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         LAUREN P. WELLS, dealer in flour and feed at Wapello, is a native of New York, and was born at Canton, St. Lawrence County, on the 14th of January, 1825. His parents were Russell and Chloe (Paddock) Wells. The father was born in Rhode Island, and removed to St. Lawrence County, N. Y., in early life, where he was engaged in farming. The mother was a native of Bennington, Vt. Our subject was reared on his father’s farm, receiving a liberal education, and when twenty-two years of age went to Angola, Ind., where he was employed in teaching school and in farming for two years. From Indiana he returned to New York, spending about six years in Syracuse in various undertakings, and in 1855 came to Iowa, locating in Wapello, where he has resided continuously since. On coming to this city Mr. Wells bought out the Wapello Intelligencer, an independent journal, which he conducted for two years, when he sold out and engaged in merchandising, continuing in that line of business until 1878. He then sold out and again engaged in journalism, buying out the Wapello Times, which he published as a Democratic paper until July, 1882, when, not being satisfied with the financial prospects of the concern, he sold out and engaged in his present business.

On the 12th of December, 1858, at Wapello, Iowa, Mr. Wells was united in marriage with Miss Eliza A. Leland, daughter of Gale Leland, of the Western Reserve, Ohio, formerly of New York. Mrs. Wells was born in Central New York, but was reared in Ohio. Three children were born of this union, all daughters: Helen Virginia is bookkeeper and cashier for the Cedar Falls Paper Mill Company; Laura Edna is engaged as a teacher in the Cedar Falls schools, and Eugenia Blanche is a clerk in the Wapello post-office.

Mr. Wells is a veteran Democrat, whom neither fear nor favor ever diverted from the defense of his honest political opinions. During the dark and trying days of the late war, when in Iowa to be a Democrat was considered the next thing to being a criminal, Mr. Wells and Jesse Harris frequently constituted the entire delegation to the Democratic County Convention. Nothing daunted, they organized the convention, nominated a ticket, and had it printed and circulated throughout the county. Mr. Wells has lived to see the principles for which he contended vindicated, with his party in possession of the executive department of the Government, having a fair majority in the Lower House and a tie in the Upper House of Congress, while a prominent and eminent Democratic lawyer has recently been appointed to the Chief-Justiceship of the Supreme Court of the United States. At home the changes have been equally gratifying, and at this writing, when the Louisa County Democratic Convention meets, instead of the two old veterans, a hundred or more earnest delegates are present, often indulging in pretty hot strife for the nominations.

Mr. Wells is as earnest a Mason as he is a Democrat, having been an active worker in the order . . .

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. . . since becoming a member of Wapello Lodge No. 5. He has served as Master Mason fourteen terms, and is conceded by all to be the best authority on the subject of Masonry in the lodge, and the most expert in conducting its operations. He has also been a member of Louisa Lodge No. 19, I. O. O. F., for many years. Mr. Wells has held many local offices of honor and trust. He has been chosen Mayor of Wapello several times, and served with fidelity to the best interests of the city. During his administration in that capacity he particularly distinguished himself in rivalling Gov. Larrabee in the matter of proclamations on the enforcement of the prohibitory law. As a neighbor and business man, Mr. Wells deserves and enjoys the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.