HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes, Lewis
Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, 
Vol. III, pp. 1286-87.  [Harrison County]

JOSEPH E. WELLS, M.D.--Since 1896 has Dr. Joseph E. Wells been an active
practitioner in the medical profession at Cynthiana.  He has gained wide
recognition as a skilled physician and surgeon and stands in the front rank
in the medical fraternity in Harrison county, Kentucky.  Dr. Wells was born
at Mount Olivet, Nicholas county, now Robertson county, Kentucky, on the
25th of October, 1860.  He is a son of Dr. Riley and Elizabeth (Brown)
Wells, both of whom were likewise born in Nicholas county, the father
October 5, 1830, and the mother May 17, 1840.  Dr. and Mrs. Riley became
the parents of two children--Joseph E., the immediate subject of this
review; and Mary, widow of Richard Ridgley, of Mount Olivet, Kentucky. Dr.
Riley Wells was summoned to eternal rest on the 17th of April, 1901, and
his cherished and devoted wife, who still survives him, now maintains her
home at Mt. Olivet.
     William Wells, paternal grandfather of him whose name initiates this
review, was born in Pennsylvania, in 1800, and he died in the Blue Grass
state in 1872.  He married Miss Matilda Collins and they located on a farm
in Nicholas county, where they passed the residue of their lives and where
they reared a family.  Riley Wells was reared to the invigorating
discipline of the home farm and after completing the curriculum of the
public schools of Carlisle and Flemingsburg he attended an Academy in
Bracken county, Kentucky.  Thereafter he became interested in the medical
profession and was matriculated in the Eclectic Medical College, in the
city of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1858.  He initiated the active practice of his profession at Mount
Olivet and there gained high repute as a skilled physician and surgeon. In
his political convictions he endorsed the cause of the Republican party, in
the local councils of which he was an active factor, being a member of the
Republican County Committee.  He was pension examiner at one time and
during the war was offered a position as surgeon of a regiment; this he
refused, preferring to remain at home.  His sympathies were with the north.
He began life with practically nothing in the way of worldly goods but at
the time of his death he left an estate of some eight hundred acres of most
arable Blue Glass land.  He was president of the Mount Olivet National Bank
from the time of its establishment until his death.  He was a fine
financier, an able doctor and a public-spirited citizen and no one in
Robertson county was accorded a higher degree of popular confidence and
esteem than he.  The maternal grandfather of Dr. Joseph E. Wells, of this
review, was John Brown, a native of Tennessee, who came to Nicholas county,
Kentucky, as a young man: he was long a prominent farmer and stock-raiser
in that county.
     Dr. Joseph E. Wells was reared and educated at Mount Olivet, to whose
schools he is indebted for his preliminary educational training, later
supplementing the same with more advanced study in the University of
Kentucky, at Lexington. In 1878, however, he decided to follow the vocation
of his father and accordingly was matriculated in the Ohio Medical College,
at Cincinnati, in which well ordered institution he was graduated as a
member of the class of 1881, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Immediately after his graduation he returned to Mount Olivet, where he
became associated with his father in the practice of his profession.  In
May 1896, however, he severed his connections in that place and removed to
Cynthiana, where he enjoys a large and lucrative patronage and where he
stands at the head of his profession in this section of the state.  For
eight years after coming to Cynthiana he was a member of the firm of Givens
& Wells and for the ensuing eight years he was a member of the firm of
Givens, Wells & Moore.  In November, 1909, however, the partnership
alliance was dissolved and all three doctors began individual practice. In
connection with his life work Dr. Wells is a member of the Harrison County
Medical Society; the Kentucky State Medical Society, of which he is
president in 1911; the American Medical Association; the Mississippi
Valley Medical Society; the Southern Surgical Society; and the Kentucky
Midland Society.
     On the 15th of May, 1883, was recorded the marriage of Dr. Wells to
Miss Bessie R. Peckover, who was born at Nicholasville, Jessamine county,
this state, in 1864.  She is a daughter of Dr. E. J. and Jane (Ridgly)
Peckover, the former of whom was a well known dentist Cynthiana, Kentucky,
for a number of years.  Dr. and Mrs. Wells have one child--Bird Martin,
who is now the wife of Dr. C. R. Rice, of Augusta, Kentucky.
     Dr. Wells is the owner of considerable farming land in Robertson
county, Kentucky.  In politics he is a stalwart in the ranks of the
Republican party, in which he has been an influential factor in this
section of the state.  He has never aspired to public office or any order,
preferring to give his undivided attention to the exacting demands of his
profession.  In the grand old Masonic order he has passed through the
circle of York Rite masonry, holding membership in the lodge, chapter,
council and commandery, in the latter of which he is past eminent commander
of Cynthiana Commandery.  He is also affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias, in which he is past chancellor commander of Quinby Lodge, No. 58;
and he is a charter member of Lodge No. 438, Benevolent & Protective Order
of Elks.  He and his wife are zealous members of the Christian church, in
which he has long been a deacon.  Dr. Wells is a man of broad information
and great kindliness of spirit, a man whose life has ever been
characterized by good deeds and noble thoughts.  As a citizen he is sincere
and straightforward and is well deserving of the high regard in which he is
held in Harrison county.

Wells Brown Ridgley Collins Peckover Ridgly Rice
=
Mt._Olivet-Nicholas-KY Robertson-KY Flemingsburg-Fleming-KY
Lexington-Fayette-KY Augusta-Bracken-KY Nicholasville-Jessamine-KY
Bracken-KY Cincinnati-Hamilton-OH TN PA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/harrison/wells.je.txt