Sutter-Yuba County Biographies

WILLIAM S. WELLS

Transcribed by: Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
            Enjoying an enviable reputation for both proficiency and efficiency, 
William S. Wells, one of the most popular corporation representatives in Sutter 
County, finds life a dream in his varied activity and associations as the 
painstaking and accommodating agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad at Yuba 
City.  He hails from Iowa, the land of the Hawkeyes, and was born at Sheridan on 
July 5, 1866, the son of James and Ella (Danner) Wells, both worthy folk, and 
esteemed in their day and generation, the father having been deceased for a 
number of years, and the mother still living at Redding, Cal.
            Will Wells attended the schools of Jefferson County, Kans., to which 
State the family had removed when he was quite young; and at the age of eighteen 
he started in railroad work.  He commenced by learning telegraphy in the Kansas 
City School of Telegraphy, and in time filled various positions, even to the 
superintendency of the Oklahoma Central Railroad, now a part of the Santa Fe 
system.  He came into California in 1909 and began with the Southern Pacific at 
Sacramento.  When, therefore, he moved over into Yuba City, in 1910, as the 
Southern Pacific agent, he may be said to have known the railroad game pretty 
well.
            Since locating here in 1910, Mr. Wells has witnessed a wonderful 
development of the natural resources of the community and has done his share 
towards that end.  In politics he is a Republican, but assumes a non-partisan 
attitude in local affairs.
            Mr. Wells was first married to Isadora Taylor, a native of Kansas, 
who passed on leaving three children: Carlos and Dean, both residents of Topeka, 
Kans., the former a statistician for the Santa Fe Railroad, and the latter in 
the engineering department of the same road; and Nellie, now Mrs. Buchanan, of 
Marysville.  His second marriage took place in San Francisco, and united him 
with Mrs. Ida B. (Walls) Merrill, born in Milwaukee, Wis., a daughter of Thomas 
and Anna Walls.  She married Frederick August Merrill, a prominent railroad man, 
who was superintendent of the division on the Great Northern between St. Paul 
and West Superior.  He died leaving a child, Flora B., now Mrs. Harry Cauthard, 
of Oroville.  Mrs. Merrill brought her daughter to California in 1900, making 
her home in Belvedere and in San Francisco until her second marriage.  Mr. Wells 
is a Knight Templar and a thirty-second-degree Scottish Rite Mason, and is a 
member of India Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine in Oklahoma City; and with 
his wife he is a member of Fidelia Chapter No. 56, O.E.S., of Yuba City.  He is 
fond of outdoor life, especially of hunting.
 
History of Yuba and Sutter Counties, Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, 1924
p. 1286-1287