Wells, Absalom

Absalom Wells was born in Tyler County, West Virginia, on August 29, 1862, to parents Benjamin Wells and Jerusha Headley. His father, a Civil War veteran and Ohio River steamboat man, brought the family to California in 1880, inspired in part by an uncle, Caleb Wells, who had earlier crossed the plains to become a large wheat rancher in Solano County. Absalom arrived in Fresno County prior to the construction of major local railway lines through Parlier, Sanger, and Reedley.

In California, Absalom gained early agricultural experience working as a fireman on a portable steam engine with a threshing outfit. Alongside his younger brother, Gilbert C. Wells, he went on to co-own and manage a highly improved fifty-three-and-one-quarter-acre ranch located southeast of Del Rey. A bachelor and lifelong Republican, he endured the early privations of pioneer farming to build a successful agricultural life, earning high respect as an industrious and intelligent businessman within his Fresno County community.