My Genealogy Hound

REV. THOMAS S. WELLS, minister, Alcony; born in Virginia in 1815; is a son of Silas and Elsie (Skinner) Wells; he being born in Virginia and she in North Carolina, the grandfather being probably a native of Virginia, and the ancestry coming from England. The grandfather, Samuel, with his family, removed from Virginia to this county in October, 1817, locating in Monroe Township, where he lived and died upon the farm that he first settled on; he purchased a large tract of land and located his children all nearby him; among them was his son Silas, with his wife, Elsie, who resided in Monroe Township the remainder of their lives; they were parents of eleven children, of whom nine are still living, viz., William, James, Samuel, Robert, John, Jane (now Mrs. McCullough, of Sidney, Ohio), Sarah Isabella (now Mrs. Angabright Levi, of Detroit), and Thomas S. Rev. Wells, our subject, left home when about 15 years of age, came to Troy and served an apprenticeship at the tailoring business with Maj. Hart, where he remained some three years, then entered a dry-goods establishment as a clerk for several years, but resumed the tailoring business again in Preble Co., Ohio. During the years in which he was engaged in the tailoring business he was procuring a library, and reading theological and religious works preparatory to entering the ministry, having for some time felt himself called for that work. In the year of 1850, Mr. Wells extricated himself from all secular pursuits, located in Dayton, and gave himself exclusively to the work of the ministry in the Christian Church. He first supplied the church in Dayton, and also one on Wolf Creek, seven miles west of Dayton, since which time he has filled the pulpits of several churches in Shelby and Miami Cos., living at the various points and places, which his field of work seemed to demand. About three years ago, he located upon the farm where he now resides, which makes him a very pleasant home, and is near the center of his ministerial work; he is now especially engaged in a missionary work of supplying and building up the weak churches. Mr. Wells has performed a large amount of labor for the building-up of the churches; but his zeal in the work is unabated, and he desires to continue earnestly in his Master’s cause, believing that if he holds out faithfully to the end, his works will be justified, and his rewards sure.