Santa
Clara County
Biographies
GEORGE S. WELLS, B. S., A. B.
The superintendent of the public schools of San
Jose is an educator of ability and experience, and is well qualified to direct
the mental training of the youth whose mature years shall make an impress upon
this or some other community. In these days of discussion regarding the ways
and means of education, it is gratifying to meet a man with clearly defined
ideas upon the subject, who fearlessly pursues his way, nor stops to heed the
voices of dissension which would turn his steps in other directions. He believes
in an education which fits a boy to earn a living, creates a desire for more
education, implants high ideals, and lastly, teaches him how to spend his
leisure in a rational manner. His friends and the public are aware of the
rational, sane ideas of their city superintendent of schools, and are to be
congratulated upon his election to the office.
Prof. George S. Wells has an
advantage in birth, breeding, and early training, yet his education is of his
own getting, and is centered around a youth capable of
conserving its own best interests. He was born on a farm near Parkersburg, W.
Va., November 27, 1851, and was reared on the Ohio river, within sight of Blennerhassett’s Island, famed in history and story as the
scene of one of the chief episodes in the life of Aaron Burr. His family was
established in America about three hundred years ago, two brothers coming from
England and settling in Massachusetts and Baltimore, from which latter branch
is descended the educator of San Jose. His parents, Caleb and Elizabeth Wells,
were born in West Virginia, and both have long since died. Twelve children
played around the humble fireside on the Ohio, ten grew to maturity, and
besides George S., who is next to the youngest, three
others are living. All of the children attended the early subscription school
near the paternal farm, held in a log house, and sadly deficient in means of
imparting knowledge. Mr. Wells recalls but nine months at the free school in
his native neighborhood. Later he entered the Tuppers
Plains Academy in Meigs county,
Ohio, and at the age of nineteen taught school for one term, and then entered
the National Normal School at Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, graduating in the
class of 1873, with the degree of B. S.
Removing to Missouri, he taught a year
each in Ozark and Carroll counties, and after returning to West Virginia
entered the law office of Judge Okey Johnson, of
Parkersburg, in 1877 being admitted to the bar of the supreme court of West
Virginia. After a year of practice in Virginia he determined to come west, and
upon arriving, a stranger in the state in 1878, taught school in Solano county for five months, and then entered a law office in San
Jose for a year. Returning to Solano county he
practiced law for a year, but owing to impaired health went to Mariposa, Cal.,
where he regained his lost strength while teaching for a year. The following
two years found him installed as principal of the Mountainview
(sic) school, after which he taught in San Jose for a period of seventeen
years, being principal of the Lowell school for eight years. After two years of
service as clerk of the board of supervisors under county clerk S. W. Boring,
he was elected principal of the Washington school, holding the position for six
years, or until transferred to the principalship of
the Lincoln school for three years. Upon his election to the Washington school
he matriculated at the Stanford University and studied there on vacations and
Saturdays, and at the end of six years, in 1901, he had completed the course and
received the degree of A. B. His election to his present office as
superintendent of the public schools of San Jose took place June 30, 1904, and
he assumed the reins of office the following day. Mr. Wells is a member of the
State Teachers’ Association, and is president of the California Elementary
School Association. He is also a member of the School Master’s Club of San
Francisco, and is identified with a corresponding organization in San Jose.
By way of release from his strenuous
mental labors, Mr. Wells has interested himself in orcharding,
(sic) and he still owns ten of the twenty acres which he set out about twenty
years ago, and which is located two miles west of Santa Clara. He was married
in Dixon, Cal., to Emma S. Martin, born near Oberlin, Ohio and who is a
graduate of the high-school at Monroeville, Ohio. Two children have been born
to Mr. and Mrs. Wells: Hortense died in 1900, at the
age of fifteen, and Bernice died in 1888, at the age of five years. Mr. Wells
is fraternally connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. His wife
is a member of the Second Presbyterian Church. Mr. Wells is personally popular
with students and teachers, inspiring all with his earnestness, his sincerity,
and his ability to direct. He understands strikingly well the typical public
school student, he knows how to find him, how to win his confidence, and so how
to be a real use to him.
Transcribed By: Cecelia M. Setty.
Source: History of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast
Counties, California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Pages 1214-1215. The
Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2016 Cecelia M. Setty.