagreeable weather in the space of twenty-four hours; and so it has continued up to the present--and, owing to the indisposition of several, it was doubly disagreeable. On the 18th, Mr. Brown's eldest son had the misfortune to fall off the tongue of one of the ox wagons, the forewheel of which broke both legs. At the present, he shows every indication of a speedy recovery. Wednesday, 24th. One of Brown's hands, by the name of Powell, stole from him a horse, saddle and bridle, and, from Hathaway Yocum, an overcoat. About a week before, James Bennett had fifty dollars stolen from him, and Jerry Penock about fifteen. I am now in pursuit of Powell. I have heard from him. He is making his way back to Wabash County, Indiana. Mr. Brown's boy is rapidly recovering, though his left thigh was horribly crushed. Yours
Respectfully,
Illinois
Daily Journal, Springfield, May 3, 1850, page
2GEO. H. AMBROSE. From the Oregon Emigrants.
PLATTE
RIVER, June 22, 1850.
Editors of the Journal:Having a leisure moment, I will send you a short letter. We have progressed so far without any serious difficulty, though rather slowly. We are now 150 miles west of Fort Kearny, and about 70 miles east of Fort Laramie. We have been detained here on account of sickness. Joseph Young and wife were quite sick, but are now better. Stephen Hussey was taken last night, but is manifestly better this morning. We hope to be able to start today. The emigrants are suffering a great deal with sickness. The prevailing disease is diarrhea, wrongly called cholera here. The emigration is very large, and the mass are ahead of us; yet we hope to be able to pass a good number when we start again. I have found that we did not start with the right kind of teams. Mr. Ballard is ahead of us, and his team is better suited to the trip than ours. Ordinary-sized cows are the very best teams that travel this road, or very small steers. I have but one yoke that is small enough. It may seem strange to you in the States to talk thus, but you will find it to be the case should you ever come on this road. A yoke of cows are worth here from $50 to $100. They sell higher than steers do. They are in great demand. They will give milk and stand the journey better than steers. Our wagons were all too heavy. A wagon one-third less than the one I started with would be about the right size. This is the prettiest road for a buggy in the world. We have had no bad roads since we left the States. Your roads there for smoothness and excellence bear no comparison to these. From what I can learn buggies go the trip better than any other vehicle. The roads are level and solid, equal to a turnpike. It is the solid gravelly road that wears out the feet of oxen. Their hoofs are cut to the quick. We have left none of our oxen yet, but have several lame ones. This is not a laborious journey, if prepared for it. Light wagons, strong teams and small cattle are very important on this trip. There is every variety of people on the road going in every possible way; some on foot; some on horseback; some with handcarts and wheelbarrows. I have seen several with wheelbarrows (Irishmen). Hundreds are turning back. Many have died on the road. Full one-half of the deaths are from bad treatment. The sick expose themselves very much, and suffer the disease to run on till the last stage. They are when sick thrown into wagons, hot as an oven, covered with dust, and the company drive on, until the sick die. They are then buried, and the word is given--"Drive ahead, boys!" It is certainly strange that men should become so very reckless here; the burying of the dead is brutal. As soon as a person dies the wagon is stopped and a grave dug north and south, east and west, no difference, the corpse thrown in and sand shoveled upon them without any ceremony. Such are not unfrequent occurrences with those whose souls are absorbed in the pursuit of gold, and who act as if they believed the loss of an hour on their journey was the loss of a fortune! We are now within three days travel of Fort Laramie, where this will be mailed. Yours, Respectfully,
JUNE
27.--12 o'clock.--All over the river and ready to start. Fort Laramie
is in sight. We crossed the river without any difficulty. The sick are
all recovering; we expect to be in a healthy country shortly.G. H. AMBROSE. I think if no accident occurs we will get through by the 1st of September. I have not time to write any more at present--very busy reloading our wagons--after which I start for the Fort to buy a light wagon bed, and shall couple my wagon shorter, confident that by doing so it will facilitate our onward march. G.H.A.
We have received a note from Dr. G . H . Ambrose, dated near the South Pass, in which he announces the death of Mr. W. M. Lee. The manuscript is written with a pencil and is somewhat defaced; but we gather from it that he belonged to Lagrange County, Indiana; that his body was found near Deer Creek, and was buried 1½ miles east of the creek; at the east end of a small grove, 19 yards south-south west of a large scrubby cottonwood, on the bank of the river. Although the note does not say so, we understand from Mr. Constant, who brought it to us, that the body of Mr. Lee was found in the river, having the appearance of having been drowned. There was found upon the body a bill of exchange for $100, on some bank; also $25 in specie. This property is in the hands of Stephen Hussey, late of this county, now on his way to Oregon. (Indiana papers publish the above.) Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, September 2, 1850, page 3 Mr. Constant, in company with six others, left Oregon, as before stated, on the 5th of June.… On this side of the Rocky Mountains they met the party of Brown, Young, Hussey and Dr. Ambrose. He learned that Mr. Young had lost his oldest son on the Platte, of diarrhea--sick only two days. There had been much sickness among the emigrants on the south side of the Platte, attributed to bad water, which they took from holes dug in the sand. Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, September 3, 1850, page 2 FROM OREGON.
We find
the following account of the Indian fights on Rogue River in the Oregonian of the
7th August. Dr. Ambrose, referred to, was late a citizen of Sugar
Creek, in this county. The Oregonian
says--"We have just learnt from Mr. Kennedy, who has arrived from
Shasta and the Rogue River country, that the late difficulty
between
the Indians and whites grew out of a determination on the part
of Sam,
the war chief, to get possession of a little child of Dr. Ambrose,
formerly of Vancouver; and upon refusal of Dr. A. to comply with his
wishes, the chief demanded three beef cattle to be given him, or the
Dr. must leave the valley; whereupon the Dr. made the miners at
Jacksonville acquainted with the facts and his situation, who
immediately formed a company of seventy-five--marched down to Big Bar,
and sent for the chief, to have a talk and make a treaty. The chief
came over, but declined to enter into any terms, and asked for a parley
until the next day, with the understanding that in case he did not come
over with his warriors by 10 o'clock, the whites might consider it as a
declaration of war. The chief came over, but nothing definite could be
arranged with him, and after returning, sent over a party
of his
warriors. The whites made prisoners of these Indians as hostages for
the good faith of "Sam," the chief. Soon after, one of the prisoners
drew his bow upon one of the whites, and was about to shoot, when the
sudden fire of a miner killed the Indian instantly. A regular
engagement immediately followed this event, which lasted about half an
hour, and which resulted in the whites killing all but three or four of
the Indians engaged in the contest. After this, a party, numbering
about forty men, marched down to Evans ferry--attacked a body of
Indians encamped there--killed eleven, and captured three of the
chief's family. The next day, two white men and a Klickitat Indian who
had wandered from the camp were surrounded by some two hundred Indians.
