Wells, Lucius (1845-1916)

WELLS

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 1/27/2009 at 13:41:26

Luciua Wells
Feb 9, 1845 - Jan 16, 1916

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.61, Council Bluffs)
Lucius Wells, agricultural implements, Council Bluffs, was born in Rock Island County, Ill., in 1845, and has always been in the implement and plow business; beginning, as he jokingly says, "by holding a plow by the handles." He was educated in Galesburg, Ill., and was married in 1868 at Dixon, and has one child - Emma M. aged twelve years. He is at present manager of the Council Bluffs branch of the John Deere Moline Plow Works. He began business here when the branch was established, in December, 1881. They handle here a general line of agricultural implements. Mr. Wells left Galesburg in 1864; went to Moline, Ill., where he engaged with the Deere Company, and remained there until coming to this city. He employes twenty-five men, and carries a stock of $50,000.

(From the 1891 Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, p.551)
LUCIUS WELLS is of the firm of Deere, Wells & Co., wholesale dealers in agricultural implements, wagons, and vehicles, being the leading and the largest house of the kind in the Northwest, and one of the largest in the whole country, and as such deserves special notice here. The firm is made up of Deere & Co. and the Moline Wagon Company, both of Moline, Illinois, and Mr. WELLS, who is resident partner. The former company are proprietors of the John Deere Plow Works, which were founded by John DEERE in 1847, and is the largest steel plow works in the world. John DEERE was the pioneer of steel plow makers, hammering the first steel plow out of saw steel, and was the founder of the Grand De Tour Plow Works, which establishment he left when locating at Moline. The Moline Wagon Company have one of the largest factories of the kind in the country. The house of Deere, Wells & Co. was established November 1, 1881, and was the pioneer of the many establishments of the kind whose aggregate business at this time makes Council Bluffs the second largest implement center in the northwest.
Mr. Wells was born February 9, 1845, near Moline, Illinois, and spent his early days on the farm. After receiving a common school education, he attended Lombard University at Galesburg, Illinois, taking an elective course. Upon leaving that institution, he took a position with Deere & Co. and continued with them for a period of 14 years, contributing his mite toward building up that great business, and during that time saw the establishment double its capacity no less than three times. He has been a resident of Council Bluffs since the opening of the house of Deere, Wells & Co. in 1881, and to his untiring energy and business management is due the success of the business.
Mr. Wells is known in the West as an active businessman who believes that “whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well” and acts upon that principle.
His ancestors on his father’s side were English, who left the old country in the latter part of the 17th century and settled in Connecticut. His ancestors on his mother’s side were Scotch-English and settled in New England before the Revolutionary War. His great-grandfathers on both sides were soldiers under George Washington. His father, whose name also was Lucius WELLS, was born in Windham County, Vermont, in 1803, and his mother in Genesee County, New York, in 1808, they both emigrating with their parents to Wayne County, Illinois, in 1823, and were married there in 1825. They soon after removed to northern Illinois, locating in what is now Rock Island County, and in that removal passed nearly the entire length of the state of Illinois through a country inhabited only by wild animals and Indians. His father died at the homestead in Rock Island County, in 1875, after celebrating their golden wedding. His mother is, at this writing (March 1891), enjoying good health at the age of 83.
Mr. WELLS was married March 26, 1868, to Miss Martha A. WADSWORTH of Dixon, Illinois, whose parents came from Maryland and were of German ancestry. Mr. And Mrs. Wells have two daughters: Miss Eunice M., aged 20 years, and Cherrie, aged 7 years.