Mary Ambler

Mary Johnson Ambler (March 24, 1805 – August 18, 1868) was an American humanitarian and fuller who helped organize the rescue of survivors of the Great Train Wreck of 1856 in Pennsylvania. The borough of Ambler was named in her honor.

Biography Ambler was born to Abigail and Benjamin Johnson of Richland Township in 1805. Little is known of her early years. She married Andrew Ambler, a weaver and fuller, on May 14, 1829. Three years later, the Amblers purchased the Fulling Mill and eighty-three acres in the village of Wissahickon. They repaired the run-down, century-old mill and began manufacturing woolen blankets and clothing. They had seven sons and one daughter and ran the mill until Andrew died on March 7, 1850. The widowed Mary and her married son, Lewis, continued to run the mill until she died on August 18, 1868, and was interred at the Gwynedd Friends Meeting cemetery. During the Civil War, the mill supplied blankets and uniforms to the Union Army. She ordered other rescuers to tear down house shutters to carry seriously injured victims to her house, which she hastily converted a makeshift hospital. She worked nonstop for twenty-four hours straight. Her efforts reportedly saved many lives.