My Genealogy Hound

SAMUEL S. WELLS, dealer in queensware, plated-ware, and house furnishing goods, was born in 1838 on the Atlantic Ocean. His father, Samuel, and his mother, nee Rands, were English, and on their way to America at the time of his birth. They settled in Ohio, where the subject of this sketch was reared and educated, graduating from the high school at Portsmouth, Ohio. Subsequently he became apprenticed to a watchmaker and jeweler, H. S. Sprague, of Newark, Ohio, for about ten years. In 1860 he went to Clarksburg, West Virginia, and opened a jewelry store. So soon did the civil war break out after he began business in the South that he returned to Ohio and enlisted in Company D of the Seventy-sixth Ohio Volunteers. He was soon promoted to adjutant, Charles R. Woods being colonel, serving one year. He took part in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh. At Vicksburg he was taken sick and returned home, having resigned. He went into the grain and corn business in Newark, Ohio. He was collector of tolls on the Ohio Canal in connection with his commission business. About 1868 he was called to fill the office of county clerk, serving six years. Subsequently he went into the car accountant’s office of the N. Y., Pa. & Ohio R. R Co. In March, 1881, he came to Carthage, Missouri, and bought the queensware store of Mr. H. Garland, on the west side of the square, carrying a large stock and doing a fine business. He was married in 1860 to Harriet L. Brice. They have five children living. Mr. Wells is a member of the Knight Templars.