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Any list of twenty men who have most impressed themselves on conditions in Oregon would easily include the name of I. H. Amos. Such characters do not come by chance; they may be invariably traced to generations of high thinking and auspicious environment. Mr. Amos was born in Mt. Savage, Maryland, June 8th, 1844, of sterling Staffordshire ancestry, son of William and Rachel (Whitehouse) Amos. Through a fruitful life until his death, December 24th, 1915, he fulfilled the promise of such substantial heritage.
Mr. Amos was not a college man; but beginning with a good school education he attained through a study of men and affairs, through extensive travel and the reading of good books, such a culture as colleges seldom give. No human need was too small for his earnest study; no national problem too big for the grasp of his splendid mentality.
A nailer by trade, he spent his early years in labor with his hands, like the Master whom it was his delight to serve, learning that sympathy with the wage worker which made him so essentially a man of the people. Granted the truth of the Swedish hand craftsman theory that no great mental development is won without hand skill, this humble occupation doubtless played its part in developing a most unusually practical thinker.
Not least among the causes contributing to his great power may be counted his family life. His marriage to Lilian Jane Sadler, daughter of John Sadler, a pioneer of Cleveland, Ohio, enriched his life with a companion who was in thorough sympathy with his highest aspiration. Into this home were born three such children as come from a rich union of heart and brain: William Frederick, a physician of rare skill; Lilian Edna, a teacher in one of Portland's high schools; and Grace Mildred, who is continuing her father's business, all deeply interested in the work their father's hands have dropped. The home life was unusually beautiful, for a spirit of comradeship prevailed. As a host Mr. Amos was unexcelled. To share the hospitality of the Amos home was an experience that left a delightful memory. Here foregathered kindred spirits and under this roof were initiated many of the great movements that have brought blessing to the state.
Mr. Amos was an able and successful business man. From 1865 to 1887 he was with a large hardware firm in Cleveland in the latter years as partner. In 1887 he accepted a position with the hardware firm of Foster & Robertson of Portland. From 1893 until his death he represented some of the largest metal lines in the United States. Although a keen and alert man of business, Mr. Amos was best known for his humanitarian service, especially in the cause of prohibition.
Associated as early as 1869 with the Ohio leaders and pioneers for national prohibition, he was, in 1872, a candidate for the General Assembly and took an active part in the constitutional campaign. As a Prohibition Party man he was ever a leader. It is noteworthy that Mr. Amos was the inspiration of the first measure passed under the Oregon Initiative. This incident we give in the words of his friend and colleague, B. Lee Paget:
"Soon after the supreme court declaration upon the constitutionality of the initiative, F. McKercher, Harry W. Stone, and myself met with Mr. Amos for lunch in Watson's restaurant. Mr. Amos suggested that local option on the liquor question be the first measure submitted under the initiative. It was agreed that we share pro rata the expense. This plan was carried out with the final result that Oregon was given her first local option law."
Mr. Amos brought to the northwest, where he became such a power for good, the thorough training of his early experience. Coming to Oregon in 1887 he reorganized the prohibition forces and became an active worker in the constitutional campaign of that year. From 1888 until his death he was a member of the Oregon State Prohibition Committee, and from 1896 to 1908, chairman of the committee. During this period he was his party's candidate for various offices: State senator, mayor of Portland, and governor of the state, in each case receiving a very large vote. As candidate for commissioner-at-large for Multnomah County, in 1914, he received a phenomenal vote (for a minority candidate) of over 12,000. No man was more loved and trusted in the national councils of his party than Mr. Amos. He was prominent as a candidate for vice presidential nomination in the Indianapolis convention of 1904. He labored untiringly in the Oregon prohibition campaigns of 1910 and 1914, and rejoiced in the victory of the latter campaign. The full consummation of this triumph he was never to see, for, a few days before the law went into effect, in January 1916, he was called by death. A Portland daily paper commented upon his death: "Father of Oregon Dry Party Passes." There is an especial appropriateness in these words. One might go further and say that his labors and leadership in all prohibition work of the state make him pre-eminently the "Father of Oregon Prohibition."
But I. H. Amos was not only a prohibitionist; he was a man of affairs. Indeed, much of his success in his chosen work was due to his ability to bring about the coöperation of various civic and church organizations in non-partisan campaigns. He was for many years superintendent of All Saints Episcopal Sunday school of Cleveland and later of Trinity Sunday school of Portland, serving as vestryman in both of these churches. As state secretary of the Sunday School Association of Oregon he inaugurated many forward movements, whose beneficent effects are still felt. Notable among his achievements was the World's Temperance Congress in connection with the World's Fair, Portland, 1905. Mr. Amos was an enthusiastic member of the Auld Lang Syne Society of Oregon, for he loved the Oregon country as the land of his heart's desire. He was for some time a member of the Board of Directors of the Y. M. C. A., also a member of the Oregon Civic League and chairman of one of its most important committees. If no account were taken of his labors in the prohibition field Mr. Amos would still be acknowledged a most important factor in Oregon's progress.
— History of Oregon Illustrated, v.2 – (1922) Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, Chicago
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