Guardian for George Wells

WELLS, BEIBESHEIMER, FINLAYSON

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 9/23/2010 at 12:47:30

GUARDIAN FOR GEORGE WELLS

Grundy County Pioneer is Incapacitated.

Man of Great Wealth

Owns Thousands of Acres of Land and Much Bank Stock

Charles Biebesheimer of Wellsburg and R. M. Finlayson of Grundy Center Appointed Guardians

Grundy Center, Sept. 6.—On application of his sister, George Wells, Grundy Center's millionaire citizen and one of the county's oldest pioneers, was yesterday placed under guardianship and the administration of all his immense property entrusted to the care of his guardians, who are Charles Bibesheimer of Wellsburg and R. M. Finlayson of Grundy Center.

In the petition it was alleged that Mr. Wells is of unsound mind. He is extremely aged, having passed his 84th birthday, and he has failed rapidly in the past few months. The court considered that he was unable to further attend to his vast business affairs.

The guardians, who are cashiers in two of Mr. Wells' banks, will have charge of property aggregating, much more than $1,000,000 and they were placed under bonds of $1,000,000, which were furnished by surety companies.

Mr. Wells has no children and he is also a widower. The petition for the appointment of a guardian was signed by his sister, Mary Wells Nelson.

Mr. Wells has long been a millionaire. His fortune was based on his great land holdings and perhaps no other man in Iowa owns so large an acreage of fine farms as he does now. In this county alone he has 1,700 acres of land which is worth from $75 to $100 per acre. He has 12,000 acres more in Emmet and Kossuth counties which are almost as valuable. It was disclosed in the proceedings that Mr. Wells has more than $200,000 deposited in Chicago banks, and $150,000 more in various Iowa banks. He owns large blocks of stock in the First National bank of Grundy Center, and banks at Wellsburg, which was named in his honor, and Germania. He has personal property valued at more than $500,000.

The surety bonds furnished by the guardians were perhaps two of the largest ever given in Iowa. There were two of them, each in the sum of $500,000. One was furnished by the Fidelity and Deposit company of Baltimore, and the other by the Title Guaranty and Trust company of Scranton, Pa. The former was represented by C. E. Rogers of Grundy Center, the latter by William E. Clark of Marshalltown. Mr. Beibesheimer, one of the guardians, is cashier of the Wellsburg Savings bank; the other guardian, R. M. Finlayson, is cashier of the First National bank of Grundy Center. Both are men of wide experience in
business and they have been close to Mr. Wells and intimately acquainted with his affairs.

--Waterloo Daily Reporter (Waterloo, Iowa), 6 September 1905