My Genealogy Hound

Dr. John R. Wells, a successful and well-known physician and surgeon of Powhatan, comes from a family of Arkansas pioneers. He was born in Lawrence County, Ark., September 5, 1838, and is a son of G. W. Wells, of the same State, whose father was one of its earliest settlers, coming here in the year 1807, and locating at what is now known as Ravenden Junction, in Lawrence County. G. W. Wells grew to manhood, and was married, in what is now Lawrence County, his wife being Miss Nettie Stubblefield, of Cape Girardeau County, Mo., whose father C. S. Stubblefield, was also one of the pioneers of this State, and represented Lawrence County at an early day. After his marriage Mr. Wells settled on a farm across the river, in this county, where he resided until his death, in 1840. He was a farmer and stock dealer, and shipped his stock to the Southern markets. His wife died in 1887, at the age of seventy-five years, after rearing her family with all the care of a gentle Christian mother. Dr. Wells grew to maturity on the farm at home, and received a good common school education. He subsequently attended college for two years, at Springfield, Tenn., and in 1857 began the study of medicine at Jacksonport, Ark., under the care of Drs. Kirkwood and Matlock, both noted physicians of that period. He took his first course of lectures at the Memphis Medical College, in 1858-59, and the following year completed his course at the University of Louisiana, one of the most celebrated schools of medicine in the South. He graduated from the latter place, in the spring of 1860, and came to Powhatan, where he commenced to practice his profession. Dr. Wells has kept unceasingly at his practice, from the time of obtaining his diploma, to the present day, excepting the period when he enlisted in the Confederate army during the war. He entered as a private, in the First Arkansas Regiment of Riflemen, but was soon after detailed as steward on the medical staff. In 1862 a new company was organized, of which he was made captain and assistant surgeon, and in that capacity served in Col. Baber’s regiment until the close of the war. When the war was over, he returned home and resumed his practice, and has succeeded in building up a reputation in that section that is second to none. The Doctor was married, November 24, 1864, to Miss Nettie Stuart, of this county, a daughter of C. F. Stuart, and now has a family of five children: Laura G. W., John L., Ada, and Frank Stuart, besides three children, who died in infancy. Dr. Wells and his wife are both members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Doctor is a member of the Masonic order, being a Master Mason.