Pennsylvania People. Mary Johnson Ambler. Level 1

Early Life
Mary Johnson was born in 1805. We do not know much about her early life. Her parents were Quakers. Mary followed Quaker ways. She was a very small woman. She never weighed over 100 pounds.

Adult Life
Mary met a man named Andrew Ambler. Andrew was a fuller. He worked with woolen cloth. Andrew had a factory for his cloth. It was called a fulling mill.

Mary and Andrew were married. They moved to live near the fulling mill. Soon they had children. They had seven boys and one girl.

Mary cared about other people. She tried to help them. The Amblers had the only well in the area. Sometimes their neighbors needed water. Mary always let them take water from her well. Mary wanted local children to learn about God. She started a Sunday school.

Andrew Ambler died in 1850. Mary and her sons took care of the mill.

The Train Wreck
On July 17, 1856 there was a terrible train wreck. This is how it happened. A train left Philadelphia. It was carrying about 1000 people. About 600 of them were from a Catholic Church. There were many children. They were all going on a picnic. They were headed for the Fort Washington area. The train was on the North Penn Railroad line. Another train came the other way. Neither train could stop. The trains hit each other. 59 people died. Many people were hurt.

Mary Ambler heard about the accident. She gathered medical supplies. She started to walk to the accident. She walked a few miles to get there. When Mary arrived, there were no doctors there. No one was in charge.

Mary told people what to do. She asked them to carry the hurt people to her house. People needed stretchers. They tore shutters off of buildings. They carried people on the shutters. Mary went back to her house. She took sheets and petticoats. She tore them into strips. These were used as bandages. Mary worked hard. She worked for a long time. She helped many hurt people. She let the people stay at her house until they could go home.

Later Life
After a while things were normal again. Mary lived as she had before. She worked with her sons. She followed her faith. She helped other people.

During the Civil War the Ambler mill made blankets. They sold them to the Union Army.

Mary Ambler died in 1868. People remembered her as a small Quaker woman who helped other people. Later that same year the town wanted to give the railroad station a new name. They decided to name the station Ambler, after brave Mary Ambler. In 1888 the town also was given the name Ambler.

Where we see her name today
Ambler, Pennsylvania is named for Mary Johnson Ambler.

Researched and written by Melissa Yates
Updated July 16, 2006