Edward Raymond Ames

Edward Raymond Ames (May 20, 1806 – April 25, 1879) was an American Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1852.

Birth and family Ames was born in Amesville, Athens County, Ohio, one of three Methodist Episcopal Bishops to be born in Athens County.

Education and ministry At age 20, Ames became a student at Ohio University at Athens. During his student years he united with the M.E. Church (August 1827). In 1828 he opened a high school in Lebanon, Illinois which later became McKendree University. He taught there until 1830, when he became a pastor in the Illinois Annual Conference. He was licensed to preach by the circuit rider (and presiding elder), Peter Cartwright. He was ordained deacon in 1832 and elder in 1834.

Upon the organization of the Indiana Conference in 1832, Ames joined that body, serving the majority of his active pastoral life in the State of Indiana (with the exception of two years spent in St. Louis), until becoming a bishop.

Ames was elected a delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in Baltimore in 1840, and was there elected Corresponding Secretary of the M.E. Missionary Society, with responsibilities for the South and West. When the Church South broke with the Church North over slavery, he remained with the M.E. Church. He received the degree of A.M. in 1844 from the State Indiana University.