Individual Details
Joseph Henry Wells
(14 Feb 1838 - 2 May 1911)
Joined the Union Army in Owensboro, Kentucky on September 20, 1861 as a private in Co. I, 3rd Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry. Was honorably discharged in Nashville, Tennessee on January 25, 1864.
Regimental History
The 3rd Kentucky Cavalry was raised in September of 1861 at the call of James S. Jackson, a unionist from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The men came principally from the counties of the Green river region and Christian county. The 3rd Cavalry was quickly in action with fledgling Confederate cavalry also being formed in that part of the state. In October they were engaged at Woodbury and Brownsville, Kentucky. On December 31st, 1861 the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry was mustered in the service of the United States at Calhoun, Kentucky. Three days prior to mustering in, a part of the 3rd Cavalry under command of eighteen year old Maj E. H. Murray and consisting of 168 men, was attacked while on a scout by Confederate forces under Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest who outnumbered him almost two to one. The fight was fierce and Murray, badly outnumbered, suffered casualties. Capt. Bacon was killed and Capt. Davis captured. In addition, eight troopers were killed and many wounded. Forrest also lost a Capt. Meriwether, three troopers killed and several wounded which he took to Hopkinsville. Youn Murray's conduct received the praise of General Crittenden. The regiment remained in Western Kentucky during the winter fighting Confederate raiders from Hopkinsville and other points.
The 3rd advanced into Tennessee along with the rest of the Union army and proceeded to Nashville. It accompanied Buell to Pittsburg Landing and participated in the second day's fighting at the Battle of Shiloh. Afterward, the 3rd continued in Crittenden's division, Buell's army, in the movements on Corinth and Iuka, Mississippi. Jackson was raised to command of Buell's entire cavalry force and promoted to brigadier general. When Buell returned to Kentucky in response to Confederate General Bragg's movement into the border state, the 3rd Cavlary went as well, to the Battle of Perryville. On their way there, the 3rd helped to envelope and capture the 3rd Georgia Cavalry Regiment at New Haven, Kentucky. It was at Perryville that their former commander, Brigadier General James S. Jackson was killed. After Perryville the 3rd moved south to Nashville and became a part of General Rosecran's army. In December of 1862 the 3rd was in severe combat at Franklin and again at Wildcat creek in Tennessee. In the Battle of Stone's River the 3rd gave a good account of itself. By this time, young Murray had been advanced to full colonel of the regiment. A dispatch from the fight at Murfreesboro mentioned Murray stating: "Col. Murray, with a handful of men, performed service that would do honor to a full regiment." The 3rd Cavalry, with other Kentucky regiments, was sent back to Kentucky for refitting. While there, the 3rd was stationed at Hopkinsville and Russellville, engaging Confederate partisans throughout the winter. Later in the spring, a battalion of the 3rd, under command of Maj. Lewis Wolfley, participated in the capture of Col. John Hunt Morgan, the famous rebel raider. In December of 1863 the 3rd played an important part in driving Forrest from West Tennessee. The 3rd then took part in the Atlanta campaign, riding completly around the city and the rebel army. After the surrender of that city to Major General William Thomas Ward, a fellow Kentuckian and division commander under Sherman, the 3rd fought skirmishes almost without number with General John Bell Hood's army all during the month of October 1864. They then prepared to march to the sea with Sherman. On this famous campaign the 3rd fought battles at Blackville, S.C., Lancaster, Taylor's Crossroads, and Fayetteville. In North Carolina they were engaged at Mount Olive. In April of 1865 near Lexington, N.C. the 3rd was mustered out of service, the officers and men having proved themselves everywhere worthy of their first brilliant and heroic leader, James S. Jackson.
copied from http://home.okstate.edu/homepages.nsf/toc/3rdCav.htm
Joseph Henry Wells' Family
Fortunately Joseph Wells is the only one of the name in western Kentucky for several censuses, and can still be followed. We find "Joseph Wells" in the 1870 Census of Hardin Co., Kentucky in the Wallingford Precinct, Sonora Post Office (census page 417, dwelling 173 and family 154, 21 June 1870) age 32, (so born 1838) living with wife Laura A., 26 (1844) and born in Kentucky, and their sons Abraham L., 4, and William G., 2. Joseph "works on farm" and Laura A. "keeps house". We know from Skaggs family records that she is the daughter of Abraham Davis Skaggs and wife Mary H. Graham, and from Mr. Burl St. Clair, author of many books on the marriage and cemetery records of Grayson County, that the Skaggs were "long hunters", men who left their Virginia homes to hunt in Kentucky for more than a year at a time in pre-Revolutionary colonial America.
