ALBERT WELLS.
Albert Wells, son of Silas and Mary (Bowen) Wells, was born in Exeter, R. I., March 21, 1830. He attended the public schools of this place in his youth, also those in River Point and West Greenwich, R. I. His parents removing to Sterling, Conn., he attended school there, working a portion of the time in the Valentine mill in that town. His parents subsequently removed to Central Village, Plainfield, Conn., in 1847, and afterwards, in 1848, to Griswold, Conn., where he worked in Doane’s mill.
In 1849 Albert left home and went to Crompton to work in the machine shop in that place. In 1851 he married Almira O. Johnson, and subsequently went to West Greenwich where he worked on a farm, and afterwards engaged as a contractor for ship timber for Dexter Irons. In 1855 he took a contract for supplying ties for the Providence, Hartford and Fishkill Railroad Company. In 1857 he was a contractor for ship timber with the United States government.
Comrade Wells enlisted as a private in Battery H, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, Aug. 5, 1862, and served honorably with the battery until its muster out of service June 28, 1865.
Shortly after his return to Rhode Island he worked for a while in the Liberty factory in West Greenwich, R. I. In 1866 he built a small shingle mill in that place, and was afterwards engaged in furnishing wood supplies for woolen mills. In 1877 he built a large mill farther up the stream for the same purpose. In 1882 he removed to Providence, R. I., and was employed in the Rhode Island Locomotive Works, remaining there until 1889, when he engaged in the carriage business for himself for one year, and then went to work in the repair shop of the Union Railroad Company, where he has remained until the present time (1894).
Comrade Wells is a member of Prescott Post, No. 1, of Providence, and is also connected with Battery H Veteran Association.