Blanche Ames, later known as Blanche Ames Ames, was born on February 18, 1878, in Lowell, Massachusetts. She was the daughter of Adelbert Ames, a Civil War General and Mississippi Governor, and Blanche Butler Ames. This date marks the beginning of the life of a prominent American artist, political activist, inventor, writer, and supporter of women's suffrage and birth control.