In 1880 we find Joseph and Laura in Breckenridge Co., Kentucky (Vol. 4, Enumeration Dist. 29, sheet 4 line 10, dwelling and family #22, in the Planter’s Hall District on 5 June1880). Joseph H. Wells is white, male, “50” (born 1838, actually 42) unemployed is simply checked with no explanation, born Kentucky, father and mother each born Kentucky. Laura is a 48 year old white female (1832), keeping house, born in Kentucky as were both her parents. Their son Abraham L., white, male, is 14, (b. 1866) single, farm hand, cannot read, cannot write, has been four months unemployed, was born in Kentucky as were both parents. The second son, Jarrett (in 1920 “Garrett”), white, male, is now 12 (born 1867/8), farm hand, five months unemployed, also cannot read or write [mistake, as he became a schoolteacher and judge], and again lists Kentucky-Kentucky-Kentucky for his and parents’ birthplaces. The daughter Mary Alley [Olive], age 10 (born 1869/70), is in school, can read and write, Kentucky-Kentucky-Kentucky as birthplaces. Son [James] Thomas is “8” (actually born 1875), in school, can read and write, Kentucky-Kentucky-Kentucky as birthplaces. (A son, not named except as an “Infant” of J. H. and L.A. Wells, was born July 5, 1873 and died Aug. 19, 1874, and was buried in the plot of Vardeman Wells, Joseph H. Wells’ brother, in Mt. Moriah Cemetery near Clarkson, Grayson Co., Kentucky. His birth would have filled the “space” between Mary Olive and Thomas.) Last in the 1880 family is daughter Lucy Glenn, 3, (born 1876/7), also in Kentucky, as were both her parents.
In 1890, when “Abraham L.” would have been 24, most of the U. S. Census was burned, unfortunately. Neither he nor his father Joseph H., by then 52, are named in the fragments that survive.
By 1900 we find Joseph Wells in Breckenridge Co., Kentucky, Vol. 7, E.D.13, sheet 7, line 68. He is correctly given as 62 years old, born in March 1838, and his second wife, Lucretia C. [Skaggs, sister of Joseph’s first wife, Laura, and also of his brother Vardeman’s wife, Kessiah E. Skaggs], was born Jan. 1841, also in Kentucky, so is age 59. With them is a son, James T. Wells, age 24, born June 1875, not listed correctly in 1880.
Abraham L. Wells is found in 1900 in Vol. 26, Enumeration District 20, sheet 16 Line 32 in Grayson Co., Kentucky, in District 1, Leitchfield (town). He is white, was born in May, 1866 in Kentucky, and his wife Lucy is listed as born Sept. 1872, so 27 years old, born Kentucky. Their son Ben L., born in April 1900, Kentucky, is “6/12ths.”
By 1910, Abraham L. Wells is found in Grayson County, Kentucky, Clarkson Precinct, Enumeration District 24, page 10A, dwelling 66, enumerated on 26 April 1910. (In this county and census we find his cousins David S. and Peter B. Wells, sons of his uncle Alanson O. Wells, and his uncle Vardeman Wells, now 67, also living with their families.) We find Abraham is now ”43”, is in the 13th year of his first marriage (married 1897), he and both parents were born in Kentucky, he is marked “10” (years?) under “owner or worker on his own account”, is English speaking, and owns his farm/home free and clear.
Lucy W. Wells is white, female, age 37 (that is born 1872/3), thirteen years into her first marriage, speaks English, is a teacher in public school, has followed this occupation for 9 years. Nothing is stated concerning the number of children ever born to this mother. Their son Ben L. is 10, single, speaks English, and like his parents, can read and write.
In 1920, the latest census to be released, we find Lucy Wells still in Grayson County, in Leitchfield (Page 49, sheet 11A, enumerated 12 January 1920). Hers is dwelling and family #145 and she is a “Roomer”, age 48, a widow, able to read and write, she and both parents were born in Kentucky and all spoke English. She teaches in a rural school. Ben is not found in the county, and the 1920 Soundex was not available to us to search other Kentucky counties for him.
Researched and written by Marybelle Wells
Regimental History
The 3rd Kentucky Cavalry was raised in September of 1861 at the call of James S. Jackson, a unionist from Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The men came principally from the counties of the Green river region and Christian county. The 3rd Cavalry was quickly in action with fledgling Confederate cavalry also being formed in that part of the state. In October they were engaged at Woodbury and Brownsville, Kentucky. On December 31st, 1861 the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry was mustered in the service of the United States at Calhoun, Kentucky. Three days prior to mustering in, a part of the 3rd Cavalry under command of eighteen year old Maj E. H. Murray and consisting of 168 men, was attacked while on a scout by Confederate forces under Col. Nathan Bedford Forrest who outnumbered him almost two to one. The fight was fierce and Murray, badly outnumbered, suffered casualties. Capt. Bacon was killed and Capt. Davis captured. In addition, eight troopers were killed and many wounded. Forrest also lost a Capt. Meriwether, three troopers killed and several wounded which he took to Hopkinsville. Youn Murray's conduct received the praise of General Crittenden. The regiment remained in Western Kentucky during the winter fighting Confederate raiders from Hopkinsville and other points.
