Biographical Sketch of David G. WELLS (1893); Chester County, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by John Morris . *********************************************************************** USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** Source: "Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsyl- vania, comprising a historical sketch of the county," by Samuel T. Wiley and edited by Winfield Scott Garner, Gresham Publishing Company, Phila- delphia, PA, 1893, pp. 281-2. "DAVID G. WELLS, first burgess of Spring City, and one of the substantial business men of the Schuylkill valley, is a son of Jesse and Mary (Grubb) Wells. He was born on September 12, 1825, in North Coventry township, this county, where he was reared on the farm and received a good practical English education. Arriving at man's estate he saw no opening in any business that was then within his reach that was more profitable than farming, and purchased his father's farm, which he owned and tilled for two years. He then sold the farm and was engaged successfully at Spring City for four years in the general mercantile business with his brother, Joseph Wells, and David S. Taylor. At the end of that time, in 1861, he became a member of the firm of Smith, Francis & Wells, which leased the Spring City foundry for ten years, but after seven years of that time had elapsed, he withdrew from the company to engage in farming in North Coven- try township, where he remained one year. He then purchased a farm in the neighborhood of Kimberton, East Pikeland township, which he disposed of four years later to build a bakery at Spring City, which he owned for two years. He was then interested in various lines of business until 1874, when he purchased his present dairy farm of sixteen acres, and has been engaged in dairying ever since. In 1862, when Lee was pushing his veteran columns northward across the State of Maryland, Mr. Wells was one of those who volunteered to defend his country and State from Confederate invasion. He was commissioned as second lieutenant of Co. C, 21st Pennsylvania mili- tia, and served until the army of Northern Virginia was defeated at Antie- tam and driven back across the Potomac. Mr. Wells served two consecutive terms as burgess of Spring City, and at present is a member of the borough school board, of which body he has been treasurer and secretary. He is a prohibitionist in politics, and has been an active member for eighteen years of the German Baptist church of Coventry, of whose Sunday school he has served as superintendent for several terms. "In 1851 Mr. Wells married Emeline, daughter of Jacob Shantz, a farmer of Parker Ford. To the union was born eleven children, five sons and six daughters: Isaac Erwin, Samuel, Enos Milton, Clara, Joseph, George, Ella, Annie, Emma, Katie, and one daughter who died in infancy. After the death of his first wife, on the 4th of June, 1890, David G. Wells married Sarah A. Grubb, formerly of Coventry, later of Philadelphia. She was a daughter of Peter and Catharine Grubb, of Coventry, both now deceased, and grand- daughter of David Grubb, herein mentioned. "David G. Wells is known as an intelligent, honest and reliable man. He traces his paternal ancestry back to the old Quaker Wells family of Chester county, of which his grandfather, Joseph Wells, was a member. Joseph Wells was a farmer by occupation, and an old-line whig in politics, and removed to Joanna Heights in Berks county, where he died. He married and reared a family of ten children: Isaac, Samuel, William, James, Edmund, Jesse, Joseph, David, Ann and Hannah. Jesse Wells, the sixth son, and the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in 1798, at Joanna Heights, where he was reared and grew to manhood, after which he removed to North Coventry township, opposite Pottstown. He there learned the trade of weaver, which was then a much more profitable business than at the present day. He purchased a small farm soon after removing to North Coventry, where he was engaged in farming and weaving from 1828 to 1840, when he went to Berks county, in which he remained two years. He then came to East Vincent township and purchased a farm of eighty acres, one mile west of Spring City, on which he resided until 1855, when he came to the above named borough, where he died in 1876, aged seventy-eight years. While living in North Coventry township, Jesse Wells married Mary Grubb, who was a daughter of David Grubb, and died in 1883, aged eighty-seven years. They reared a family of three children: Lieut. David G.; Joseph, a mer- chant of Spring City, who died in September, 1858; and Mary A., widow of Samuel B. Taylor, and now a resident of Spring City. The Wells family is widely known for its industry and thrift, and its reputation is ably sustained by David G. Wells, whose name heads this sketch."