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Henry Wells
Henry Wells
Henry Wells
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Henry Wells (December 12, 1805 – December 10, 1878) was an American businessman important in the history of both the American Express Company and Wells Fargo & Company.[1] Wells worked as a freight agent before joining the express business. His companies, which were the predecessors of American Express and Wells Fargo, competed with the United States Post Office by carrying mail at less than the government rate. In higher education, Wells was the founder of Wells College in Aurora, New York.

Key Information

Life

[edit]

Henry Wells was born in 1805 in Thetford, Vermont, the son of Dorothea "Dorothy" (Randall) and Shipley Wells, a Presbyterian minister at what is now the First Presbyterian Church of Seneca Falls, New York who moved his family to central New York State in the westward migration of Yankees out of New England.[2] He was a member of the seventh generation of his family in America. His ancestor was an English immigrant Thomas Welles (1590–1659), who arrived in Massachusetts in 1635 and was the only man in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In this capacity, he transcribed the Fundamental Orders into the official colony records on 14 January 1638, OS, (24 January 1639, NS).[3]

As a child, Henry worked on a farm and attended school in Fayette. In 1822, he was apprenticed to Jessup & Palmer, tanners and shoemakers at Palmyra, New York. In his adult life, he was also called as Henry "Stuttering" Wells and was known as a flamboyant character.[4]

Career

[edit]

In 1836, Wells became a freight agent on the Erie Canal[5] and soon started his own business. Later he worked for Harnden's Express in Albany.[4] His entry into the express business launched a series of events that eventually led to the establishment of the American Express Company.[4] When Wells suggested that service could be expanded west of Buffalo, New York, William F. Harnden urged Wells to go into business on his own account.[6] In 1841, the firm of Pomeroy & Company was formed by George E. Pomeroy, Henry Wells and Crawford Livingston. In the express business they competed with the United States Post Office by carrying mail at less than the government rate.[7] Popular support, roused by the example of the penny post in England, was on the side of the expressmen, and the government was compelled to reduce its rates in 1845[8] and again in 1851.[9]

Pomeroy & Company was succeeded in 1844 by Livingston, Wells & Company, composed of Crawford Livingston, Henry Wells, William Fargo and Thaddeus Pomeroy.[9] On April 1, 1845, Wells & Company's Western Express – generally known simply as Western Express because it was the first such company west of Buffalo – was established by Wells, Fargo and Daniel Dunning.[7] Service was offered at first as far as Detroit, rapidly expanding to Chicago, St. Louis, and Cincinnati.[8][10]

In 1846, Wells sold his interest in Western Express to William Livingston, whereupon the firm became Livingston, Fargo & Company. Wells then went to New York City to work for Livingston, Wells & Company, concentrating on the promising transatlantic express business. When Crawford Livingston died in 1847, another of his brothers entered the firm, which became Wells & Company. (However, Livingston, Wells & Company continued to operate under that firm name in England, France and Germany.)[11]

American Express and Wells Fargo

[edit]
Share of the American Express Company, issued 13. October 1865; signed by William G. Fargo as Secretary and Henry Wells as President

Early in 1850, Wells formed Wells, Butterfield & Company with John Butterfield as the successor of Butterfield & Wasson. The same year the American Express Company was formed as a consolidation of Wells & Company; Livingston, Fargo & Company; and Wells, Butterfield & Company.[12] Wells was president of American Express from 1850 to 1868.[5] About the time the company was formed, he relocated in Aurora, New York, which remained his home for the rest of his life.[8] There he built a grand residence, called Glen Park. It was designed by noted architect A.J. Davis, with grounds by Andrew Jackson Downing, another notable architect. The property later became part of Wells College, which Wells founded.[5]

When John Butterfield and other directors of American Express objected to extending the company's service to California, Wells organized Wells, Fargo & Company on March 18, 1852, to undertake the venture. Edwin B. Morgan of Aurora was the company's first president, and Wells, William Fargo, Johnston Livingston and James McKay were on the boards of both Wells Fargo and American Express.[13]

In September 1853, Wells Fargo & Company acquired Livingston, Wells & Company, which had been its express and banking correspondent in England, France and Germany. By the spring of 1854, some of the directors of Wells Fargo had become convinced that the purchase had been brought about through unspecified misrepresentations by Wells, Johnston Livingston, William N. Babbitt and S. De Witt Bloodgood. Wells and his associates made good any losses to Wells Fargo, and Livingston, Wells & Company wound up its affairs when its Paris office was closed in October 1856.[14]

