William M. Ampt
While the records of the court indicate the prominent position which William M. Ampt occupied at the Cincinnati bar, there are many other equally substantial evidences of the important part which he took as a factor in the public life of the community in shaping thought and action and in molding public opinion. He was born in Trenton, Butler County, Ohio, February 1, 1840, and was of German lineage. His father, a native of Flonheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany came to America in 1832 while his mother, Mrs. Rosa Ampt, was a native of Bavaria, Germany, and crossed the Atlantic in 1837. The ancestry of the family can be traced back to Abraham Ampt, who was a Protestant minister of the Rhine country from 1696 until 1727. His son, Abraham Francisco Ampt, became a student in Heidelberg University in 1715 and after preparing for the ministry devoted his life to preaching the gospel. He died at Dalsheim in 1735, leaving two sons, Frederick and Abram, the former of whom was the great-grandfather of William M. Ampt. He too, was a Heidelberg student, entering the theological department in 1744. Both he and his brother went to Holland and joined the army of that country, and while Fredrick Ampt returned to Germany Abram continued a resident of Holland up to the time of his death, which occurred when he had reached the advanced age of eighty-two years. He left many descendants, including his son, C.G. Ampt, who as a major general commanded the fortress of Nymwegen in 1816.
The branch of the family from which William M. Ampt was descended continued prominently connected with Germany and his great-grandfather served for thirty years or more as burgomeister at Flonheim. He had two sons who took up the study of law at Heidelberg but subsequently entered the government service where they remained for many years. Their descendents are now found in Germany, England, France, Algiers and Australia, while one of the numbers, the father of William M. Ampt, came to America about 1832. He cast in his lot with the pioneer settlers in the vicinity of Dayton, Ohio, and for a time the family lived at Trenton, Ohio
With the family appreciation for the value of education and the advantages to be obtained therefrom the father gave his children good opportunities for progress along intellectual lines and William M. Ampt supplemented his preliminary school work by advanced study in Oberlin College, from which he was graduated with the class of 1862. He was chosen by a vote of his classmates, numbering seventy-five, as the valedictorian and was also recognized as a prominent member of the Literary Society. His preparation for the bar was made as a student in the Albany Law School and the same year he was admitted to practice before the courts of New York and Ohio. He chose Lima, Ohio, as the scene of his early efforts as a member of the bar and during his residence there served as city solicitor. In 1864 and 1865 he filled the position of chief clerk in the United States quartermaster’s office at Camp Denison. Previously he had visited Cincinnati, having come to this city in 1862 during the Kirby Smith raid with a company of college students of which he was captain. He returned in 1867 to remain a permanent resident here and that he won favor with his fellow townsmen and was soon recognized as an active force in public life is indicated by the fact that in 1869 he was nominated for the state legislature. However, the reform movement of that year caused the entire defeat of the ticket. Concentrating his energies upon the practice of law, he was in 1870 elected prosecuting attorney of Hamilton County and two years later was again a candidate for the office at the solicitation of his part, but was defeated. In 1876 at the request of Ohio State Republican Committee he went to Florida and took part in the contest before the Florida Returning Board. He was placed in charge of several counties, among others Hamilton County, in which he secured the rejection of two precincts that had given Governor Tilden a majority of one hundred and sixty-three. His work in support of General Grant will never be forgotten by the warm adherents of the hero of Appomattox. In 1878 Mr. Ampt introduced the Grant resolution in the Ohio State convention at Cincinnati and gave the first impulse to the Grant boom that two years later caused so much excitement throughout the country. The following year, 1879, Mr. Ampt went abroad, visiting many European countries, and upon his return he again took up the work of supporting General Grant, for a third term in the presidency, and afterward received from the General his hearty thanks.
In 1871, in Cincinnati, occurred the marriage of Mr. Ampt and Miss. Mary E. Gunckel, a record of whom follows this sketch, a daughter of William Gunckel, a prominent banker of Dayton, Ohio. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ampt was born a daughter, Rosa E., now deceased. Mr. Ampt himself was a man of very liberal spirit and in his will made generous donation to the music fund of the city. He was reared in the German Lutheran Church but later supported the Methodist Church of which his wife was a member. In politics he was always an independent republican and kept in touch with the leading questions and issues of the day. He belonged to the Masonic fraternity, to the Lawyers Club, the German Literary Club and several other leading clubs and social organizations. He traveled extensively in Europe, going abroad nineteen times, while his wife accompanied him seventeen times, and the old world countries were almost as familiar to them as their own land. His friends were legion. He had the faculty of placing any one at ease in his presence and yet his own traits and broad learning made him a favorite in the society of the most cultured. Death claimed him on the 16th of December 1909, and his departure was a source of deep regret to all that he had been associated.
From Cincinnati, The Queen City, Volume III by Rev. Charles Frederic Goss, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1912