Ambos, Peter

Born: 1814-09-22 Germany

Died: 1877-06-24 Columbus, Ohio

Flourished: Columbus, Ohio

Peter Ambos was a businessman, confectioner, machinist, banker, and company director, president, and treasurer. Born in Zweibrucken, a town in the Rhineland-Palatinate of Germany, Ambos immigrated to the United States in 1830. He landed at Norfolk, Virginia, where he remained for two years. In 1832, Ambos moved to Columbus, Ohio, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. He entered into the confectionary business. In August 1841, Ambos married Dorothea Jaeger, with whom he had three children. In 1850, Ambos was living in Columbus's second ward and owned real property valued at $25,000. He retired from the confectionary business in 1854, turning his attention to the Columbus Machine Manufacturing Company, becoming treasurer of the company in January 1857. As treasurer, Ambos retained Abraham Lincoln as the company's attorney in several legal cases. In 1860, Ambos was working as a machinist and owned real property valued at $40,000 and had a personal estate of $33,000. Ambos was a stockholder and director of the Columbus Street Railroad Company. In December 1863, Ambos was among those who organized the First National Bank of Columbus. He initially served as vice-president, but assumed the presidency on the death of his predecessor in January 1866, serving in that capacity until his death. He died of apoplexy.

Osman Castle Hooper, History of the City of Columbus, Ohio (Chicago and Cleveland: Memorial, [1920]), 220, 230, 249; William Alexander Taylor, Centennial History of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio (Chicago and Columbus: S. J. Clarke, 1909), 1:333; Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993, 1 August 1841, Franklin County (Lehi, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2016); U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 2, Columbus, Franklin County, OH, 342; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 2, Columbus, Franklin County, OH, 147; For Ambos's cases involving Lincoln, search "Ambos, Peter," The Law Practice of Abraham Lincoln: Complete Documentary Edition , 2d edition (Springfield: Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, 2009), http://www.lawpracticeofabrahamlincoln.org; Daily Ohio State Journal (Columbus), 25 June 1877, 4:4; Gravestone, Peter Ambos, Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, OH; Gravestone, Dororthea Ambos, Green Lawn Cemetery, Columbus, OH.