Lucius Wells Jr. was born in Hampton, IL., on the banks of the Mississippi River, February 9, 1845. His father's name was also Lucius Wells, and he was a farmer until he was 50 years old, after which he went into the logging and milling business. His ancestors came from England long before the Revolutionary War, and many of them participated in the war. The mother was of Scotch-Irish descent and a great grand-niece of Ethan Allen. Her maiden name was Eunice McMurphy. Mr. Wells emigrated from Vermont, and Mrs. Wells from New York, to southern Illinois, before the day of railroads, or about 1826. They were married at Swaneetown, Ill, and traveled from there to Galena, when there were no towns on the way except Carlisle, Vandalia, Springfield and Peoria. Along the way, he met and married Martha 26 Mar 1868 in Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, where she was born 17 Nov 1847 and raised. Their records of the journey, show several battles with Indians on the way, and when arriving at Rock River, where Dixon now stands, they were captured by the Indians and held prisoners for several days. They finally settled in Rock Island County, Illinois.

Lucius Wells received his early education in the public schools, afterward attending the Lombard University, at Galesburg, one year, leaving at the end of that time to go into business with Deere & Company, the famous plow manufacturers of Moline, Ill. Mr. Wells facetiously remarked that he earned his first money holding the plow by the handles and he handled the plow ever since, but not as a farmer. He steadily advanced in the firm, until in 1881, the company, Deere, Wells & Company, was organized. The Council Bluffs house opened as a distributing point for several states, and Mr. Wells took charge of the establishment and continued in that capacity successfully many years.

The John Deere Plow Company opened its first sales branch in 1869 with the Deere, Mansur & Company of Kansas City. By 1890, Deere added four more — Mansur & Tebbetts Implement Company in St. Louis, Missouri; Deere & Webber Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota; Deere, Wells & Company of Omaha, Nebraska; and Marcus C. Hawley & Company of San Francisco, California. These individual branches actually sold buggies before Deere officially did. A decade later, the Omaha branch of Deere, Wells & Company chose to represent two vehicle lines: the one from Mansur & Tebbetts in St. Louis plus the one made by the Velie Carriage Company in Moline. Founded by John Deere's grandson, Willard Velie, the company manufactured a full line of "Wrought Iron Vehicles," which included buggies, carriages, surreys, driving wagons and spring wagons.

The John Deere Plow Company of Omaha, Nebraska opened in 1881, with Lucius Wells in charge of Deere, Wells & Company. The branch actually began in Council Bluffs, Iowa, but moved across the Missouri River to Omaha in 1899. The branch began to sell buggies in 1881. During the 1880s and 1890s, the "Reindeer" name also stood for cultivators and bicycles. Driven by the advancements in the automobile industry and the introduction of Deere's Model D tractor, the buggy business rode its way out of the product line and into history books around 1920.

He was one of the best known business men in the state of Iowa, and was also prominent and active in the sound money democratic organization in the state. He had always been a democrat, not a seeker after office or other political distinction, but taking such interest in the politics of the country as a patriotic business man should. In explaining his attitude he said that he was a democrat from principle, and therefore could not join with the fusion elements in favor of the free and unlimited coinage of silver, which he thought was not good democratic doctrine.

Mr. Wells was a member of the Iroquois club, the leading democratic organization of Chicago, and of the Omaha club, a social club. In 1892 he was a delegate to the democratic national convention. When the directory of the Trans-Mississippi and International exposition at Omaha was organized, Mr. Wells was made the only active member from Iowa, representing the state in the management of the exposition opening in May, 1898.

Lucius Wells Jr. died on 16 Jan 1916 in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. His wife, Martha, died in 2 Sep 1911.

(Source: RI County)


LUCIUS WELLS is of the firm of Deere, Wells & Co., wholesale dealers in agricultural implements, wagons, and vehicles, being the leading and the largest house of the kind in the Northwest, and one of the largest in the whole country, and as such deserves special notice here. The firm is made up of Deere & Co. and the Moline Wagon Company, both of Moline, Illinois, and Mr. WELLS, who is resident partner. The former company are proprietors of the John Deere Plow Works, which were founded by John DEERE in 1847, and is the largest steel plow works in the world. John DEERE was the pioneer of steel plow makers, hammering the first steel plow out of saw steel, and was the founder of the Grand De Tour Plow Works, which establishment he left when locating at Moline. The Moline Wagon Company have one of the largest factories of the kind in the country. The house of Deere, Wells & Co. was established November 1, 1881, and was the pioneer of the many establishments of the kind whose aggregate business at this time makes Council Bluffs the second largest implement center in the northwest.
Mr. Wells was born February 9, 1845, near Moline, Illinois, and spent his early days on the farm. After receiving a common school education, he attended Lombard University at Galesburg, Illinois, taking an elective course. Upon leaving that institution, he took a position with Deere & Co. and continued with them for a period of 14 years, contributing his mite toward building up that great business, and during that time saw the establishment double its capacity no less than three times. He has been a resident of Council Bluffs since the opening of the house of Deere, Wells & Co. in 1881, and to his untiring energy and business management is due the success of the business.

