JAMES F. WELLS
James F. Wells, farmer and stockdealer, was born in Barbour county, West Virginia, May 14, 1851. He is a son of Jesse B. and Edith (Poling) Wells. The former died in July, 1851, In the fall of 1851, James F. Wells, in company with his mother and grandmother, went to Union county, Ohio, where his mother was married to E. F. Ryan, and by this union two daughters were born. In April, 1875, they removed to Mahaska county, Iowa, where Mrs. Ryan is still living. In March, 1877, Mr. Wells was married to Lizzie Libby, who was born in Mahaska county. They have one child---Maud. In 1878 he went to Adair county, Iowa, where he improved a farm. In the fall of 1878 he removed to Audubon, Audubon county, of the same State, and embarked in mercantile business. He was afterwards employed as clerk for the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad Company. In December, 1883, he purchased a farm consisting of one hundred and fifteen acres, in section 29, Grant township. He has eighty acres under cultivation. The farm is valued at thirty-five dollars per acre. Mr. Wells is a member of the Baptist church and Mrs. Wells of the Christian church.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pp. 689.