The Klickitat was shot through the body, but is now recovering. The
three escaped, after killing several of the "redskins." That night, the
whites, under cover of the darkness, surrounded the whole band of
Indians in their encampment, and on the approach of daylight, made
their appearance. The Indians, finding themselves completely
surrounded, threw away their arms, and upon their knees begged for
quarter. The miners complied, and they were all marched over to the
Indian Agency, when Judge Skinner made a treaty of peace, which was
signed by all the chiefs."Illinois Daily Journal, Springfield, September 22, 1852, page 2 George H. Ambrose, 30 Ellen F. Ambrose, 30 Georgiana Ambrose, 3 Jackson County, Oregon Pioneer Census, 1853 The Rogue Valley land claim of George Hill Ambrose and Ellen Frances Ambrose is mapped here. Indian Agents Appointed--The following agents have just been appointed for the Indians in Oregon, viz: Nathan Olney, vice J. L. Parrish resigned George H. Ambrose, vice [Samuel H.] Culver resigned. Edwin P. Drew, sub-agent, vice Phillip P. Thompson deceased. The parties are all of Oregon. Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 3, 1854, page 2 Note that Samuel H. Culver is not Sam Colver. Geo. H. Ambrose, 31 Ellen F. Ambrose, 31 Georgiana Ambrose, 4 Jackson County, Oregon Pioneer Census, 1854 Indian Agents Appointed--The following agents have just been appointed for the Indians in Oregon, viz: Nathan Olney, vice J. L. Parrish, resigned. George H. Ambrose, vice [Samuel H.] Culver, removed. Edwin P. Drew, sub-agent, vice Phillip P. Thompson, deceased. The parties are all of Oregon. Evening Star, Washington, D.C., November 3, 1854, page 3
INDIAN WAR CLAIMS.
NOTICE is hereby given that L. F. Grover,
Esq., Dr.
Geo. H. Ambrose and A. C. Gibbs, Esq., have been appointed
Commissioners to appraise the property destroyed by the Rogue River
Indians during the late Indian war. All persons having claims for
property so destroyed are required to present the same to the said
Commissioners, with proper proofs, on the first Monday of January next,
at Jacksonville, Territory of Oregon.JOEL
PALMER,
Umpqua
Weekly Gazette, Scottsburg,
December 30, 1854, page 3Supt. Indian Affairs. G. H. Ambrose, 32 Ellen F. Ambrose, 32 Georgianna Ambrose, 5 Jackson County, Oregon Pioneer Census, 1855 George H. Ambrose, of Oregon Territory, to be agent for the Indians in Oregon Territory. "Appointments by the President," New York Herald, February 15, 1855, page 9 Ambrose's letters as Indian agent can be found among the correspondence of the Oregon Indian Superintendency. The Indians in Rogue River Valley are all quiet. By the active exertion of Capt. A. J. Smith, 1st Dragoon commanding officer at Fort Lane, and of the Indian agent, Dr. Ambrose, all the Indians in Illinois Valley have been removed to the Indian reservation. "Two Weeks Later from California," Boston Courier, August 27, 1855, page 2 Lieut. Colonel Buchanan, U.S.A.; Capt. E. O. C. Ord, U.S.A.; Lieut. G. P. Ihrie, U.S.A.; Capt. W. R. Fauntleroy, Dr. Potts, U.S.A., and Dr. Ambrose, lately arrived at San Francisco from Oregon. The Sun, Baltimore, Maryland, August 16, 1856, page 1 Lexington, Missouri: Geo. H. Ambrose, 36, farmer, born Ohio Ellen Ambrose, 36, born Kentucky Anna Ambrose, 9, born Oregon Lilly Ambrose, 3, born Oregon Willis T. Ambrose, 1, born Missouri Martha Denora, 11, born Missouri U.S. Census, enumerated August 8, 1860 SHERIFF'S SALE.
By virtue of four (4) writs of venditioni exponas,
issued from the office of the clerk of the Lafayette Circuit Court, in
the State of Missouri, directed to the undersigned Sheriff of Lafayette
County, and returnable to the November term, 1863, of the Circuit Court
of said county; one in favor of Thomas Yerby and against Leroy L. Hill;
one in favor of the Mechanic's Bank and against Leroy L. Hill, George
H. Ambrose Joseph O. Shelby, Carey Gratz and Andrew J. Alexander; one
in favor of the Farmers' Bank of Missouri and against Leroy L. Hill,
Willis A. Hill and James L. Hill; one in favor of the Farmers' Bank of
Missouri and against Leroy L. Hill, George H. Ambrose and Willis A.
Hill, I will on.Friday, the 4th of December, A.D. 1863,
between
the hours of nine o'clock in the forenoon, and five o'clock in the
afternoon of said day, in front of the Court House door, in the city of
Lexington, and during the sitting of the Circuit Court of said
Lafayette County, sell publicly by auction, for ready money, all the
right, title claim and interest, that the said defendant, Leroy L.
Hill, had at the time of the rendition of the judgments in said causes,
or at any time since had in and to the following described real estate,
situated in Lafayette County aforesaid--to wit:The southeast quarter of section number 1, containing 160 acres; the southwest quarter of the same section, containing 160 acres; the northeast quarter of section 12, containing 160 acres; the west half of the northeast quarter of section 10, containing 80 acres; the southeast quarter of the southeast quarter of section 3, containing 40 acres; all the above lands being in township 49 of range 26; the west half of the southwest quarter of section 6, containing 87 16/100 acres; the west half of the northwest quarter of section 7, containing 87 96/100 acres; the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of section 7, containing 43 98/100 acres; the southwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section 7, containing 40 acres; all the real estate last mentioned and described being in township 49 of range 25, which said real estate, the former Sheriff of said county, under and by virtue of an execution issued on said judgments on the 6th day of November, 1869, being levied upon as the property of the said defendant, Leroy L. Hill, and which said real estate, I as Sheriff of said county, am, by said writ of venditioni exponas, commanded to sell to satisfy the said debts, interests and costs. Given under my hand this, the 29th day of September, A.D., 1863. J. A. PRICE, Sheriff.
Lexington Weekly Express, Lexington, Missouri, November 28, 1863, page 3MARRIAGES.
Married, May
13th, in the Baptist church in this city, by Rev. E. S. Dulin, Mr.
GROVER YOUNG to Miss M. GEORGIE AMBROSE, daughter of Dr. G. H. Ambrose.
No cards.
"Her gentle spirit
The Weekly Caucasian, Lexington, Missouri, May 16, 1868, page 3Commits itself to you to be directed, As from her lord, her governor, her king." County Court.--We see by the last Caucasian that some of our Democratic brethren have come to the conclusion that they have "caught a tartar" in the present Democratic County Court. How is this? We thought from the howls you continue to make about Radical [Republican] non-taxpayers, and carpetbaggers, that you had all the excellence, honesty, business capacity, and property of the county, and of course would put it forward to represent you. The court is now composed of Judges Letton, Thomas and Ambrose. The first two you voted for and did not elect. They hold on a fraudulent certificate from the late Billy Bowen. Judge Ambrose was elected last fall by the people, we voted for him and propose to be responsible for him. Judge Thomas, though holding the office contrary to law, has at all times when the interests of the county were at stake, acted like an honest citizen, and we have no complaint to make of him. As a politician he is dishonest or he would not hold the office, but as an officer, and a guardian of the interests of the county, he is in our opinion an honorable, fair man, much more so than the men these growlers would put in his place if they had the power. We think we understand the whole trouble. Judge Letton, a Democratic charity patient, had to be supported. They gobbled an office for him; he does not intend to disappoint them, and is gobbling what he can. Ashamed to come out and own him, and rebuke him, they wish to saddle his sins upon the whole court. Let every tub stand upon its own bottom. If the indefinite charges made by this self-constituted committee have any substance in them, let those who make them go before the grand jury and have the parties indicted. A smelling committee will amount to nothing--there is no warrant in law for it. Judges Ambrose and Thomas are we doubt not ready and willing to do all the accounting required by law at the proper time and place. Lexington Register, Lexington, Missouri, September 2, 1869, page 3 Railroad Correspondence.
LEXINGTON, Mo., Oct. 18, 1869.
To GEORGE H. AMBROSE, President, and gentlemen of the Board of Directors of the Lexington & St. Louis Railroad Co.Sirs: As a committee appointed by the citizens of Lafayette County, to make an investigation into all matters wherein such county is interested, we would inform you that the books of such Lexington & St. Louis Railroad Company contain items of information indispensable to a completion of the duties of such committee. It is therefore respectfully requested of you that you permit such committee to make such an investigation of the books of said company as they may deem consistent with their duty and the interest of Lafayette County, or that your Secretary be instructed to furnish such committee with copies of such proceedings therein as may be desired. Yours truly,
ZACH J. MITCHELL, Secretary.BENJ. MARSHALL, Chairman pro tem, Committee of Investigation. ----
OFFICE LEXINGTON & ST. LOUIS R.R.,
ZACH J. MITCHELL, ESQ.--Sir:
A communication signed by you, as Secretary of a "Smelling Committee,"
was handed me this morning, requesting that the papers and records
pertaining to the Lexington & St. Louis Railroad Company be opened
to said committee for inspection. By instructions of the Board I am
requested to say, that while our records have at all times been open to
inspection by citizens of the county, and all others interested in the
success of the enterprise, or who desire to obtain correct information
in regard to it, we deny the right of your committee to make, upon any
reasonable pretext, such request. Ours is a private corporation. Its
business affairs are as private as those of an individual--except the
annual report and statement required to be made to the stockholders.
Such report and statement of its resources, its expenditures, &c.,
have been made and published in both the county papers, and will again
be made at the time required by our charter and by-laws. A supplemental
statement in pamphlet form has also been made and circulated, and every
citizen who has desired to obtain information as to the condition,
prospects, &c., of our Company has been cheerfully furnished with
such intelligence by the officers of the Company; and access to the
records has never been refused, and would not now he denied if we were
not assured by the past conduct of those who got up the committee, and
now control it, that they were prompted in what they have done by a
desire to pervert such information, and to injure and impede in every
way in their power, the successful and speedy completion of the road,
and to impair the credit of the county and the bonds held by the
Company. These are grave charges, and are not made without positive
assurances of their truth. In proof, we beg to refresh your
recollection as to some of the facts in support of them. You will
remember, no doubt, that when the question of the organization of our
Company was being discussed before the public, at a meeting at the
court house in Lexington, you declared, as a legal proposition, that
"it was dead beyond the hope of resurrection"; that its franchises were
forfeited, and staked your legal reputation upon the correctness of
this declaration. You asserted that its friends never expected to build
a road, but that their purpose was only to defeat other railroad
enterprises and deprive the county of the benefits of a road-so
essential to her prosperity and advancement.October 24, 1869. You well remember your efforts to prevent Judge Wood and others from being heard in defense of this enterprise and of those engaged in it; and the encouragement you gave that portion of the audience who were engaged in stamping them down. You well remember, no doubt, some of the oft-repeated declarations made to individuals in regard to the road and its prospects of success; and how you have been an habitual street croaker, predicting its failure from the commencement; and now when you see that all your statements and foreboding have had no real existence except in your own fertile imagination, you are again redoubling your efforts, by erroneous and unfounded statements, to prejudice the best interest of the Company and impair the value of its securities, as is evidenced by permitting yourself to be tacked on as one joint in the tail of that very liberal minded, public-spirited and venerable gentleman, Col. Jas. Young, who boasts that he never wanted office, yet never was known to decline one; who talks loudly of benevolence and charity, and yet no one ever heard of the strings of his plethoric purse relaxing their grip at the calls of suffering humanity; who claims always to have been the friend of every public enterprise for the benefit of the county, and yet, whose name cannot be found as a subscriber to anything where money was required to accomplish it; who was the staunch friend of the Lexington & Saint Louis Railroad, when the probabilities were that it would run by his own farm, and quarreled with everyone opposed to it, but so soon as the route was changed was quite as ready to fight every man who was in favor of it; who, during the war, was just enough of a Union man to get receipt for all the hay, corn and oats furnished to the Federal army, and just secesh enough to steer clear of bushwhackers, and to live quietly and comfortably upon his farm. You will remember that you declared in one of the meetings held at the court house, for the purpose of getting up your smelling committee, that "no effort had been made to convince capitalists that the bonds of Lafayette County were good and would certainly be paid; and that no sane man would invest ten thousand dollars in them, and that the company could not expect to sell them under such circumstances." We may not quote your exact language, but its import. Now Mr. Mitchell, you either knew that statement was untrue, or else you were making declarations in regard to a matter that you knew nothing about--either of which is equally culpable; for long anterior to that, and before any bonds were put upon the market, a pamphlet statement of the law under which the subscription was made, the decision of the court in the mandamus case; the value of the taxable property of the county; the rate of taxation; the statement that the tax was already levied and the books in the hands of the collector; for the payment of the interest, and the opinion of Judge Nafton (one of the ex-judges of the supreme court, and one of the most distinguished jurists of the state, whose legal opinions are at least entitled among capitalists of St. Louis to as much respect as yours), had been published; and, at that time, about three hundred thousand dollars of the bonds had been sold. What then is the effect of such reckless assertions? and what motives prompt you, if not the hostility you have ever manifested to the enterprise! It was the action of yourself and a few others that kept the County Court from issuing the bonds until the question was litigated, and subjected the Company to heavy expense to obtain the bonds through the courts, and then you complain of the Company for expenditures which you forced them to incur. You have aided in calling township and county meetings at the very time when the Company, pressed for means to carry on the work and pay the hands along the line, were making every effort to sell bonds. No one knows better than you do that agitation alarms capitalists, depresses the market for bonds and depreciates their value; and yet after doing all in your power to accomplish this you complain of the low rates which they were sold; and, after the Company have sold the greater part of them, you join in passing a resolution, as a finale to all your agitation, "that the county is abundantly able and willing to pay (a thing you always knew she could not avoid doing); the result of your resolution is that the capitalists who hold these bonds are alone benefited. The county and the Company have lost at least ten percent. on them by your action. This is your economy; the same sort of economy was manifested in your complaints against the County Court, because they ordered the money collected to meet the interest on the bonds issued to the Lexington & St. Joseph Railroad to the bank of Morrison & Co., where the coupons were payable, and applied directly to their payment, instead of allowing it to pass through the hands of the Treasurer, and allowing him to deduct two and a half percent. commission. But my limits will not permit me to extend this enumeration any further. These are but a few facts by way of refreshing your memory. I cannot close this communication without volunteering some good advice to you, and as it is given in the kindest spirit, and with the very best intentions, I hope you will so regard it. For every member of your committee personally, we entertain the highest respect, and when you come as citizens, divested of your official smelling functions, we will take pleasure in furnishing you with every item of information in our power, but for such men as Col. Young, allow us to express our supreme contempt. Now sir, we do not mention it in any spirit of flattery, that you are a young man of fair promise--your advantages have been great, and doubtless you have fully availed yourself of them. During the darkest period in the history of our country--while others of your age were periling their lives upon the battle fields, you were in foreign lands engaged in storing your mind with learning, and in visiting the scenes and localities around which are clustered the historic glory of past ages. After reaping all the honors which could be conferred by all the colleges and universities of the old world, at the close of the war you returned home to enter upon a professional career, which I do not doubt will be brilliant and successful, unless you should persist in acting the part of second fiddler to such men as Col. Young. It is no compliment to you sir, to say that you have more than five times as much sense as Col. Young ever had in his best days, and it is generally conceded, that what with the advancing infirmities of old age, the indulgence of an uncontrollable temper and tyrannical disposition, consequent upon disappointed ambition, and the misfortune of believing himself a much greater man than other people were willing to think him, he has lost, for the greater part, of the little modicum of intelligence he once had. He is only regarded now as an antiquated bundle of chronic prejudices, who walks about the streets of Lexington growling and snarling at everything and everybody, until he has become an object rather of pity than contempt. Like the famous knight of La Mancha, his foot is always in the stirrup and his lance in rest, to take a tilt at everything and everybody that comes in his way; or to use a more familiar simile, like a "bull in a china shop," until it has become a matter of public amusement to invent some story to tell in his presence, only to see him fly off and vent impotent rage upon some innocent victim. In conclusion, allow me to assure you that the Lexington & St. Louis Railroad will be built, and that at a proper time and in a legal manner, a full statement of its condition will be made to the public and the stockholders. And its officers do not fear that their standing in this community will be in any wise impaired by anything that such men as Col. Young can do or say to their prejudice. I am sir, very respectfully, Your ob't. servant, GEO. H. AMBROSE, President L. & St. L. R.R. Lexington Register, Lexington, Missouri, October 28, 1869, page 3 Lexington, Missouri: George Ambrose, 46, physician, born Ohio Ellen Ambrose, 46, born Kentucky George Ambrose, 19, born Michigan Lilly Ambrose, 13, born Missouri William Ambrose, 10, born Missouri Fannie Ambrose, 8, born Missouri Susan Williams, 55, servant, born Kentucky Maria Williams, 16, servant, born Missouri Fanny Young, 1, born Missouri U.S. Census, enumerated June 25, 1870 DIED.