Mr. Wells is known in the West as an active businessman who believes that “whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well” and acts upon that principle.

His ancestors on his father’s side were English, who left the old country in the latter part of the 17th century and settled in Connecticut. His ancestors on his mother’s side were Scotch-English and settled in New England before the Revolutionary War. His great-grandfathers on both sides were soldiers under George Washington. His father, whose name also was Lucius WELLS, was born in Windham County, Vermont, in 1803, and his mother in Genesee County, New York, in 1808, they both emigrating with their parents to Wayne County, Illinois, in 1823, and were married there in 1825. They soon after removed to northern Illinois, locating in what is now Rock Island County, and in that removal passed nearly the entire length of the state of Illinois through a country inhabited only by wild animals and Indians. His father died at the homestead in Rock Island County, in 1875, after celebrating their golden wedding. His mother is, at this writing (March 1891), enjoying good health at the age of 83.

Mr. WELLS was married March 26, 1868, to Miss Martha A. WADSWORTH of Dixon, Illinois, whose parents came from Maryland and were of German ancestry. Mr. And Mrs. Wells have two daughters: Miss Eunice M., aged 20 years, and Cherrie, aged 7 years.

Source: Biographical History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, 1891)



Name: Lucius Wells
Age: 5
Birth Year: abt 1845
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1850: District 37, Rock Island, Illinois, USA
Gender: Male
Family Number: 745
Household Members:
Name Age
Lucine Wells 46
Emma Wells 41
George R Wells 22
Nancy Wells 18
Albert Wells 12
Emily J Wells 9
Lucius Wells 5
Henry C Wells 2
Frances Wells 0

(Source: 1850 United States Federal Census)


Name: Lucius Wells
Age: 15
Birth Year: abt 1845
Gender: Male
Birth Place: Illinois
Home in 1860: Hampton, Rock Island, Illinois
Post Office: Hampton
Family Number: 2963
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Lucius Wells 56
Eunice Wells 51
Albert Wells 22
Lucius Wells 15
Henry C Wells 13
Mary Posten 26
Sophie Ann Posten 9
Fredk Posten 6
Leonard G W Posten 3
Helen L Danforth 14
Benjn S Houge 27

(Source: 1860 United States Federal Census)


Name: Lucius Wells
Place of Birth: Illinois
Race: White
Marital Status: Unmarried (Single)
Residence: Hampton, Illinois
Congressional District: 4th
Class: 1

(Source: U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865)


Name: Lucius, Jr Wells
Gender: Male
Spouse Name: Martha A Wadsworth
Marriage Date: 26 Mar 1868
Marriage County: Ogle
Comments: This record can be found at the County Court Records, Film # 1420755 - 1420756.

(Source: Illinois, Marriages, 1851-1900)


Name: Lucius Wells
Age in 1870: 26
Birth Year: abt 1844
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1870: Moline, Rock Island, Illinois
Race: White
Gender: Male
Post Office: Moline
Value of real estate: View image
Household Members:
Name Age
Ira Waterman 40
Ada Waterman 9
Willie Waterman 5
Milton Waterman 3
Laura Surkchir 17
Mary Surkchir 7/12
Lucius Wells 26
Mattie Wells 23
Eunice Wells 5/12

(Source: 1870 United States Federal Census)


Name: Lucius Wells
Age: 35
Birth Year: abt 1845
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1880: Moline, Rock Island, Illinois
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Self (Head)
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Martha Wells
Father's Birthplace: Vermont
Mother's Birthplace: Vermont
Neighbors: View others on page
Occupation: Clerk Deer & Co Plow Works Office
Cannot read/write:
Blind:
Deaf and Dumb:
Otherwise disabled:
Idiotic or insane:
Household Members:
Name Age
Lucius Wells 35
Martha Wells 34
Eunice Wells 10

(Source: 1880 United States Federal Census)


Name: Lucius Wells
Age: 55
Birth Date: Feb 1845
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1900: Kane, Pottawattamie, Iowa
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Marthy Wells
Marriage Year: 1868
Years Married: 32
Father's Birthplace: Vermont
Mother's Birthplace: Vermont
Occupation: View on Image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Lucius Wells 55
Marthy Wells 53
Cherrie Wells 16
Eunice Casady 30
Albert W Casady 31
Drayton W Casady 2

(Source: 1900 United States Federal Census)


Name: Lucius Wells
Age in 1910: 64
Birth Year: abt 1846
Birthplace: Illinois
Home in 1910: Council Bluffs Ward 2, Pottawattamie, Iowa
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Martha Wells
Father's Birthplace: Vermont
Mother's Birthplace: Vermont
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Lucius Wells 64
Martha Wells 63
Cherry Wells 25

(Source: 1910 United States Federal Census)


********
Parents:
Lucius Wells
Eunice Emma McMurphy

Spouse:
Martha A. Wadsworth

Children:

*Eunice M Wells (1870– 1935) married Albert W. Casady (1870- 1947)
Cherrie W Wells (1884– ????) married Lyle Roberts Burton (1885- ????)