Winchell Memorial 109 



Mr. Gibson still resides at Great Falls, Mont. Mr. Tousley died 

 fifteen or more years ago. 



Of the founders proper I can give a few items, partly from 

 personal recollection and partly from sketches which have been 

 published. Beginning at the head of the list. 



Dr. Alfred Elisha Ames was a citizen of sterling worth and 

 a physician who ranked among- the first of his profession. As 

 I recall him he was above medium stature, frank and full of 

 countenance, a pleasant man to meet, and as a member of the 

 Academy, one of the most earnest and anxious for its success 

 and good standing. The demands of his profession were so 

 numerous that he could not find time to attend the meetings with 

 regularity. He contributed to the transactions of the Academy 

 one paper — a list of the mammalia of the state, based on the re- 

 ports of explorers, and of surveys, from the Mississippi river to 

 the Pacific ocean, and on his own personal knowledge. Dr. 

 Ames was born in Vermont December 13, 1814, and died at 

 Minneapolis September 24, 1874, at the age of 60 years. I le was 

 therefore a member of the Academy less than two years. He 

 had laid a preliminary foundation for continued work on the 

 mammals of the northwest, and had he lived to work out what 

 he planned, there is no doubt that the superstructure would have 

 been highly creditable to himself and to the Academy. 



Dr. Asa Emerv Johnson was not alone one of the founders. 

 He was its father, and he fostered it for many years during its 

 early history and until it acquired sufficient vigor to make its 

 own way in the world — or more correctly until, by impairment of 

 his health and the partial loss of his eyesight, he was obliged to 

 retire. He came to St. Anthony in 1853, two years after Dr. 

 Ames settled in Minneapolis. He was a man of stout build, but 

 not tall. For many years he was like the Great Physician, he 

 went about healing the sick, charging them little or nothing. His 

 acquaintance was co-extensive with the population, and his genial 

 conversation always made him welcome whether in the street or 

 at the fireside. He had a strong mental personality and positive 

 and piercing convictions. He was therefore always an independ- 

 ent thinker and a teacher. When he fell in love with the mycologi- 

 cal flora of Minnesota, it was inevitably a complete and whole- 

 souled giving of himself t<> a new purpose. With his microscope, 



