From: History of Lewis, Clark, Knox and Scotland Counties,
Missouri |
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Joseph Wells, farmer, is a native of Nelson County, Ky., where he was born June 10, 1816. His parents, Thomas and Mary (Auskins) Wells, were natives of Pennsylvania and Kentucky. They were married in the latter State, and came to Lewis County, Mo., in 1837; after renting there for about one year they became permanent residents of Clark County, where the father died in 1854, and the mother twenty years later. Our subject was educated in his native State, and began independently at the age of twenty-two; he soon married, and settled where he has since resided. His wife, Elizabeth, a daughter of Hezekiah and Frances (Ford) Foree, was born December 15. 1815, in Oldham County, Ky., and came with her parents to Missouri in 1838; she was married November 17, 1839. Of their twelve children the following are living: William H., Isaac M.. Mary F., Thomas, Elizabeth A., Judith, Emily C., Joseph M., Robert and Susan. Our subject's estate embraces over 330 acres, which is mostly improved and cultivated, and in a pleasant location. Our subject has been prominent in the growth of the county, and is closely identified with its history. He first voted for Harrison, and held Whig principles, but afterward became a Democrat. His entire family have been active members of the Baptist Church. |
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T. J. Wells is the son of Thomas and Mary
(Hoskins) Wells, natives of Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and of Welsh
and German descent, respectively. Thomas Wells and his second wife, our
subject's mother, were married in Kentucky, where he cultivated the soil,
and was also engaged in the grist-mill business, and in distilling, which
occupations he followed for a period of twenty-nine years. In 1837 he
sold out, and moved to Northeast Missouri, when it was yet a wilderness.
Here he resided eighteen months, and then moved to Washington Township,
Clark Co., Mo., where he lived for a short time before his death, when
he broke up housekeeping, and he and his wife went to live with a son,
Joseph Wells, in Union Township, where he died in the year 1855, at the
age of seventy-seven. He was a Democrat, and a member of the Old School
Baptist Church. The widow was a good Christian woman, and died in 1873,
aged eighty-nine. Our subject was born in Nelson County, Ky., February
2, 1826 and is the fifth son of a family of nine children, five of whom
are yet living-three brothers and two sisters. He remained with his parents
until twenty-one years of age, and then began working for his parents
for a number of years. During this time he married Miss Elizabeth Laswell,
daughter of William Laswell, a native of Hardin County, Ky. In 1850 he
purchased 160 acres of land, for which he went in debt, but in a short
time paid for it all, and in 1852 he purchased 120 acres more, which he
also paid for in a few years. In 1861 he enlisted in the Southern Army
under Gen. Jackson, and was out one year. He lost the principal part of
his property during the war, and plodded along after a fashion until 1867,
when he began to make money, and this he continued up to 1874, when he
again met reverses. To his marriage were born twelve children, eleven
now living: William H., Sarah J., Thomas J., Jr., Mary E., Lucy A., Jesse
L., Elizabeth, James F., Emily C., Harvey E. and Henry E. The mother of
these children died November 8, 1885; she was a good woman, and was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal Church South. Mr. Wells is a Democrat
in politics, and a member of the Masonic fraternity. |
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Copyright © 2002-2004
M. G. Ryder All Rights Reserved |
Last Update: 05/15/2004 |
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