Mary C. Ames

Who was Mary C. Ames?

Mary Clemmer Ames American author was born to Abraham Clemmer and Margaret Kneale in Utica, New York. On 7 May 1851 she married the Rev. Daniel Ames, from whom she was divorced in 1874. Her early newspaper experience was gained on the Springfield, Massachusetts Republican, the New York Press, and the Brooklyn Daily Union.

In 1871 she received $5000 for her work, the largest salary ever paid a newspaper woman up to that time. In later life she moved to Washington, D.C., where her home was a literary and social centre, and on 19 June 1883 she married Edmund Hudson, editor of the Army and Navy Register. She became best known for her "Woman's Letter from Washington", contributed for many years to the New York City Independent.

She wrote both poetry and prose, including novels. Her complete works were published at Boston. Her works include:

Victoria

Eirene

Ten Years in Washington

Outlines of Men, Women, and Things

His Two Wives

Memorials of Alice and Phœbe Cary

Poems of Life and Nature