W. C. Wells, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of W. C. Wells
W. C. WELLS, County Recorder, was born in Fulton County, Ohio, March 22, 1848. His father, David Wells, was born in Maryland in 1800, married Rebecca Jones in Ohio, and by her had twelve children. He had come to Ohio when a boy, and there Mrs. Wells died. About 1845, Mr. Wells married Mrs. Catherine J. (Crane) Maxwell, a widow with two daughters. In March, 1854, this couple came to Porter County, where they had relatives living, and where Mr. Wells had, the previous year, purchased 160 acres of land on Section 33, Centre Township. Into a log cabin on the place, Mr. Wells moved his family and household goods and began clearing. That fall - 1854 - the father and two sons died of typhoid fever. The mother, with her remaining children, shortly after moved to Union Township, where she married J. G. Curry, and died in October, 1864. Mr. W. C. Wells was reared chiefly in Porter County, and when but little over fifteen years of age enlisted, December 5, 1863, in Company E, One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was chosen Third Sergeant, and the spring of 1864 went to the front and joined Sherman's army at Resaca, Ga. He participated in all the movements of that army until the capture of Atlanta, when his corps - Twenty-third - came back to Nashville with Gen. Thomas, engaging on the way in a running fight with Gen. Hood's command. After the battle of Nashville, they were went via Washington to North Carolina, where they remained in active service until the close of the war. Mr. W. receiving his discharge October 20, 1865. On his return to Porter County, he engaged in farming, and has remained here ever since, except one year, when he resided in Minnesota. He was married in 1868, to Victoria Morrison, of Porter county, and to this union have been born five children - Maud, Mabel, Guy, Paul and Ray. Mr. Wells is a member of the A. F. & A. M., and he and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He is a Republican, and in 1878 was elected County Recorder, with a majority over three competitors of about five hundred. In July, 1882, he was re-elected. He was also elected Justice of the Peace and Township Assessor in Pleasant Township, from which he moved to Valparaiso, when elected County Recorder.
Source: Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical, Illustrated. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p.
Page(s) in Source: 275
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook