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Jessie Daniel Ames Historical Marker
A NATIVE
OF PALESTINE, TEXAS, JESSIE DANIEL CAME TO GEORGETOWN IN 1893. SHE
GRADUATED FROM SOUTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY IN 1902. I N 1904 SHE MOVED TO
LAREDO, WHERE SHE MARRIED ROGER POST AMES (d.1914), AN ARMY SURGEON.
THEY WERE THE PARENTS OF THREE CHILDREN.
FOLLOWING HER HUSBAND'S
DEATH, JESSIE OPERATED THE GEORGETOWN TELEPHONE COMPANY WITH HER MOTHER
AND BECAME ACTIVE IN CIVIC PROJECTS, INCLUDING THE -WOMAN'S CLUB. SHE
JOINED THE TEXAS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION AND WORKED TO ACQUIRE VOTING
RIGHTS FOR WOMEN. SHE LED A LARGE GROUP OF WOMEN TO THE WILLIAMSON
COUNTY COURTHOUSE TO REGISTER TO VOTE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 1918. THE
TEXAS EQUAL SUFFRAGE ASSOCIATION_ REORGANIZED AS THE TEXAS LEAGUE OF
WOMEN VOTERS IN 1919, AND SHE SERVED AS ITS FIRST PRESIDENT UNTIL 1924.
A CHAMPION OF CIVIL
RIGHTS CAUSES, AMES WAS ACTIVE IN THE COMMISSION ON INTERRACIAL
COOPERATION, OPPOSED TO THE USE OF CHIVALRY AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR
LYNCHING, SHE MOVED TO ATLANTA, GEORGIA, AND FORMED THE ASSOCIATION OF
SOUTHERN WOMEN FOR THE PREVENTION OF LYNCHING IN 1930, SHE RETIRED IN
1944 AND MOVED TO TRYON, NORTH CAROLINA. AMES LATER RETURNED TO CENTRAL
TEXAS AND DIED IN AN AUSTIN NURSING HOME IN 1972, SHE IS BURIED IN THE
I.O.O.F. CEMETERY IN GEORGETOWN.
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