Wells was president in 1855 of the New Granada Canal & Steam Navigation Company.[15] In Aurora he was president of the First National Bank of Aurora and in 1867 also the first president of the Cayuga Lake Railroad.[10]

Later endeavors

[edit]

Wells retired from the board of Wells Fargo in 1867. He also retired as president of American Express in 1868 when it was merged with the Merchants Union Express Company under the presidency of William Fargo. Also in 1868, Wells founded Wells College in Aurora with an endowment to make it one of the first women's colleges in the United States.[8][16]

One of Wells' last ventures was the Arizona & New Mexico Express Company, of which he was president in 1876.[17]

Personal life

[edit]

On September 5, 1827, Wells married Sarah Caroline Daggett (1803–1859), the daughter of Levi Daggett (1768–1835) and a descendant of the Doggett colonial settlers. They had four children:[18]

  • Charles Henry Wells (1828–1891), who married Louisa Burnham (1832–1905)
  • Mary Elizabeth Wells (1830–1884), who married James H. Welles (1819–1873)
  • Oscar A. Wells (1833–1909)[19]
  • Edward Wells

After his first wife's death on October 13, 1859, in Albany, New York, he married Mary Prentice of Boston in 1861.[5]

Wells died in Glasgow, Scotland, on December 10, 1878, two days short of his 73rd birthday.[16] He was brought home for burial in Aurora and was buried at Oak Glen Cemetery in Aurora.[8][10] His body was transported back to the United States aboard the steam-ship Ethiopia.[20] His funeral was held at his home in Aurora.[21]

See also

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References

[edit]

Additional sources

[edit]
  • Loomis, Noel M. (1968). Wells Fargo. New York: Clarkson N. Potter.
  • Malone, Dumas, ed. (1936). Dictionary of American Biography. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
  • Norton, Frederick Calvin The governors of Connecticut: biographies of the chief executives of the commonwealth that gave to the world the first written constitution known to history, Publisher Connecticut Magazine Co., 1905.
  • Siemiatkoski, Donna Holt (1990). The Descendants of Governor Thomas Welles of Connecticut, 1590–1658, and His Wife, Alice Tomes. Baltimore: Gateway Press.
[edit]
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Henry Wells

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Henry Wells (December 12, 1805 – December 10, 1878) was an American expressman and financier renowned for co-founding the American Express Company in 1850 and Wells, Fargo & Company in 1852, enterprises that transformed the transportation of goods, currency, and valuables across the expanding United States. Born in Thetford, Vermont, to a family of modest means, Wells apprenticed as a tanner and shoemaker before entering the express business as an agent for William Harnden's pioneering firm in 1841, where he gained expertise in rapid delivery amid the challenges of early rail and canal networks. By consolidating regional operations with partners including William G. Fargo and John Butterfield, he established American Express as a joint-stock company that prioritized speed, reliability, and customer trust, quickly achieving profitability and extending services westward to support commerce during the California Gold Rush. Wells, Fargo & Company extended these innovations to the Pacific Coast, offering express, banking, and stagecoach services that proved essential for miners, merchants, and settlers. Later in life, Wells endowed Wells College in Aurora, New York, in 1868, creating one of the nation's earliest institutions of higher education for women and reflecting his commitment to broader societal advancement. He died two days before his 73rd birthday while traveling in Glasgow, Scotland, and was interred in Aurora.

Early Life

Birth and Upbringing

Henry Wells was born on December 12, 1805, in , a rural town in , to Shipley Wells, a Presbyterian minister, and "Dorothy" Randall Wells. The Wells family resided in the isolated hill country of , where agrarian life demanded amid limited and harsh seasonal conditions typical of the early 1800s. As the seventh of nine children, Wells experienced a modest upbringing influenced by his father's clerical duties, which involved itinerant preaching and in a region marked by sparse population and nascent economic activity centered on farming and local . Formal education was rudimentary, reflecting the era's priorities in frontier-adjacent , where families emphasized practical skills over scholarly pursuits to navigate scarce opportunities. Around age eight, the family migrated southward to central New York State, settling in areas such as Seneca Falls, part of the broader westward push fueled by land availability and the impending Erie Canal development that promised enhanced connectivity and commerce. This relocation immersed young Wells in a dynamic environment of expanding settlements, where exposure to rudimentary trade routes and entrepreneurial stirrings began to form amid the economic ambitions driving American internal migration.

