HISTORY OF TUSCOLA COUNTY

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TOWN OF WELLS

     Townships 12 north, of ranges 10 and 11 east were organized by the board of supervisors at a meeting held October 14, 1858, and designated by the name of Wells.     The first township meeting was held at the house of B. A. Wightman, April 4, 1859, and Joseph Wells, James Wright and Alanson R. King were inspectors of election.  The officers elected were as follow:  Supervisor, B. A. Wightman; clerk, G. W. Sorter; treasurer, Joseph Wells; justices of the peace, John Olney, James Wright and A. King.
     The total number of votes polled was ten.  Total amount of taxes on the first tax roll, $1,041.51; amount of first valuation, $24,947.
     Wells is situated north of the Port Sanilac and Saginaw State road and about midway between the two.  It has an area of 4, 760 acres.
     The town was named in honor of its first settler, Joseph Wells, who is still a resident of the town.
     The first child born in the town was Franklin, son of James Wright.
     The first settlement was made n the south part of the town, and in the year 1860 the whole number of families in the town did not exceed twenty.
     The township was covered with a heavy growth of beech, maple, hemlock, ash, cherry, birch, basswood, and scattering pine of large size, on the high land, and tamarack, cedar and sapling pine on the low or swamp land, the latter of which covered more than half the township.
     At a former and no very remote period a dense growth of pine stood where now only huge stumps and roots remain.
    From 1860 to 1870 great quantities of cork pine were cut and delivered on Sucker and White Creeks, run into Cass river and thence to the Saginaw Mills.  For a number of years the cutting and hauling of pine during the winter months afforded the early settlers profitable employment from which they derived their principal means of support.
     In the fall of 1871 forest fires spread over the entire area of the town and killed vast quantities of timber, particularly hemlock, which afterward was prostrated, leaving in the central and northern parts of the town a burned and nearly bare surface.
     During the past few years settlers have come in quite rapidly and located on the State and government lands in the south part of the town.  these lands are now nearly all taken.
     The first religions services were held about the year 1860 by the Protestant Methodists, and the first preachers were the Revs. Smith and Baker.
     Soon after that date the Methodist Episcopal denomination formed a class.  The United Brethren have a church on section 33.
     The first school-house was built in the year 1871, on section 14.
     There are now five school districts in the town of Wells, one of which is fractional.  The school districts in the town of Wells, one of which is fractional.  The school directors for the ensuing year are:  J. F. Staples, John S. Curry, E. B. Lumley and Jacob Stevens.  There are two frame and two log school-houses in the town.  Whole number of children of school age, as reported September, 1882, 136: number that attended school during the year, 102.
     The fires of 1881, elsewhere described in this work, swept over the northwest portion of the town and did a large amount of damage.

ENTRIES OF LAND

     The following is a list of entries of land made prior to the year 1860.

TOWNSHIP 12 NORTH, RANGE 10 EAST

SECTION 1    Martin Watrous, January 3, 1859
                        A. H. Wright and Jas. J. McCormick, April 7, 1859
                        George Cleaver, October 26, 1858
                        H. Hayden, et al., October 30, 1858

SECTION 2    George Cleaver, October 26, 1858

SECTION 4    Paul Brown, November 22, 1855

SECTION 5    Paul Brown, November 22, 1855
                        John H. Yawkey, May 28, 1856
                        Charles Merrill, October 8, 1856
                        C. M. Cameron, March 29, 1859

SECTION 6    James L. Ketcham, November 30, 1853
                        James L. Ketcham, April 12, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, June 24, 1858

SECTION 7    James L. Ketcham, November 30, 1853
                        James L. Ketcham, April 12, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham June 24, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, December 7, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, April 5, 1859
                        John C. Cameron, November 20, 1858

SECTION 8    John H. Yawkey, May 28, 1856
                        Charles Merrill, October 8, 1856
                        James L. Ketcham, April 5, 1859

SECTION 11    Henry A. Frink, February 5, 1859
                          Martin Watrous, November 16,1858

SECTION 12    Robert H. Weideman, December 8, 1858

SECTION 13    Valentine Reynolds, November 17, 1858

SECTION 17    Edgar Sheldon, September 29, 1852
                          Charles Merrill, July 14, 1856
                         Moses Sutton and James A. Bailey, August 27, 1856
                        James L. Ketcham, April 12, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, December 7, 1858
                        John C. Cameron, March 4, 1858

SECTION 18    Edgar Sheldon, September 29, 1852
                        James L. Ketcham, November 30, 1853
                        James A. Bailey and Moses Sutton, December 8, 1855.
                        James A. Bailey, October 15, 1856
                        Samuel Pitts, October 30, 1856

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SECTION 19    Edgar Sheldon, September 29, 1852
                          James A.Bailey and Moses Sutton, December 8, 1855
                         Charles Merrill, July 11, 1856

SECTION 20    Edgar Sheldon, September 29, 1852
                        James L. Ketcham, November 30 1853
                        Charles Merrill, July 14, 1856
                        James L. Ketcham, April 12, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, June 3, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, September 25, 1858
                        James L. Ketcham, December 11, 1858

SECTION 21    John B. Oligney, June 24, 1859

SECTION 22    John Henry Hobart Starkey, December 25, 1858
                          Henry Hayden, January 13, 1859
                        James Wright, November 28, 1859

SECTION 23    Robert H. Weideman, April 16, 1859

SECTION 28    Nathaniel C. Stone, November 15, 1856
                         Ethan Brown, December 22, 1856
                        John B. Oligny, June 24, 1859
                        Henry Cornor, June 25, 1859

