Wilson King Wellman

WELLMAN, TENNIS, BALCH

Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 5/14/2007 at 15:57:05

W. King Wellman, of Lake Mills, engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years and gained a competence that now enables him to enjoy his ease. He has not been satisfied, however, to be without responsibility and has accordingly taken an active part in public affairs and is now the efficient assistant chief of the city fire department. He was born in Decatur county, Iowa, December 21, 1856, and is a son of B. F. and Eliza Jane (Tennis) Wellman, the former a native of Erie county, Pennsylvania, and the latter of Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1860 they removed with their family to Forest City, Iowa, where they remained until the spring of 1861, when they removed to what is now Lake Mills, where the father bought forty acres of land, including the present site of the high school. He farmed that tract for four years and when he sold it received ten dollars an acre in gold, the highest price paid for land up to that time. In 1865 they returned to Forest City and after remaining there a year went back to Decatur county, where they resided for three years. At the end of that time they went again to Forest City and in 1875 the father bought land in Madison township, Hancock county, but later in the same year removed to Lake Edwards, where he passed away in 1876. He is buried in North cemetery at Forest City. The mother survives and is living in Forest City at the advanced age of eighty-five years. She is still in good health arid is highly esteemed.

W. King Wellman, the oldest of a family of eight children, accompanied his parents on their various removals and received a common school education. He early began learning how to do the various kinds of work included in farming and assisted his father until the latter's demise. For seven years thereafter he remained with his mother and operated the homestead, but in 1883, in which year he was married, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Norway township, Winnebago county, and for six years farmed that place. The following decade was spent in Lake Mills, but at the end of that time he bought another farm in Norway township which he cultivated for seven years. Since 1909, however, he has lived retired in Lake Mills and rented his farm. As a farmer he was at once practical and progressive and seldom failed to harvest good crops.

On September 29, 1883, Mr. Wellman was united in marriage to Miss Lydia A. Balch, a daughter of Joseph A. and Deborah (Jenkins) Balch, natives of Vermont. Her father fought in the Civil war with the Union troops and after the close of hostilities took up a homestead in Freeborn county, Minnesota, where he engaged in farming for many years. For some time before his death, however, he lived retired in Lake Mills, passing away on the 17th of October, 1907. He is buried in North cemetery at Lake Mills. The mother survives and resides in this city.

Mr. Wellman votes the democratic ticket and for two years held the office of town marshal. He served as chief of the Lake Mills fire department for five years, from 1898 until 1903 and when he removed from his farm to the city in 1909 he was again elected chief, which office he held for five years more. He then resigned and became assistant chief, which office he now holds. He has done much to bring the department up to a high standard of efficiency. He is quite prominent in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as he belongs to the subordinate lodge, the encampment and the Rebekahs, has passed all the chairs in the lodge, is a representative to the grand lodge, is district deputy and has the distinction of being the oldest member of the order in Lake Mills. He is also identified with the Masonic blue lodge and the Eastern Star. The principle of brotherhood which is at the basis of those organizations has found expression in his daily life and his sterling worth has gained him a host of friends.

Source: HISTORY OF WINNEBAGO AND HANCOCK COUNTIES, VOL II, 1917, Page 141-142.