In this city,
on Friday evening, 18th inst., after a lingering illness, Mrs. ELLEN
FRANCIS AMBROSE, wife of George H. Ambrose.
Lexington Register, Lexington, Missouri, August 24, 1871, page 3 (From the St. Louis Republican, 25th.)
THE SITUATION IN LAFAYETTE COUNTY.--The
official report of Adjt. Gen. Sigel, appointed by Gov. Brown to visit
Lafayette County and make report on the condition of affairs there,
gives us reliable information on that subject. The events that gave
rise to the reports of violence and lawlessness in the county were,
first: A letter to the county judge, Ambrose, warning him that his life
had been threatened on account of certain unsatisfactory official acts,
and warning him to resign; second, the shooting of Lafayette Groves,
editor of the Intelligencer, by Edwin Turner, editor of the Register;
and, third, the shooting of D. E. Douthitt and Ben Wilson by a
committee of forty persons, for the alleged offense of stealing mules.
Adjt. Gen. Sigel reports that Judge Ambrose did receive such a letter
as is referred to, signed by John Fulkerson; but whether it came from
the source stated is "more than doubtful." It had the effect, however,
of causing Judge Ambrose to leave the county for a time; but he had
returned on the assurance of his friends that he would not be molested,
and the adjutant-general found him in the quiet discharge of his
duties. The killing of Groves by Turner was simply the tragic end of a
personal quarrel; it created some excitement among the friends of the
murdered man on account of the alleged unfairness with which the
killing was done; and this excitement was for a time aggravated by a
misapprehension of Sheriff Taubman's motives in removing the prisoner
to Kansas City; but it subsided when it was learned that the prisoner
was secure and in no danger of escaping; and when the adjutant-general
visited Lexington, he found the community quiet. The shooting of young
Douthitt and Wilson was the work of a party of undisguised and
well-known persons, who had assumed the task of punishing horse thieves
in the method invariably practiced in the West for a half a century--by
lynch law. The killing was a bloody affair, and it is said that the
young men were not really guilty of the crime they were charged with;
but the affair furnishes no sufficient grounds for the charge of
promiscuous lawlessness made against the community. The
adjutant-general strongly condemns the bloody deed of the vigilance
committee, and as an officer of the law he could not be expected to do
otherwise; but it is a little strange that the public sentiment of the
North should be so diligently invoked against a local vigilance
committee in a single county in Missouri, at a time when just such
violences are committed by vigilance committees in Ohio, Indiana and
Illinois, and when the respectable press of New York and Chicago are
intimating that no other agency than a vigilance committee can protect
society against criminals in those cities. Mr. Green L. Douthitt,
father of one of the murdered men, informed the adjutant-general that
he had instituted suits for damages against the parties, forty-two in
number, who killed his son, and that, in addition to this, he intended
to prosecute them in the United States district court under the ku-klux act.
These proceedings, together with the determination of the citizens to
prevent further violence, and the earnest attention which Gov. Brown
has given to the matter will, the adjutant-general says, "prevent the
recurrence of the disgraceful acts, and actually break up the unlawful
organization."This is the whole story of the Lafayette County troubles. They do not possess any political meaning or character, nor were they as serious as has been represented. They were of a local nature and effect and would never have attracted so large a share of public attention had not the events alluded to occurred about the same time, and thus created the erroneous impression that they were parts of a general system of violence. The Weekly Caucasian, Lexington, Missouri, November 30, 1872, page 2 AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE.
And now comes the information from Florida that our whilom
judge, Geo. H. Ambrose, has procured himself to be elected one of the
county commissioners of Levy County in that state, a position similar
to the one he filled here with so much profit to himself and damage to
Lafayette County. We also understand that he is a candidate for the
legislature. And, oh, mirabile dictu!
