Lapeer-Macomb-Oakland County MI Archives Biographies.....Wells, Hiram C. 1825 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 25, 2007, 10:35 pm Author: Chapman Bros. (1892) HIRAM C. WELLS, a well-known furniture dealer of Imlay City, was born in Steuben County, N. Y., October 14, 1825. The father, who was a farmer, died when Hiram was a lad of about eight years, passing away at Shelby, Mich., August 11, 1833. He was born in Saratoga, N. Y., March 24, 1784. The mother, whose maiden name was Lydia Parmeter, had her nativity in Oakham, Mass., August 2, 1788, and passed from earth in Shelby, Mich., in 1866. Samuel D. Wells, the father of our subject, came to Michigan in the early days of 1829, locating in Shelby, Macomb County, where Hiram grew to manhood. He left home at the age of fourteen and lived for two years in Troy, Oakland County, with an uncle, David A. Rhoades, after which he made his home with his sister, Mrs. Isabel Summers, working upon the farm with her husband, Washington Summers, and afterward with his father, John Summers. After spending a winter at home with his mother, attending school, in the spring of 1842 he went to Utica, Mich., and bound himself out as an apprentice to S. S. Merrill for four years to learn the cabinet-maker's trade, bargaining to receive three month's schooling and $30 the first year, $35 the second, $40 the third, and $75 the fourth. At the conclusion of his apprenticeship he worked for six months as a journeyman in Ann Arbor, and then came to Lapeer County, where he opened a cabinet shop at Almont, in partnership with his brother, George S., who was a carpenter, but the following year this brother died. Mr. Wells was married October 9, 1848, to Miss Nancy E. Parmlee, of Almont. She is a daughter of Dantworth and Patience (Stowbridge) Parmlee, and was born at Rutland, Vt., in April, 1828. Mr. Wells added furniture to his business and continued in Almont until 1856, when he sold out and bought a sawmill at Whitneyville, Kent County, Mich., but in 1862 he went into the furniture business with George Hibbler. In the fall of that year he left the pursuits of peace for the camp and the battlefield, enlisting November 10, in Company E, Eighth Michigan Cavalry as Quartermaster Sergeant. In December, 1863 he was engaged in the siege of Knoxville, and also took part in the encounters of Bean Station, New Market, Dandrich, Richland Valley, Fair Garden Valley, and at Mud Lick, Tenn. On the 5th of February, 1864, Hiram Wells turned his horse over to the Government and started on foot to Kentucky, but was soon called on to join Sherman's army and took part in Stoneman's raid. On July 30, they came in sight of Macon, and the next day met Gen. Wheeler's Cavalry, and in the afternoon Gen. Stoneman surrendered. Our hero was captured with three hundred and fifty of his comrades, and sent to Andersonville. In his diary he says: "Here I practiced a little deception, which I have never regretted. The boys were all stripped and their clothes searched, and in dropping mine I stepped across from those not searched to where the men stood who had been searched. I thus saved my money, $27.50, my diary, account book and the picture of my wife and child. The money saved my life during a sickness which soon followed; my account book came into play many years later, enabling me to show account of money which had been entrusted to me; and the picture was a comfort through many dreary hours. Here I had the companionship of my fellow-townsman, Mr. B. F. Johnson, of the Fifth Michigan Cavalry, who showed me much kindness and helped me in securing favors. I left Andersonville, March 18, 1865, and on my way North came very near perishing by a disaster on the "Sultana," on which about two thousand three hundred of us were being transported North on the Mississippi River. The boiler burst and the boat took fire and I barely escaped with my life, jumping overboard with a barrel, afterward seizing hold of a bale of hay with five other persons; we floated down the river about nine miles, and were picked up by the gunboat Essex. I was finally mustered out of the service June 9, 1865, and reached my home in safety." After the return home of our subject, he followed the cabinet-maker's trade, going into partnership with Mr. Hibbler at Almont, and with him carrying also a stock of furniture. In 1871 our subject transferred his business to Imlay City, where he still carries a full stock in his line of goods. Besides his residence he owns a fine business property. He is a Democrat in his political views, and has served on the School Board as Moderator and Director, and in Almont was Town Clerk. Of the three children of our subject only one now lives, namely: Mrs. Belle W. Eldredge (widow. of Fred Eldredge), who has one son, Jay W., a boy of some seven years. They both live with our subject. His oldest child died in infancy, and the second at the age of eleven years, while Mr. Wells was in the army. This gentleman is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, of the Order of Odd Fellows and of the Royal Arcanum. He is widely known throughout this section of the country as the man with the long beard, as this magnificent hirsute appendage measures five feet and eight inches in length. A portrait of Mr. Wells accompanies this sketch. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties, Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of the Presidents of the United States Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/lapeer/bios/wells605gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb