Margaret Beckman Ames family photograph collection, 1890s-1900s

Margaret Beckman Ames was born on January 15, 1856, in Clinton Co., Kentucky, the fourth of nine children born to Edley C. and Rachel Woody Beckman. After living in Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas, Ames moved to Washington Territory c. 1882. She married Horace J. Ames on June 26, 1884, although the couple was separated by 1889. She had one child, Thomas Warner Mitchell. Ames died on November 25, 1909 in Bellingham, Washington.

Thomas Warner Mitchell was born on December 4, 1879, in Bentonville, Arkansas. He graduated from New Whatcom High School in 1895, and received his undergraduate and graduate educations from the University of Washington, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Michigan, the University of Iowa, Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Hannah Rau in Philadelphia on September 6, 1905. He worked as a professor, engineer, economic analyst, and more. Mitchell died of a stroke on March 10, 1948.