My Genealogy Hound

MARY M. WELLS, daughter of Herman and Amelia Louisa (Mauger) Wells, carries on the business formerly conducted by her father and brother in Pottstown.

Herman Wells (father), born November 1, 1821, died January 26, 1891. His wife was born December 4, 1828 and died April 14, 1895. Mr. and Mrs. Wells always resided in Pottstown. He was born in Chester county, and she in Pottstown. He was engaged as a merchant, and was also paymaster of the Philadelphia & Reading Railway Company for thirty-five years. He was a very popular citizen, having many friends. In politics he was a Republican. His business, that of a coal commission merchant, was conducted by himself and son. He was for many years president of the Electric Light, Heat & Power Company, of Pottstown. Mr. and Mrs. Wells were members of the Lutheran Church of the Transfiguration of Pottstown.

Mr. and Mrs. Herman Wells were married May 27, 1847. Their children: Martha, born April 11, 1848, married Abner Evans, Jr., and they resided in Pottstown, where he was a furnace expert. Both are now deceased and he was buried in Mexico and she in the Pottstown cemetery. They had five children, of whom two are living: Florence, married Dr. F. B. Swartzlander, of Doylestown, and they have two children- Mary and Ellen, the latter born January 24, 1904. The other child of Mr. and Mrs. Evans is Mary Louise, who is studying medicine at the Women’s Medical College, entering in September, 1902. John M., the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Wells, born March 24, 1850, married Henrietta Phillippi, and both are now deceased. He assisted his father during his life. John M. and Henrietta Wells had two children, of whom one is living, Donald, who married Florence Louise Dobbs, and they reside with Miss Mary Wells. The other child of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Wells is Mary M. Wells. Mary M. Wells is carrying on the business established by her father and conducted under the name of H. Wells & Son. She is a member of the board of trustees of the Pottstown Hospital. The house which she occupies was erected by her father in 1888.

Donald Wells, the son of John M. and Henrietta (Phillippi) Wells, married Florence Dobbs, daughter of Henry and Charlotte (Nottingham) Dobbs, who reside in Philadelphia, having come from England when their daughter Florence was four years old. The children of Donald and Florence Wells are Eleanor, born August 14, 1902, and Florence, January 13, 1904. Mr. Wells is a draughtsman with McClintic-Marshall Construction Company, of Pottstown. He is a Republican in politics. Mr. Dobbs (father of Mrs. Donald Wells) is a draughtsman in Philadelphia. He came to this country in 1888.

The grandparents of Miss Wells were James and Margaret (Umstead) Wells. James Wells was born in Bath, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1790, and died in Chester county, June 28, 1853. His wife died March 27, 1847. They had nine children, as follows: Samuel, born March 2, 1812; Umstead, born December 31, 1814; Christiana, December 13, 1817; Herman (father), November 1, 1821; Hannah, March 29, 1824; Oliver, born September 28, 1827; Elmira, born October 19, 1830; Margaret, born January 17, 1834; and Elizabeth, born September 22, 1839.

Joseph Wells (great-grandfather) married Margaret Welles. She was the daughter of Isaac and Hannah Welles, of New England, that branch of the family which settled in that part of the state spelling their names differently. The family coat of arms dates back to Adam de Welles, Baron, 1299. Joseph and Margaret Wells had twelve children, as follows: Isaac, John, Samuel, Ann, Hannah, James (grandfather), William, Susannah, Edmond, Jesse, Joseph and David.

John Wells (great-great-grandfather) was the progenitor of the Pennsylvania branch of the Wells family. He was a native of Cornwall, England. He, with two brothers, came to America about 1730, landing at Philadelphia. One of the other brothers settled near Bustleton. In 1749 he purchased from Richard and John Penn land on the Schuylkill, where Pottstown now stands. About 1735 John Wells married Susanna Morton, of Chester county. Her parents were natives of Ireland and members of the Society of Friends. The children of John and Susanna Wells were: John, Joseph, William, Edmund, Samuel, Elizabeth, Mary and Susanna.