speculator, businessman, politician, Congressman, b. West Waterville, Me. Wells taught school in the East for several years, engaged in various mercantile pursuits in Palmyra, Me., and, visiting Wisconsin in 1835, invested heavily in land. In 1836 he moved to Wisconsin, settling in Milwaukee. There he held local political offices, was a member of the upper house of the territorial legislature (1838-1840), and established the basis for his vast fortune through speculation in land, grain, and lumber. A Democrat, Wells was elected to Congress in 1852, was re-elected in 1854 and served two terms (Mar. 1853-Mar. 1857). He was not a candidate for renomination in 1856, and devoted the remainder of his life to expanding his many and varied business enterprises. As early as 1847 he acquired a lumber mill at Escanaba, Mich., eventually controlled vast timber holdings, and was part owner of several large lumber companies. He was for a time president of the La Crosse and Milwaukee R.R., took an active part in the financial development of many early Wisconsin railroad and transportation projects, and was a director of the St. Paul and Minnesota Valley R.R. and the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul R.R. He was also a director of the Wisconsin Marine and Fire Insurance Co., the Northwestern National Insurance Co., and had financial interests in banking institutions throughout the state. At his death, Wells was reputedly the wealthiest man in Wisconsin, having acquired a fortune estimated at over $15,000,000. Biog. Dir. Amer. Cong. (1928); B. Still, Milwaukee (Madison, 1948); J. G. Gregory, Hist. of Milwaukee (4 vols., Chicago, 1931).

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]