SECTION 29    James L. Ketcham, June 25, 1852
                          Henry P. Roberts, June 25, 1852
                        James L. Ketcham, June 25, 1852
                        James L. Ketcham, December 13, 1853
                        James L. Ketcham, December 7, 1858
                        John B. Oligny, December 3, 1859

SECTION 30    James A. Bailey and Moses Sutton, December 8, 1855
                        Samuel Pitts October 24, 1856
                        Jonathan F. Clark, October 3, 1857
                        James L. Ketcham, June 24, 1858

SECTION 31    James L. Ketcham, November 30, 1853
                         William H. H. Gane, October 24, 1856
                        Joseph Wells, April 14, 1857
                        Jonathan F. Clark, October 3, 1857

SECTION 32    James L. Ketcham, June 25, 1852
                         Joseph Wells, April 14, 1857
                        James L. Ketcham, September 25,1858

SECTION 33    Daniel Cronin, February 7, 1857
                        John E. Voorhies, October 31, 1857
                        Polly Powell, December 24, 1857

SECTION 34    David Gilaspie, September 30, 1856
                         David Gilaspie, Jr., September 30, 1856
                        George Foote, October 27, 1856
                        James Wright, December 2, 1856
                        Daniel Cronin, February 7, 1857

SECTION 35    George W. Sorter, July 8, 1858

SECTION 36.  Daniel D. Dewey, April 23, 1853
                        Martin Waters, November 16, 1858

STATISTICAL

     Census of 1860:  Population, 72; dwelling-houses, 11; families, 10; occupied farms, 5; number of acres of improved land, 133; value of real estate owned, $10,590; number of cows, 7; bushels of wheat raised, 120; bushels of corn, 520; bushels of oats, 150; bushels of buckwheat, 10; bushels of potatoes, 660; pounds of butter made, 650; tons of hay cut 43.
      Census of 1864;  Population, 66; males, 32; females, 34; number of acres of taxable land, 1,162; number of acres of improved land, 78; bushels of corn preceding year, 140; bushels of wheat preceding year, 69; bushels of potatoes preceding year, 395; tons of hay preceding year, 32; pounds of butter made, 940; number of horses, 1; number of work oxen, 11; number of cows, 17.
     Census of 1870:  Population, 295; voters, 46; number of acres of improved land, 558; number of dwellings, 40; families, 40; farms, 24; number of horses, 20; number of cows, 35; pounds of butter made, 3,225; bushels of wheat, 985; bushels of rye, 77; bushels of corn, 1,050; bushels of oats, 160; bushels of potatoes, 2,333; tons of hay, 123.
     Census of 1874:  Population, 305; males, 162; females, 143; number of horses, 30; number of oxen, 44; number of cows, 74; bushels of wheat, 1,182; bushels of corn, 3,133; bushels of apples, 227; bushels of potatoes, 1,274; tons of hay, 179.
     Population in 1880, 441; total equalized valuation in 1882, 151,377; number of farms in 1881, 66; acres of improved land, 1,649; bushels of wheat in 1880, 5,697; of corn, 7,513; tons of hay, 360.

TOWN OFFICERS SINCE 1877

BIOGRAPHICAL
   
     ROBERT WILMOT, deceased, was born in England in 1820.  At the age of seventeen years he emigrated to America and lived in Canada and Bridgeport, Connecticut, until 1860, when he settled in the town of Wells.  He was the second clerk of the township, and held several other local offices during his life.  His death occurred July 16, 1882.  He left a wife and six children.  He was a man highly esteemed by all who knew him.

     HENRY H. SORTER was born in Ovid, Branch County, Mich., March 30, 1839, and came to the township of Wells in August 1867, when he purchased his present farm, located on section 35.  He has cleared thirty acres, putting out a good orchard, and otherwise improving it.  Is at present treasurer of the township, and assessor of the school district.  Was married April 7, 1877, to Miss Mary A. Green, and has one child.

     JONATHAN BERRY was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1821, emigrated to the United States, and lived one year in New York, one year in Illinois and Wisconsin; thence to Spencer, Mass., in 1845, where he was engaged in the manufacture of wire until 1865, when he came to Michigan and settled on a homestead of 160 acres on section 14, township of Wells, where he is now engaged in farming.  He has held the office of supervisor three terms.  Was married in July, 1848, to Miss Francis Piper, and has six children, Angelo C., John J., Rachael P., Jonathan A. F., Mary A. and Sarah E.

     JAMES L. STEVENS was born in Prattsburg, Steuben County, N.Y., in 1835, where he lived with his parents up to 1859, when he came West and taught school in Monroe County, Mich., during winter of 1859-60, and the following spring went to Iowa, and was in different parts of the West until July, 1861, when he enlisted in the Seventh Iowa Infantry, Company D, and served until 1863, when he was commissioned first lieutenant in the Seventh United States Colored Artillery, which was afterward called the Eleventh United States Colored Regiment; was wounded at the battle of Corinth by a fragment of shell striking him in the shoulder.  He was discharged September 12, 1865, and returned to New York, and soon thereafter came with his father's family to Michigan and settled in the township of Wells, Tuscola County, and took up from the government 160 acres of land, which he owned up to 1880, when he sold it and purchased another farm of 280 acres on

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sections 3 and 17, same township.  He was married in 1874 to Miss Eliza Wilmot, of Wells, who died in January, 1877.  As a township official he has served as supervisor seven years, treasurer two years, and justice of the peace eleven years.