Owen Augustine WELLS, Congress, WI (1844-1935)

WELLS, Owen Augustine, a Representative from Wisconsin; born in Catskill, Greene County, N.Y., February 4, 1844; moved with his parents to a farm near Empire, Fond du Lac County, Wis., in 1850; attended public and private schools; studied law; was admitted to the bar in 1870 and commenced practice in Fond du Lac; also engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock raising; appointed by President Cleveland as collector of internal revenue for the third Wisconsin district in 1885, serving until 1887, when that district was consolidated with the Milwaukee district; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1888 and to the Gold Democratic National Convention in 1896, also to numerous State conventions of his party; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-third Congress (March 4, 1893-March 3, 1895); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1894 to the Fifty-fourth Congress; declined to accept any public office and resumed the practice of law in Fond du Lac; retired in 1901 and resided in Fond du Lac, Wis., until his death there on January 29, 1935; interment in Rienzi Cemetery.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present