Wells, Hon. F. E.

Hon. F. E. Wells was born in Osceola, Iowa, on October 12, 1869, to Abraham Wells of Ohio and Mary Jane Ray of Michigan. He grew up in Nebraska, attending local public schools and Hastings College before teaching for three years to assist his family following his father financial reverses. In 1891, he moved to California, teaching briefly in Butte County before purchasing and improving a thirty-acre ranch near Selma in Fresno County.

In 1892, Mr. Wells married Nannie Flint, with whom he raised three children named Lyal Logan, Alta, and Adna. He expanded his agricultural enterprises to include two valuable fruit ranches worth over fifty thousand dollars and relocated his family to Fowler in 1911. As chairman of the Board of Trustees and mayor of Fowler, he helped incorporate the city in 1909, established municipal water and sewer systems, and actively promoted civic growth, education, and temperance.