Ambrose attended Liberty Seminary as a young boy, but his education was interrupted when his mother died in 1841; he was apprenticed to a local tailor, eventually becoming a partner in the business.
Ambrose gik på Liberty Seminary som lille dreng, men hans uddannelse blev afbrudt, da hans mor døde i 1841, og han blev sat i lære hos en lokal skrædder og blev med tiden partner i forretningen.