ELI WELLS

Sacramento County

Biographies

ELI WELLS

ELI WELLS, Brighton Township, was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee, October 25, 1833, son of James and Margaret (Williams) Wells; and when he was very young his father died, and afterward, when yet but six years of age, his mother also died. There were nine children in the family; Isaac, who died in Tennessee; Edward, who died in Alabama, and was buried in the same grave with his mother; Jackson, who died in Barry County, Missouri; Mrs. Elizabeth Reed, who died in California and was buried in Sacramento; Mrs. Nancy Stewart, who died in Texas; Malinda Cluck, who died in Alabama; Mrs. Mary Milton, who died in Barry County, Missouri; and Eli, the subject of this sketch, the youngest of the family. He was brought up by his oldest sister until he was able to take care of himself. He had no opportunity for education. The first free school he ever saw was after he came to California. From the age of fifteen years to eighteen he began to make his own way in the world. In 1844 he went to Missouri and resided in Barry County two years, then one year in Lawrence County and one year in Dade County. April 18, 1849, he joined a company of 300 men, women and children, with ox teams for the gold fields of California. After a journey of five months on the usual route they reached Grass Valley, and four days afterward Sacramento, and two days after that again they arrived at Hangtown for the winter quarters. In October Mr. Wells and another man named William Wells (from the same county but no relative) came to Sacramento with six yoke of oxen and a wagon, and obtained provisions for the winter, coming by way of the Darling ranch on the Cosumnes River, in order to get provender for the cattle. One night they camped on the bank where the Slough House now is, and the coyotes stole their provision sack which has been left out of the wagon and dragged it entirely away. This performance left the Wellses without anything to eat. The day they started from Placerville (Hangtown) it commenced to rain, and continued for ten days, the trip consuming fifteen days; and during that time they never had their boots off their feet; and for a whole day after the coyotes stole their provisions they had nothing whatever to eat; nor could they have found anything had they tried. The rain continued pouring. They could not sit on the wagons to drive, for they had oxen and immigrant cattle, the latter being so poor they would not travel without constant urging. The next night they encamped on the bank of the American River, about half a mile from the place where he now lives, and, going to an adobe house, to obtain food, succeeded in getting some bread and salt pork, which indeed was about all he had expected. The next day they reached Sacramento and purchased ten barrels of flour, at $75 a barrel, and some other articles. On the return journey to Hangtown they found the roads so bad that they had to halt until they dried up somewhat. It was still raining. After the rain ceased they took off the wagon box, put poles on the axles, roped the barrels upon them and proceeded. During the ensuing winter they mined at Placerville, when the weather would permit; it was a very rainy season. The price of vegetables and almost everything else eaten was $1 a pound, and very scarce at that. Beef was fifty to seventy-five cents a pound. In the spring of 1850 big stories of gold finds elsewhere caused a tremendous stampede from Hangtown. One night, in the big tent where gambling was in progress, fire was accidentally dropped into a keg of powder and the explosion killed five or six men and wounded others. Probably 200 men were in the tent at the time. Mr. Wells left that neighborhood June 10, and came to the valley, where he has remained till the present, excepting a short time in 1863 when he was in Carson Valley, Nevada. He was at Sacramento during the riot, and saw many exciting scenes here. In 1863 he commenced farming on his present place, which he had purchased in 1850, on the Placerville road nine miles from Sacramento. The farm has 110 acres. Grapes are his main crop, and alfalfa to a considerable extent. His vineyard embraces thirty-two acres, comprising Tokays and Mission grapes three and four years old and in good condition. The remainder of the farm is devoted to hay, barley, etc. In 1872 he put up his fine residence, and all the buildings on the premises he himself has erected. April 23, 1873, he was married to Mary E. Gore, who was born in Lexington, Kentucky, January 17, 1849, and who came to this State in April, 1870. They have three children, viz: Lewis J., born March 12, 1874; Charles E., born November 18, 1876; and Frank D., December 20, 1880. In early times, Mr. Wells was a Democrat, but since the beginning of the last war he has been a Republican.

Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.

Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 595-597. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.