The Biographical Dictionary of America/Ames, Mary Clemmer

AMES, Mary Clemmer (Mrs. Hudson), was born in Utica, N. Y., in 1840, daughter of Abraham and Margaret (Kneale) Clemmer. She was educated at the academy, Westfield, N. Y. In 1857 she married a Mr. Ames, and the union was annulled in 1874. She early began to write poetry. From 1866 to 1869 Mrs. Ames resided in Washington, writing regular letters for the New York Independent. From 1869 to 1871 she was employed upon the Brooklyn Daily Union, and in 1873 resumed her connection with the Independent. She was writing a novel in 1879 when she met with a carriage accident, whereby her skull was fractured, and her literary career closed. She established a charming home in Washington, paying for the property entirely from the earnings from her literary work. June 19, 1883, she was married to Edmund Hudson, editor of the Army and Navy Register, and with him made a tour of Europe. Prominent among her works are: "Ten Years in Washington" (1870); "A Volume of Poems" (1872); "Outlines of Men, Women and Things" (1873); "Memorial of Alice and Phoebe Cary"; "Erena" (1870); "A Woman's Right"; "His Two Wives" (1874). An edition of her works was issued in 1885. She died Aug. 18, 1884.