Initial Career Steps

Henry Wells commenced his professional life in New York with entry-level positions as a messenger and clerk in transportation and commerce, accumulating practical knowledge in freight handling and logistics. By 1841, he had joined William F. Harnden's pioneering express company as an agent in , managing mail transport and gaining firsthand experience in ensuring timely and secure delivery amid rudimentary infrastructure. These roles exposed Wells to the limitations of the , including protracted delivery times, exorbitant fees for valuables—often 25 cents per letter—and frequent losses due to or mishandling on stagecoaches and steamboats. Such deficiencies highlighted market openings for private alternatives emphasizing speed, security, and lower costs, prompting Wells to identify the potential for specialized express operations beyond government monopolies. In 1843, Wells launched Wells & Company as an autonomous express service, initially servicing routes from to Buffalo and extending westward to —the first such firm to push beyond Buffalo. The venture prioritized the safe conveyance of specie, documents, and parcels, fostering a reputation for reliability in an era rife with and unreliable carriers, thereby laying the groundwork for his subsequent innovations in the field.

Business Career

Entry into the Express Industry

In the 1840s, private express companies emerged to compensate for the U.S. Post Office's deficiencies in handling secure, rapid transport of currency, valuables, and urgent documents, as postal service was hampered by high rates—often 20 cents for letters over 150 miles—and inconsistent delivery times that could extend into months amid growing mail volume. These firms innovated by treating letters as enclosed packages to evade postal monopoly laws, introducing prepaid postage, uniform weights, and direct delivery, thereby capturing up to half of letter traffic in major markets through superior reliability. Henry Wells entered the express sector in 1841, recruited by William Harnden—founder of the inaugural firm in 1839—to address expanding delivery demands, starting as Harnden's agent in , where he managed routes leveraging emerging rail and steamboat networks. That same year, Pomeroy & Co. began operations with daily service between Albany and Buffalo. Wells pushed for westward extension beyond established East Coast lines, proposing services to the , but Harnden declined, prompting Wells to pursue independent ventures that capitalized on untapped regional gaps left by federal service limitations. By 1843, private letter express services were introduced, undercutting government postage rates at 6 cents per letter compared to the official 25 cents, further driving adoption among merchants. In 1844, Wells co-founded Livingston, Wells & Pomeroy, succeeding Pomeroy & Company and incorporating partners like Crawford Livingston (who died in 1847), Thaddeus Pomeroy (with George Pomeroy in an initial role), and William G. Fargo (serving as manager and secretary), whose financial oversight complemented Wells' emphasis on logistical execution and route optimization; Wells himself became president of the firm. This collaboration enabled swift service rollout from New York to Buffalo and onward to and , with 1845 seeing western expansion that consolidated routes from Albany-Buffalo to , , and , as well as from New York to Buffalo for letters. Prioritizing armed messengers, locked pouches, and scheduled departures ensured security and punctuality for specie shipments and commercial papers, fostering trust among merchants underserved by slower public options; practices included rail payments of approximately $100 per day and bank exchanges at 1–3% commissions. The firm's model demonstrated private operators' capacity to scale efficiently without subsidies, handling increasing volumes of high-value freight amid the era's economic expansion.

Founding American Express

American Express was established on March 18, 1850, as a joint-stock corporation through the merger of three rival express firms operating in New York State: Wells & Company, led by Henry Wells; Livingston, Fargo & Company, led by William G. Fargo; and the express operation of John W. Butterfield, a co-founder. The consolidation occurred in Buffalo, New York, with Wells appointed as the inaugural president and Fargo as secretary, reflecting their prior experience in the nascent express industry. This merger represented a pragmatic among competitors to amass greater resources and operational scale, enabling the provision of consolidated express services for packages, valuables, currency, and freight via emerging rail and networks. Initial capitalization stood at $150,000, which supported expanded coverage and infrastructure investments amid the ' industrial expansion and increasing demand for dependable overland transport alternatives to fragmented or insecure public options like stagecoaches. By combining routes primarily between , Buffalo, and intermediate points—including extensions to Cincinnati, St. Louis, and Chicago—the company aimed to streamline logistics and reduce redundancies, thereby enhancing efficiency in commercial distribution during a time of economic acceleration driven by infrastructure development. From inception, prioritized operational reliability to differentiate from less secure carriers, employing trusted messengers and offering assurances against loss or theft—features that fostered a reputation for trustworthiness in handling high-value shipments. These practices addressed prevalent risks in mid-19th-century transport, where robbery and delays were common, thus supporting broader economic activity by enabling safer movement of goods essential to trade and manufacturing growth. The firm's early success stemmed from this focus on secure, punctual delivery within its core eastern corridors, laying the groundwork for scaled express services without immediate westward ventures, though extension to California followed in 1852.