was elected as a Democrat, is running for the legislature as a
Democrat, and claims to have been always a Democrat. Claims to have
been swindled by divers and sundry persons here out of tens of
thousands of dollars. We can imagine the expression upon the
countenances of the good people of this county when they hear of the
huge joke which the wily bond manipulator has played on the denizens of
the land of flowers. We are not astonished. His reputation has been too
long established here"For ways that are dark
to admit of astonishment of anything he might represent.And tricks that are vain," Ambrose was elected one of the justices of the county court of Lafayette County in 1868, and held that office until the fall of 1874. He was elected as a radical Republican, on the radical Republican ticket, headed by Grant and Colfax. He always affiliated politically with radicals, though many of his official acts were execrated and condemned by many of the best men in that party, on account of their manifest corruption. He has never been considered anything but a radical since he first came into public notice in 1868. During the time he was county justice extravagance and reckless expenditure of the public funds were the order of the day. As presiding justice of the county court, and president of the Lexington and St. Louis R.R. Co., which company received from this county $740,000 in bonds, he deserves more condemnation for the corruption, the extravagance, the criminal waste of the people's money, than any other man, Amos Green not excepted. It only remains for Amos to turn radical, swear that he was always radical, and get an office by radical votes, to make the honors even between the two parties. To particularize all of the corrupt acts of Ambrose while on the county bench would require more space than our paper affords. They have all been put on record in the papers here. The amount written upon the subject would make a large volume. But a single notorious transaction which has never been denied, even, will suffice to show the character of the man's acts while on the county bench, managing the financial affairs of the county. There had been a subscription of $500,000, made to the Lexington and St. Louis R.R. Co., by the county. The company claimed an additional sum of $240,000 as interest upon the original subscription. By some arrangement it was agreed that said amount should be given to the Louisiana and Missouri River R.R. Co. The court was about to issue that sum in bonds to that company. An injunction suit was filed against the court to restrain the issuance of such bonds, and the court had been threatened with condign punishment by an outraged people if such bonds were issued. One of the members of the court, Judge Chinn, Republican though he was, was in sympathy with the people, and had promised to watch and give the alarm if such a thing was attempted. Now mark what Ambrose did in conjunction with the third member of the court. Money to spend he must have. To what company issued it mattered not. He wrote out an order directing the issuance of $240,000 in bonds to the Lexington & St. Louis R.R. Co. as an original subscription thereto, which, under the company's charter, the court had legal authority to make. He and his partner in the transaction signed the paper, but were careful not to let Judge Chinn have the least inkling of the matter. Just before the court finally adjourned for that term, and while Judge Chinn's attention was directed to some other matter, Ambrose dropped the paper in question upon the clerk's desk, with directions given in a low tone, "make that order." The court then adjourned, and Judge Chinn never knew that such an order had been made for several days, when he heard of it through public rumor. The bonds had already been prepared for signature. That same night, in the dead hours thereof, Ambrose and the clerk met in the clerk's office, with closed shutters and locked doors, and there the fraud was consummated by Ambrose signing the bonds, as presiding justice of the court, and the clerk attaching the seal of the court thereto. The bonds were then turned over to the agent of the county, appointed in the order making the subscription, who in turn delivered them back to Ambrose as president of the railroad company. Ambrose packed these same bonds in his satchel, and left for St. Louis on the morning train, and was "over the hills and far away" long before the transaction was known to any others than those who participated in it. It it unnecessary to characterize such a transaction. If the good peole at Levy County are wise they will get rid of Ambrose as soon as possible. If they do not, but continue him in positions of trust, they will someday have an experience that will convince the dullest of that class that will learn in no other school. It is a wise man that profits by the experience of others. Let Levy County profit by the experience of Lafayette. The Democracy is always glad to make and receive converts from other parties, provided they are honest men and good citizens, but if none but Ambrose's kind offer to come over, we would respectfully decline receiving proposals. Levy County should get rid of Ambrose; but, no, thank you; we don't want him here. Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, Missouri, April 17, 1880, page 2 DR. GEO. H. AMBROSE.
We have not much space to devote to Dr. Gee, H. Ambrose. Neither we nor
the people with whom we are identified care much what becomes of him so
long as he remains away from Lafayette County, whence he voluntarily
exiled himself because he bore upon his brow the indelible stamp of
dishonesty, dissimulation, fraud and general rascality. He could not
stand the pressure of popular indignation against him, and hence
banished himself to a distant state and an obscure locality, in the
hope that he might hide himself from the consequences of his crime
against his neighbors. Had he been content to endeavor to build up his
fortune--even though upon the basis of ill-gotten gains wrenched from
the taxpayers of Lafayette County--in a private way, this paper would
have been the last to mention his former career, or to lay a straw in
the way of an endeavor to earn an honest livelihood. But when we hear
of his filling a similar office in Florida to the one which he filled
here at such cost to our people; when we remember his promises to
resign his position here at the request of the best citizens of the
county, only to be repeatedly broken; when we remember the constant
dread of the people while he was on the bench lest additional burdens
should be fraudulently placed upon them, and then when we see this man
attempting to foist himself upon a southern community as honest, and a
southern sympathizer, it becomes our duty to speak. The impudence of
the man is colossal; his subtlety immeasurable. He writes a letter to
the Republican paper in this city, not for any effect here, because his
character is irreparably destroyed in this community, but to be
reprinted in Florida, for its influence there. The Intelligencer
has but one editor, who has always been a Democrat, but the doctor is
mistaken if he thinks that it is a crime, even in Florida, to have been
a Whig. Nor, indeed, is it a crime to have been a Republican. But to
have been a Republican in Missouri when Doctor Ambrose was a
Republican, meant the disfranchisement of the best element of its
people--its tax-paying, intelligent element. Lafayette County is no
northern community, as is intimated. It is as strongly southern in its
sentiments as any county in Florida, and sent more men to the
Confederate army, in all likelihood, than there are male adults in Levy
County. It was not to be with the intelligence and wealth of Lafayette
that the doctor was a Republican while here. No respectable man will,
over his own signature, deny a single allegation of the article printed
in the Intelligencer some
weeks ago concerning him. They are all matters of record. We have never
said that Republicans alone were responsible for fastening the bonded
debt upon Lafayette County. On the contrary--in the article alluded to
we gave Judge Chinn, a Republican, credit for honesty in the matter.
But we have said, and reiterate, that Dr. George H. Ambrose as
presiding justice of the county court issued to George H. Ambrose, who
was at the same time, and for an evident purpose, president of a
railroad corporation seeking aid at the hands of the county, $240,000
in bonds, in a fraudulent manner. It will not benefit the doctor to put
part of the blame upon others. They are not now on trial. Their guilt,
if proven, will not make his any the less. We might as well try to make
him responsible for the bad character of his brothers-in-law, who were
during and after the war his associates in business transactions. One
of them has but recently been released from the penitentiary for
stealing a mule; another is a fugitive from the county to escape an
indictment for perjury, and still another is now in the penitentiary
for grand larceny, with several indictments waiting to be served upon
him when the warden unlocks his doors for him. We have more sorrow than
anger for these men, and we verily believe that if their early manhood
had not been passed under the cynical smile of their swarthy
brother-in-law, who knew better than they did how to evade the meshes
of the law, though he respects it as little, that their career might
have been a different one. Still we did not mention all this to his
detriment, as we did not think it relevant. As he thinks otherwise we
give it for what it is worth. So great was the indignation of the
people of Lafayette County against Ambrose that they had determined, at
one time, to hang him. Had it not been for the writer, Judge Wm. Young
and A. J. Hall, Esq., who went to the country, one Sunday, and
importuned the leaders of the movement to have patience, to wait awhile
for a bloodless solution of our difficulties, two hundred of the most
resolute men, among the best names in the county, would have marched
into town that night and hanged him. This is history. We do not wish
him ill, as we did not when we made that trip; but there is a Nemesis
born of his villainous acts, which will follow him wherever he puts
himself forward for public trusts. It the people of Florida doubt the
truth of what was said in our article concerning him, let them send
some one of their prominent citizens to this and adjoining counties, to
the capital of the state, and to the United States district court at
Jefferson City to examine the depositions and other evidences of his
corruption which may be found there. If they are indifferent, well and
good; so are we; we have done our duty in sounding the alarm to our
southern brethren, and if they do not heed our advice to spew him out
as an unclean thing, they have but themselves to blame. As for him, we
have this to say: We have taken but very little interest in his case,
so far, but if he troubles us in the least, we shall take pleasure in
furnishing him a certificate of character which will follow him, not
only to Levy County, Florida, but to the uttermost corner of the earth
as long as he shall live.Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, Missouri, May 22, 1880, page 3 DR. AMBROSE.
"This gentleman, who has resided in our county for the past five years,
is the object of actual attack from the Lexington, Mo., Intelligencer,
a paper published in the town where the doctor formerly resided. The
whole thing looks very much like a conspiracy to injure Dr. Ambrose,
and that the strings are being pulled by someone in this county. The
doctor is charged with some corrupt transaction in railroad bonds,
which charge he disproves by documents, written and printed. He was
sustained by the action he took respecting the bonds by leading
Democrats, among others an honored judge of the county. The doctor is
also charged with political recreancy inasmuch as he was a Republican
in Missouri and a Democrat down here. It is well known that when Dr.
Ambrose came to this county he was a Republican; he said at once,
however, that he could not affiliate with the Republican Party as
constituted in Florida, and has acted consistently with the Democrats.
He is now chairman of the board of county commissioners, and enjoys the
confidence and esteem of our whole people. So far from taking the
advice of the Intelligencer, to get rid of Dr. Ambrose, we would say we have room for 1,000 more just such men in Levy County."(From the Florida State Journal.) We print the above to show our Lafayette County readers the confidence which ways childlike and bland may inspire in an unsuspecting people. To the Journal we have but one word. The Intelligencer had a good motive in telling the people of Florida what Dr. Ambrose was here, and that was to protect the people there from his dishonesty. If they are satisfied with him it is all right with us. In any event, what we have already written will cause him to walk with circumspection, though it is always dangerous to trust such a man, even with reservations of distrust. The Journal is a Democratic paper, or professes so to be. If it doubts the statements of the Intelligencer, let it, in its defense of Dr. Ambrose, and in justice to its constituency, produce a single signature of any officer elected by the people of Lafayette County, since Dr. Ambrose was on the bench, endorsing him. Either we are slanderers or the Journal is a dupe. We have every confidence in the rectitude of our purposes, and in the support of the honest men of Lafayette County in our denunciations of Dr. Ambrose. Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, Missouri, June 5, 1880, page 2 Dr. Geo. H. Ambrose.
The following correspondence explains itself. Dr. Ambrose, whose bad
character is so well known in Lafayette County, has, by professing
Democracy, succeeded in being elected one of the county commissioners
of Levy County, Fla., a similar position to justice of the county court
here. He is, in order to sustain himself, denouncing all persons who
have dared to speak of his corrupt course as presiding justice of the
county court of this county. The document printed below has, therefore,
in reply to numerous inquiries, been forwarded to Florida to show in
what estimation he is held by honest people where he is known. It
should be sufficient to satisfy the most exacting:----
BRONSON, FLORIDA, July 8th, 1880.
HON. WM. B. STEELE--DEAR SIR:
I write you for information regarding the status of one Dr. G. H.
Ambrose, of this county, and late of Missouri. We are informed he has a
bad record at home, and the third of July at our Democratic meeting, he
tried to explain away the charges made by your papers, and called upon
us to believe him. Do give us all the information you can. We are true
Democrats and true southern men and feel very kindly to all newcomers,
and were taken in by Ambrose. Ambrose is trying to injure one of our
best citizens. Let me hear from you at earliest convenient moment.Very truly, GARRET SWINDLE.
----
BRONSON, FLORIDA, July 9th, 1880.
HON. WM. B. STEELE--DEAR SIR:
As a citizen of Levy County, Florida, and a true Democrat, I write to
ask if you can give us any information through the Democratic paper in
your place, of Dr. G. H. Ambrose, as to character and honesty. Can you
give us any information of him through your county officers, judges,
&c.? It so, our people will surely appreciate it. Ambrose on the
3rd of July, 1880, at our Democratic meeting read letters from
Lexington, Mo., denying all former publications. Now, sir, I appeal to
you as a defender of truth and honest dealing to publish if you can an
article signed by such officers of weight.Yours, very truly, L. D. TOWNSEND.
----
LEXINGTON, Mo., August 2nd, 1880.
GARRET SWINDLE AND L. D. TOWNSEND, Esqrs.--DEAR SIRS:--My
absence from home has prevented a reply to your letters of July 9th,
until now. I am surprised after all that has been so clearly and
truthfully said of Dr. Geo. H. Ambrose by our Democratic press here,
and in reply to letters of inquiry from different gentlemen in your
county, that he has the effrontery to deny his well-known status in
this community. That he has gone to Levy County, Florida, and assumed
the role of an honest man and Democrat was to us only another
revelation of his audacity and duplicity. Here he was a Republican of
the straitest sect--a Pharisee, holding none to be righteous but
Republicans. In 1868 when the intelligence and property of Missouri,
which are largely represented in its southern people, were
disenfranchised and consequently had no voice in the selection of
public officers, Dr. Ambrose succeeded in being elected to the county
bench, and soon by his plausibility and address became the presiding
justice--three county judges comprising the court, which conducts the
affairs of the county. The controlling spirit of this court, he
succeeded during his term in fraudulently and corruptly fastening upon
this county a railroad debt of a half million dollars--and was no doubt
a participant in the illegal gains ensuing from his dishonest and
corrupt administration. Before the people here were re-enfranchised so
that they were afforded an opportunity to scrutinize Ambrose's acts as
county judge before a criminal tribunal, the statute of limitation had
barred prosecution of his crimes, otherwise I feel satisfied that he
would, today, be in the Missouri penitentiary rather than holding a
position of honor and trust in Florida. His infamous acts, which drove
him from Missouri, were so extended that I cannot do justice to them in
a letter. If your people value their property they will oust Dr.
Ambrose while it is not yet too late, for upon the first opportunity,
if the past can be reckoned a criterion for the future, he will betray
your trust, and sink your county into financial difficulties. If he can
profit by such a course neither law nor public opinion will deter him,
for he is a bold, bad man. He was extremely fortunate to have escaped
hanging by a mob here, and did, on one occasion, flee the country for
several months to wait for the just anger of an outraged people to
subside.Very respectfully, WM. B. STEELE,
We, the undersigned, have read the above and foregoing, and fully
endorse and concur in the same as being true and correct: (Signed)Clerk County Court Lafayette County. Geo. M. Mountjoy, sheriff; John S. Blackwell, prosecuting attorney; William Young, ex-prosecuting attorney; J. A. Prather, president county court; Robert A. Barnett, western district county judge; J. W. Harrison, judge county court eastern district; J. D. Conner, recorder of deeds; A. T. Ewing, deputy circuit clerk; S. M. Harris, probate clerk; C. B. Daniel, deputy clerk circuit court; Alexander Graves, ex-county attorney; Jos. Chinn, deputy sheriff; David Callahan, deputy recorder; James B. Hord, ex-county judge; Zach. S. Mitchell, ex-county assessor; R. A. Collins, member legislature eastern district Lafayette County; Geo. M. Catron, county school commissioner; Alex. A. Lesueur, member legislature western district Lafayette County; William B. Wilson, city recorder Lexington, Lafayette County; E. M. Edwards, state senator 17th district, composed of Lafayette and Johnson counties; Jos. Bowman, deputy sheriff; Robert A. Hicklin, city attorney of Lexington; Robert Hale, constable Lexington township; Frank K. Tutt, justice of the peace Lexington township; Samuel J. Andrews, deputy county clerk. I have no personal knowledge of some of the facts stated, but from current report, having general credit with the people, and from personal knowledge of some of the matters charged against Dr. Ambrose I do not believe the letter of Mr. Steele is written in terms too strong. WM. T. WOOD, Circuit Judge.
Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, Missouri, August 7, 1880, page 3P. S. FULKERSON, County Collector. The young trees that Dr. Ambrose set out on the 25th of February, about 500, have today grown on, some of them over thirty inches long. "The Gulf Hammock," The Florida Agriculturist, DeLand, Florida, April 21, 1880, page 1 State of Florida ) On this Seventh day of September 1882 before me Saml. County of Alachua ) J. Kennard a Justice of the Peace in and for said County personally appeared Hardie Raulerson and Sarah E. Raulerson his wife and George H. Ambrose and Stella T. Ambrose his wife to me known to be the persons described in and who executed the foregoing instrument and severally acknowledged the execution thereof to be their free act and deed for the uses and purposes therein mentioned and the said Sarah E. Raulerson and Stella T. Ambrose the wives of the said Hardie Raulerson and Geo H. Ambrose on an examination taken and made separately and apart from their said husbands did acknowledge that they made theirselfs a partys to the said deed for the purpose of renouncing and relinquishing their dower or right of dowers in and to the lands tenements and hereditaments therein described and thereby granted and released and that such relinquishment or renunciation of dower is made by her freely and voluntarily and without any constraint apprehension or fear of or from their said husbands. Witness my hand and seal at Waldo the date aforesaid. Saml J. Kennard (LS)
Recorded September 16th 1882Justice of the Peace J. A. Carlisle Clerk
Historical Records, Alachua County Clerk of the Court, Eeed Record N, page 717per S. H. Wienges DC Dr. Ambrose, of the enterprising firm of Ambrose & Raulerson, has one of the most beautiful rural homes in the town, together with a prospective orange grove, which is in the first stages of development. This gentleman has been experimenting with Bermuda onions, and his success merits brief mention. They were so large that thirty of them filled a bushel measure, and their average weight was over one pound each. "Waldo Mention," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, June 7, 1883, page 3 The onions of Mr. G. W. Lyle, of San Mateo, that average one hundred and twenty to the bushel, are by no means remarkable, says the Waldo Advertiser. Dr. Ambrose, of this county, planted the Bermuda seed the first of November in rows three feet apart. These rows he cultivated in his leisure moments, and many of the onions weighed one and three-fourth pounds. Thirty-two filled a bushel measure heaping, and the average yield was seven hundred and fifty bushels to the acre. he did not replant, but he left them in the original drift. "Floridiana," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, July 6, 1883, page 3 Col. Livingstone and Dr. Ambrose, of Waldo, have each orange groves budded only three years ago now heavily laden with fruit. "Floridiana," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, August 4, 1883, page 3 Miss Lillie Ambrose, daughter of Dr. Ambrose, is on an extended visit to her aunt's, Mrs. John B. Jones. "Shorts," Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, Missouri, August 25, 1883, page 4 A Testimonial.
WALDO, Fla., October 31, 1883.
Mr. George E. Wilson, Agent Bradly's Fertilizer, Jacksonville, Fla.:SIR: I used Bradly's Fertilizers the past season with the most gratifying results. I used it in my garden, on corn and orange trees, and so thoroughly convinced of its utility that I would not plant any kind of crop without fertilizing. Think it will nearly double the yield ordinarily. It is the best investment a farmer can make. Its effects on orange trees is almost magical. I don't think anyone trying it will ever discontinue its use again. GEO. H. AMBROSE.
Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, December 7, 1883, page 4Approves Our Course.
WALDO, Fla., September 29, 1885.
I am gratified to see the Times-Union
take such a determined stand in favor of law and order. So long as you
continue your present course you will be sustained by the people. I am
also pleased at your recommendation of Mr. Joseph Hirst, of Bronson,
for the London exposition. I was a neighbor of Mr. Hirst for ten years,
and think him one of the best appointments that could be made in the
state. He is an Englishman by birth, and raised in the machine shops of
England. He is one of the finest machinists in the United States, and
the practical experience he has acquired at the Philadelphia
Centennial, and at Atlanta and Louisville, eminently qualifies him for
the position, and his thorough acquaintance with the English people is
a large advantage in his favor. Florida was never beaten when he was in
charge of her exhibits.Yours truly,
Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, September 29, 1885, page 4GEO. H. AMBROSE. FLORIDA AS IT IS.
WALDO,
Fla., June 5.--This town is one of the oldest in this portion of the
state. Since the war it has been an important commercial center,
located on the oldest railroad line in the state. Some of the best and
most successful farmers of the state are located near here. The
principal merchant of the city is Capt. F. B. Meriam, general
merchandise. The Captain is a retired naval officer, who had a varied
experience during the late war, being engaged a part of the time
blockading on the Florida coast. He is a native of Boston, but lived
for many years in New Hampshire; he is our local banker, and one of the
trustees in our Presbyterian Church. The Weeks Bros. have also a large
store and are second to none, perhaps, in the amount of business
carried on. They deal in general merchandise, and occupy very
comfortable homes in the suburbs of the town, where they have fruits,
flowers, vegetables, stock and all the comforts of Florida life. They
are leaders in the Baptist Church and Sunday school work. They own
considerable valuable improved property which is for sale. W. D.
Seigler has also a good grocery and general store and does a handsome
business, as do A. Jolly, druggist and fancy notions, and G. A. Wenzel,
bakery and candies. There are other stores with similar stocks located
farther out from the center of the town. There are no saloons and no
drinking men, although this is a railroad center. The Alto House,
formerly known as the Sunny Side, is the favorite with Northern people
here. It is owned and occupied by S. Z. Murphy and has been lately
repainted and fitted up in handsome style. Its prices are very moderate
and the accommodations good. The town has a city charter. Dr. G. H.
Ambrose is the Mayor. The health of the city and neighboring country is
perfect, and it has been repeatedly proved that infectious fevers
(yellow fever) cannot propagate in this locality. One physician after
another has located here only to starve out and leave for want of
practice.GOOD, INDUSTRIOUS FARMERS MAKE PLENTY OF MONEY THERE. Northern Man Like It and Thrive Amazingly--Land Is Cheap and Fertile--Stock-Raising Becoming More Popular. Special Correspondence of The Republic. St. Louis Republic, St. Louis, Missouri, June 8, 1889, page 15 The Waldo post office is in a muddle just now, as H. M. Tillis has lately resigned, recommending D. Hicks as his successor. Hicks expected smooth sailing, but the Waldo post office was too tempting a tidbit for the politically eagle-eyed Dr. George H. Ambrose to allow it to pass unnoticed, so he is now a contestant for the honors and emoluments. While Hicks expected to "get there" on Tillis' recommendation, the wily doctor expects to make his appointment under the wing of Goodrich, who, he claims, is hovering over him as tenderly as a buzzard does its unfledged broodlings. This being the opportune time and occasion in the affairs of men when the tide should be taken at its flood in order that it may "lead on to fortune," Ambrose scents the carcass from afar. He flaps his full-fledged wings in anticipation of the time when, on iron pinions borne, he will be able to cleave the air and brave the storm, and at last whack down on the Waldo post office like a duck on a June bug. The last contestant entering the arena is H. C. Atwater, who bases his claims on the Jeffersonian test of honesty and qualification. He was long a deputy in the Waldo office, and is efficient and universally liked. Charley is as good a Republican as any of them, but after all he is not one of the "blood and thunder" kind, owing, perhaps, to the fact that he has been in Florida for eleven years continually, winter and summer, which causes all of us to absorb more or less the dominant views and ideas of the South. "The Waldo Post Office," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, October 7, 1889, page 1 Dr. Geo. H. Ambrose, the newly appointed postmaster here, has filed his official bond, and expects to take charge of the office in a few days. Mrs. Fanny Young, daughter of Dr. Ambrose, is quite ill. Serious fears are entertained of her recovery. "Waldo Whispers," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, November 11, 1889, page 2 The post office has just changed hands. There were no complaints against the former postmaster and no objections to the new one, who is Dr. Geo. H. Ambrose, a Virginian by birth and well liked by the community. F. B. Meriam, formerly a captain in the U.S. Navy, and who did duty off the Florida coast during the war, and married a Florida lady, will be deputy postmaster. He is in the general merchandise business here, and is one of the substantial citizens. "On the Road," The Weekly Floridian, Tallahassee, November 26, 1889, page 1 REPUBLICANS IN COUNCIL
GAINESVILLE, FLA.,
August 14.--The Republican county convention of Alachua met here today.
