Rollin J. Wells Biography


	This biography appears on pages 889-890 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. I (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

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	ROLLIN J. WELLS, senior member of the well-known and prominent 
law firm of Wells & Blackman, of Sioux Falls, was born in the city of 
Moline, Illinois, on the 24th of June, 1848, and is a son of Luke and 
Harriet (Robinson) Wells. After completing the curriculum of the public 
schools of his native city Mr. Wells was matriculated in the University 
of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, in the literary department of which 
celebrated institution he continued his studies for two years, after 
which he was for a time engaged in teaching in the public schools of 
his native state. He began the reading of law in the office and under 
the direction of Judge George E. Waite, of Geneseo, Illinois, and was 
admitted to the bar of the state in 1878. In the same year he came to 
Sioux Falls and established himself in practice as one of the pioneer 
members of the bar of this state, while in 1887 he was admitted to 
practice in the supreme court of the United States. Mr. Wells conducted 
an individual practice until 1881, when he entered into a professional 
partnership with William A. Wilkes, under the firm name of Wilkes & 
Wells, this alliance continuing until 1890, when he entered into his 
present professional association with,George T. Blackman. Mr. Wells has 
attained high prestige as an able advocate and counselor, being 
thoroughly well informed in the minutiae of the science of 
jurisprudence, preparing his causes with most punctilious care and 
presenting the same with force and directness, so that he has naturally 
been successful as a trial lawyer, while he has so ordered his course 
as to retain the unqualified respect of his professional confreres as 
well as the general public. His firm has a clientage of a distinctively 
important and representative character throughout and incidentally it 
should be noted that it has charge of the financial business in the 
state of the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Hartford, 
Connecticut.  

	Mr. Wells is known as one of the city's most public-spirited and 
loyal citizens and has been identified with a large number of important 
enterprises, while he has lent his aid and influence in the furtherance 
of all measures tending to conserve the material and civic advancement 
and prosperity of his home city and state. In politics he may be 
designated as an independent Republican, having taken an active 
interest in public affairs but never having sought the honors or 
emoluments of political office. Fraternally he is a master Mason, and 
he and his wife are members of the Congregational church.  

	It is signally consonant that in this connection reference be 
made to the exceptional literary taste and ability possessed by Mr. 
Wells, who has written several books, the most notable of which is a 
dramatic poem in three acts, entitled Hagar, and having to do with the 
pitiful story of Hagar and her son, Ishmael, whose tragic wanderings, 
as told in the Bible, have been a favored theme of painters and poets 
from the earliest times. That in the midst of an intensely busy and 
practical life Mr. Wells should have found time and inclination to 
bring forth even this one beautiful literary gem speaks well for his 
appreciation and insistent gift of poesy. The work is one which merits 
a place in every ecclesiastical and secular library and is a 
distinctive contribution to the sum total of pure and undefiled English 
- a veritable classic in its dignity and exaltation of thought and 
felicity of expression. Concerning this work the Chicago Chronicle 
spoke as follows:  

	From Sioux Falls, South Dakota, comes an unexpected piece of 
literary work that commends itself to public attention. "Hagar," by 
Rollin J. Wells, is a dramatic poem in three acts. The story, as given 
in the Bible, is altered somewhat, but not in any wise distorted. Mr. 
Wells has accented and modified certain points, as the literary artist 
has the right to do in order to heighten poetic effect. The beauty of 
Hagar, her misfortunes through no fault of her own, the important part 
her descendants have played in history, have made a frequent and worthy 
subject for pen and pencil. A special merit of Mr. Wells' poem is that 
he has brought out in strong light the moral character of the heroine.  

	The maid Hagar has a lover, Athuriel. The bond between them is 
the purest, and nothing seems possible to mar their happiness. Suddenly 
Hagar is informed through a priest that it is the will of God that she 
should be the proud mother of Abraham's race. The heart of the girl 
instinctively rebels at the proposition and she declares she will die 
before submitting to such a violation of her love. Deeply religious, 
and accustomed to venerating the commands of God, she has a prolonged 
struggle between what is pointed out as duty and what seems to her the 
rights of her own heart. Finally she yields knowing 

	The ways of God are strange to men, but he  
	Makes known his wishes through his priests.  

	This moral beauty in Hagar's character lends added pathos to the 
situation. The poet, however, does not leave his heroine a mere 
helpless victim Or the priest's command. Ethical justice steps in, and 
the final scene shows Abraham kneeling at the feet of the banished 
Hagar, who is now the happy wife of Athuriel. The poem is characterized 
by simplicity, strength and beauty, and with slight modification could 
easily be adapted to the needs of the stage. The fitting illustrations 
are by William L. Hudson. (Broadway Publishing Company, New York.) 

	Of the work the South Dakotan, a monthly magazine, gave the 
following estimate:  

	South Dakota may take proper pride in its booked literature, and 
no single piece of it is more pride engendering than the last 
contribution to it - Mr. Rollin J. Wells' dramatic poem, "Hagar." It is 
a rare proposition for a busy and successful lawyer to give up his 
leisure to refined literature, but Mr. Wells has found his most- 
congenial recreation in producing verses of graceful measure and 
exquisite diction, and in "Hagar," his most ambitious production, he 
has reached a high plane. It is the Biblical story elaborated into one 
hundred and twenty-five pages of heroic verse, introducing many 
dramatic situations and lines of extraordinary strength, stamping Mr. 
Wells a poet of high order  

	As showing the stately measure employed we quote a few lines from 
the third act of this remarkable work, the action being carried into 
the field of battle, as Athuriel has sworn to avenge Hagar's wrongs:  

	Most gloriously to battle goes the King of Kings,
	The heavens are rent asunder, while the earth in tremor swings;  
	The mountains smoke before Him and the moon grows dark with 
blood;  
	And the angry seas are lifted in a great and swelling flood.  

	In concluding this brief sketch we enter the following data in 
regard to the domestic chapter in the life of Mr. Wells: On the 20th of 
December, 1870, he was united in marriage to Miss Susan L. Little, of 
Geneseo, Illinois, and they have five children, Robert L., who is in 
the employ of the great wholesale grocery house of Sprague, Warner & 
Company, of Chicago; Bertha, who remains at the parental home; Helen 
W., who is the wife of Frederick E. Phillips, of Sioux Falls; Ruth, who 
is a popular teacher in the high school of this city, and Mary L. who 
is at home.