Establishment of Wells Fargo

On March 18, 1852, Henry Wells and William G. Fargo, leveraging their prior success in founding , established Wells, Fargo & Company in alongside investors including Johnston Livingston. The company aimed to extend express services westward to , capitalizing on the California Rush's demand for secure transport of gold dust, freight, and mail to and northern mining camps, where federal postal and banking systems proved unreliable amid the post-1848 influx of prospectors. Initial services encompassed express delivery of valuables via overland contracts and sea routes, with the first shipments of and goods departing the East Coast in July 1852. Wells, Fargo & Company also offered rudimentary banking functions, such as drafts and secure payment tools, filling voids left by underdeveloped and banditry risks on transcontinental paths. This private initiative prioritized reliability over government alternatives, routing shipments through independent carriers to navigate the era's logistical barriers. Wells and Fargo adopted a hands-on , directly supervising early operations to build customer trust through consistent delivery and measures, which enabled quick profitability by addressing miners' needs for verifiable, low-risk transactions in a high-stakes environment.

Expansion and Operational Challenges

Following the establishment of & Co. in , the firm rapidly expanded its operations across and the western territories, acquiring control of rival express companies such as the in 1860 to consolidate staging routes from the Midwest to the . This growth included extending overland stage lines that spanned thousands of miles, facilitating the transport of gold dust, freight, and mail to support the ongoing amid the Rush's later phases. By the late , the company had integrated express services with banking, enabling secure specie shipments from remote camps to urban centers like . A key aspect of this expansion involved ties to the , where Wells Fargo operated the western segment of mail delivery from Sacramento to destinations between April 1860 and October 1861, handling franked under arrangements with Central Overland and Pony Express operators. This service delivered critical communications, including news of the 1860 , over 1,900 miles in roughly ten days, though it operated at a financial loss subsidized by broader government mail contracts. The firm's network grew to include international extensions, such as offices in (1852) and (1867), but domestic overland routes remained central to scaling shipment volumes of valuables amid booming mineral extraction. Operational challenges intensified due to pervasive along and wagon routes, where robbers targeted gold-laden shipments, necessitating the hiring of armed messengers—often called "shotgun guards"—to protect coaches with firearms and deter attacks. The (1861–1865) further disrupted eastern overland connections, as southern routes like the former Butterfield line faced secessionist threats and Union blockades, forcing rerouting northward through hostile territories prone to Native American raids and supply shortages. In response, diversified into fortified banking agencies and ironclad safes for local storage, reducing reliance on long-haul transport while maintaining service continuity through adaptive contracting with military escorts where feasible. These hurdles highlighted trade-offs in the firm's model: while high insurance and fees drew rival accusations of monopolistic , the efficacy of protections and route expansions demonstrably integrated western economies by enabling miners to remit securely—fueling booms in places like the —and sustaining frontier commerce without equivalent losses to competitors. Contemporary accounts note occasional shipment losses to theft, yet the overall system's reliability supported capital flows exceeding millions in annual value, underscoring causal links between secure express services and .

Later Ventures and Leadership Roles

In 1867, Henry Wells retired from the board of directors of , marking his gradual disengagement from daily operational oversight in the express and banking firm he had co-founded fifteen years earlier. The subsequent year, 1868, saw Wells resign as president of amid its merger with the Merchants Union Express Company, a consolidation that expanded the firm's national footprint and led to William G. Fargo assuming the presidency. This transition reflected Wells's strategic pivot from executive leadership to advisory influence, preserving institutional stability through his foundational contributions rather than continued hands-on management. Post-resignation, Wells channeled resources into philanthropic initiatives aligned with his long-held interest in education, founding the Wells Seminary—later renamed —in Aurora, New York, in 1868 with an endowment supporting women's higher education. As a founding director and initial president of the board, he allocated capital to construct facilities and recruit faculty, establishing the institution as one of the earliest U.S. colleges dedicated exclusively to female students. These efforts underscored a legacy-oriented phase, emphasizing and institutional endowment over new commercial startups, while he maintained peripheral involvement in business networks without assuming formal directorships in emerging sectors like or railroads, where his earlier participations had already concluded by the . By the early 1870s, advancing age and health issues prompted further withdrawal from public roles, though Wells retained informal oversight ties to his prior enterprises until his death in 1878. His decisions facilitated smooth leadership handovers, contributing to the enduring operational resilience of and amid post-Civil War economic shifts.

Personal Life

Marriages and Family

Henry Wells married Sarah Caroline Daggett on September 5, 1827; she was born in 1803 and died on October 13, 1859, in Albany, New York. The couple resided primarily in New York during Wells's early express business endeavors, where Daggett provided domestic stability amid his frequent travels and financial risks in the nascent industry. They had four children: Charles Henry Wells (born 1828, died 1891), Mary Elizabeth Wells (born 1830, died 1884), Oscar A. Wells (born 1833, died 1909), and Edward Wells. None of the children assumed leadership roles in Wells's enterprises, reflecting the absence of familial dynastic involvement in his self-made ventures. Following Daggett's death, Wells married Mary Prentice, daughter of Dr. Henry Prentice, in 1861; she was born in 1829 and outlived him, dying in 1908. Historical records indicate no children from this union, and Prentice maintained a low public profile, offering personal companionship during Wells's later years of semi-retirement and rather than active business partnership. The family's limited visibility in corporate succession underscores Wells's reliance on merit-based associates over hereditary ties.

Residences and Personal Interests

Henry Wells maintained his primary residence in New York City during the peak of his express business career, serving as a central hub for managing American Express and related enterprises. A documented property was the Greek Revival townhouse at 158 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, which he owned and which reflected the era's urban professional living arrangements without notable ostentation. While Wells traveled extensively for business oversight, including visits to California following the 1852 founding of to monitor Gold Rush-era operations, these were temporary and did not involve establishing secondary residences tied to distant operations. His personal interests centered on the practical demands of industry expansion, prioritizing relentless effort in pioneering reliable freight and financial services over leisure pursuits. This dedication underscored a lifestyle oriented toward substantive contributions in transportation networks rather than personal extravagance or unrelated hobbies.

Death and Legacy

Final Years and Death

After retiring from his position as president of Wells Fargo in 1867 following John Butterfield's incapacitation by stroke, Henry Wells largely withdrew from day-to-day business operations but maintained some oversight roles in affiliated enterprises. In 1878, at age 72, he undertook an extensive trip to , including a visit to . Wells died on December 10, 1878, in , , two days before his 73rd birthday; the cause was not publicly detailed in contemporary records. His body was returned to the and interred at Oak Glen Cemetery in Ledyard, . The enterprises Wells co-founded, including and , experienced no significant operational interruptions following his death, as leadership had already transitioned to successors such as William G. Fargo and others during his later years.

Economic and Historical Impact

Henry Wells' founding of in 1850 and & Co. in 1852 established enduring financial institutions that became foundational to U.S. , outlasting numerous contemporary express firms amid the era's high failure rates for such ventures. initially consolidated rival express operations for secure transport of packages, currency, and valuables across New York and the Midwest, leveraging rail and networks to achieve unavailable to smaller operators. , formed specifically to serve the Rush's demands after declined westward expansion, integrated express delivery with banking services, handling gold shipments and financial transactions that supported miners and merchants without reliance on nascent . These firms' — evolving into a global payments leader and into one of the largest U.S. banks—contrasts with the dissolution of most Rush-era competitors, underscoring the viability of privately funded risk-taking in scaling operations during economic booms. Wells' innovations facilitated the integration of western markets into the national economy by providing reliable alternatives to the U.S. Postal Service, which lacked capacity for high-value, time-sensitive shipments during the 1849 Gold Rush migration of over 300,000 people. Wells Fargo's express services transported millions in gold dust and bullion securely via armed stages and ships, enabling capital flows that amplified trade volumes between California and the East Coast; for instance, the company processed gold exchanges and drafts that underpinned the rush's estimated $2 billion in output (in 19th-century dollars), fostering banking networks absent in frontier regions. This private initiative, undertaken without federal subsidies, addressed logistical voids left by slow government expansion, promoting causal chains of commerce where express reliability reduced risks and costs, thereby accelerating westward settlement and resource extraction. While some 19th-century critics, including agrarian populists, decried express companies' fees as extractive amid volatile economies, empirical evidenced voluntary : Wells Fargo's rapid market dominance, serving thousands of customers by , reflected efficiency gains over alternatives like personal couriers or unreliable , with no documented widespread boycotts or regulatory suppressions at the time. These operations' scale—expanding to overland contracts by 1857—multiplied economic activity by securing supply chains for and , contributing to California's statehood in 1850 and broader national growth without state monopolies distorting incentives. Wells' emphasis on guards and bonded agents minimized losses, yielding verifiable multipliers in velocity that state-led efforts could not match in the pre-telegraph era.

References

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