J. T. Walls (colored), chairman of the county Republican executive
committee, called the convention to order, with W. H. H. Holdridge as
secretary. The morning was spent in trying to elect a temporary
chairman, much fuss being made by those who had friends to nominate. J.
T. Walls was elected three times, but declined. Finally G. H. Ambrose
was elected, with W. H. H. Holdridge as secretary. Gainesville had a
contested delegation and the committee on credentials reported in favor
of giving each delegation half a vote.THE WHITE MAN ALMOST RULED OUT IN ALACHUA. HIS HUMBLE PETITION HEARD. The Orange County Republicans Instruct for Chubb for Congress--Volusia for Goodrich but Putnam Dead Against Him--The Darkey in the Conventions. Special to the Times-Union. J. N. Clinton, colored, arose, and said he wanted a negro chairman for that convention. Rev. S. H. Coleman, colored, made a fiery speech, drawing the color line. His speech was enthusiastically cheered. W. H. H. Holdridge followed, with the old gag of freeing the negro by the shedding of blood, spoken in a voice whose whine was its most prominent feature, and asked equal rights for the white members of the convention. J. T. Walls, the great healer, arose, and, in hiccoughing strains poured oil on the troubled waters. J. N. Clinton (colored) of Gainesville was then chosen chairman of the permanent organization, with J. D. Bell (white) of Hawthorne as secretary. After a prolonged discussion, in which confusion reigned supreme, a committee was appointed by the chair to select delegates to the congressional convention at Ocala. During the selection of delegates, V. J. Shipman, receiver of the United States land office, was asked to address the convention. The substance of his speech was that he did more work for the success of the Republican Party at the last election than anyone else in the state. Gus Waters, the fat negro of the Republican Party, then arose and made a speech to Shipman, informing him that he was elected governor last time but counted out, and promising "h--l" to the Democratic Party. At 6 o'clock the committee on delegates had not reported. Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, August 21, 1890, page 9 THE GROVE AND GARDEN
Mr. W. S. Moore of Hawthorne writes that a manufacturer of fertilizers
in South Carolina gives the following as an approved formula: Two
thousand pounds of soft phosphate, two hundred pounds of kainite,
one hundred pounds of sulfur and two hundred pounds of cottonseed meal.
This is held to have an actual value of $32 per ton. With this formula
Mr. Moore sends for publication the following letter from Mr. G. H.
Ambrose of Waldo:Practical Ideas for the Florida Fruit Growers. ON THE USE OF SOFT PHOSPHATE Planting Fruit Trees-Cleaning the Bark of Fruit Trees-Pruning Grape Vines. Pruning the Peach-At the World's Fair, A Profitable Half Acre. [A. H. Curtiss, Agricultural Editor.] Soft Phosphate as a Fertilizer. WALDO, FLA., Jan. 4, 1892.
SIR,--In
answer to your inquiry, have you experimented with soft phosphate in
your grove and field? and if so what was the result? I have made some
experiments with it in both grove and field, not thorough and
extensive, but sufficient to justify the belief that it is worthy of
further experimentation. I incline to the opinion that it will be found
a very valuable fertilizer for our groves and exhausted fields.I have not tried it alone extensively, but the few experiments I have made with it would not justify the belief that it is a complete fertilizer of itself. I however learned that its action is slow and better results were obtained the second year than the first. Two years ago I applied it on a one-acre lot of land, leaving a strip twenty yards wide across the middle of the tract unfertilized, it being planted with vines, with corn on either side of it. The present year I used it alike on the whole acre in a composted form, and planted the whole to corn. The yield was nearly double on the land that had been fertilized the year before. A casual observer could tell to a row where the unfertilized strip began. I used it this season in a composted form with the most gratifying results. I hauled out about ten tons of the raw material that contained about 40 percent of bone phosphate. This is a low grade, it is true, but it was much the easiest to get at. It was scattered in my stable and cow-lot, and I added three tons of cottonseed, leaving it in this condition about two months, with horses and cattle running over it. It was hauled out and broadcasted over ten acres of ground that was set in young orange trees and the lot planted to corn, with very satisfactory results. There was a very good yield of ears of corn. The most noticeable and remarkable feature about it was the wonderful growth of the stalks, which attained a height of from ten to twelve feet, out of all proportion to the ears they bore. This season I shall add muck and potash to the compost heap, and believe from past experience it will make a complete fertilizer for any crops grown in Florida. I also applied it around bearing orange trees, and added to each tree about three pounds of sulfur as an insecticide. I had seen it reported in some paper that to scatter about three pounds of sulfur under an orange tree in the spring would free it from insects that season. It did not so act with mine. The trees under which the sulfur was used were worse troubled with insects than ever before. Therefore I concluded that the sulfur fad is of no use as an insecticide. But I think it acted beneficially on the phosphate. This compost was also used around peach trees, and they produced a splendid crop. But this was a good peach season, and the crop may have been the result of that instead of the phosphate. The appearance of one swallow does not bring spring, nor will the application of phosphate one season followed by a good crop prove that the phosphate is entitled to all the credit. But it is certainly encouraging and will invite further experimentation. I feel sanguine from experiments already made that our soft phosphate beds will furnish our farmers and fruit growers a cheap and lasting fertilizer of incalculable value. There is millions in it for the people of Florida, if rightly applied, and our energies should be directed to the solution of the problem how best to use it to get the greatest benefit from it. What will be the best and most economical method of application can only be learned by experience on the farm and grove, by the farmers themselves in trying the different methods of composting and using it, and carefully observing the results. G. H. AMBROSE.
Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, January 23, 1892, page 3Dr. George H. Ambrose, our efficient postmaster, is confined to his home with illness. "Waldo News Notes," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, January 17, 1896, page 3 Dr. G. H. Ambrose, who has been ill for a long while, is thought to be improving a little. "Waldo Writings," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, March 12, 1897, page 6 Dr. G. H. Ambrose still continues to be quite feeble. "Waldo Mention," Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, April 8, 1897, page 3 DEATHS.
Died, at Waldo, Florida, November 30, 1897, Judge George H. Ambrose, aged 79 years.
Lexington Intelligencer, Lexington, Missouri, December 4, 1897, page 2 WALDO.
Waldo, Dec. 2.--George H. Ambrose died Tuesday night. The funeral
services were held at his late residence Wednesday afternoon, and were
conducted by Rev. Alexander. He was a member of the Masonic Lodge of
Waldo, and the lodge conducted the services. His remains were interred
in the cemetery here with Masonic honors. A widow, two sons, and two
daughters survive him. The bereaved family have the sympathy of the
whole community in their sad affliction. Mr. Ambrose came to Waldo in
1881, and has been identified with the growth and welfare of the place
since. He has been postmaster for about ten years, and held the office
up to the time of his death. He has always been looking after the
welfare of the town, and always was ready to lend a helping hand to
those in need, and had a good word of advice to newcomers, and was
liked by all who were acquainted with him. He will be greatly missed by
all in Waldo and the surrounding country.Postmaster Geo. H. Ambrose, a Good Citizen, Dead Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville, Florida, December 7, 1897, page 2 |
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