The 3rd advanced into Tennessee along with the rest of the Union army and proceeded to Nashville. It accompanied Buell to Pittsburg Landing and participated in the second day's fighting at the Battle of Shiloh. Afterward, the 3rd continued in Crittenden's division, Buell's army, in the movements on Corinth and Iuka, Mississippi. Jackson was raised to command of Buell's entire cavalry force and promoted to brigadier general. When Buell returned to Kentucky in response to Confederate General Bragg's movement into the border state, the 3rd Cavlary went as well, to the Battle of Perryville. On their way there, the 3rd helped to envelope and capture the 3rd Georgia Cavalry Regiment at New Haven, Kentucky. It was at Perryville that their former commander, Brigadier General James S. Jackson was killed. After Perryville the 3rd moved south to Nashville and became a part of General Rosecran's army. In December of 1862 the 3rd was in severe combat at Franklin and again at Wildcat creek in Tennessee. In the Battle of Stone's River the 3rd gave a good account of itself. By this time, young Murray had been advanced to full colonel of the regiment. A dispatch from the fight at Murfreesboro mentioned Murray stating: "Col. Murray, with a handful of men, performed service that would do honor to a full regiment." The 3rd Cavalry, with other Kentucky regiments, was sent back to Kentucky for refitting. While there, the 3rd was stationed at Hopkinsville and Russellville, engaging Confederate partisans throughout the winter. Later in the spring, a battalion of the 3rd, under command of Maj. Lewis Wolfley, participated in the capture of Col. John Hunt Morgan, the famous rebel raider. In December of 1863 the 3rd played an important part in driving Forrest from West Tennessee. The 3rd then took part in the Atlanta campaign, riding completly around the city and the rebel army. After the surrender of that city to Major General William Thomas Ward, a fellow Kentuckian and division commander under Sherman, the 3rd fought skirmishes almost without number with General John Bell Hood's army all during the month of October 1864. They then prepared to march to the sea with Sherman. On this famous campaign the 3rd fought battles at Blackville, S.C., Lancaster, Taylor's Crossroads, and Fayetteville. In North Carolina they were engaged at Mount Olive. In April of 1865 near Lexington, N.C. the 3rd was mustered out of service, the officers and men having proved themselves everywhere worthy of their first brilliant and heroic leader, James S. Jackson.
copied from http://home.okstate.edu/homepages.nsf/toc/3rdCav.htm
Joseph Henry Wells' Family
Fortunately Joseph Wells is the only one of the name in western Kentucky for several censuses, and can still be followed. We find "Joseph Wells" in the 1870 Census of Hardin Co., Kentucky in the Wallingford Precinct, Sonora Post Office (census page 417, dwelling 173 and family 154, 21 June 1870) age 32, (so born 1838) living with wife Laura A., 26 (1844) and born in Kentucky, and their sons Abraham L., 4, and William G., 2. Joseph "works on farm" and Laura A. "keeps house". We know from Skaggs family records that she is the daughter of Abraham Davis Skaggs and wife Mary H. Graham, and from Mr. Burl St. Clair, author of many books on the marriage and cemetery records of Grayson County, that the Skaggs were "long hunters", men who left their Virginia homes to hunt in Kentucky for more than a year at a time in pre-Revolutionary colonial America.
In 1880 we find Joseph and Laura in Breckenridge Co., Kentucky (Vol. 4, Enumeration Dist. 29, sheet 4 line 10, dwelling and family #22, in the Planter’s Hall District on 5 June1880). Joseph H. Wells is white, male, “50” (born 1838, actually 42) unemployed is simply checked with no explanation, born Kentucky, father and mother each born Kentucky. Laura is a 48 year old white female (1832), keeping house, born in Kentucky as were both her parents. Their son Abraham L., white, male, is 14, (b. 1866) single, farm hand, cannot read, cannot write, has been four months unemployed, was born in Kentucky as were both parents. The second son, Jarrett (in 1920 “Garrett”), white, male, is now 12 (born 1867/8), farm hand, five months unemployed, also cannot read or write [mistake, as he became a schoolteacher and judge], and again lists Kentucky-Kentucky-Kentucky for his and parents’ birthplaces. The daughter Mary Alley [Olive], age 10 (born 1869/70), is in school, can read and write, Kentucky-Kentucky-Kentucky as birthplaces. Son [James] Thomas is “8” (actually born 1875), in school, can read and write, Kentucky-Kentucky-Kentucky as birthplaces. (A son, not named except as an “Infant” of J. H. and L.A. Wells, was born July 5, 1873 and died Aug. 19, 1874, and was buried in the plot of Vardeman Wells, Joseph H. Wells’ brother, in Mt. Moriah Cemetery near Clarkson, Grayson Co., Kentucky. His birth would have filled the “space” between Mary Olive and Thomas.) Last in the 1880 family is daughter Lucy Glenn, 3, (born 1876/7), also in Kentucky, as were both her parents.
In 1890, when “Abraham L.” would have been 24, most of the U. S. Census was burned, unfortunately. Neither he nor his father Joseph H., by then 52, are named in the fragments that survive.
By 1900 we find Joseph Wells in Breckenridge Co., Kentucky, Vol. 7, E.D.13, sheet 7, line 68. He is correctly given as 62 years old, born in March 1838, and his second wife, Lucretia C. [Skaggs, sister of Joseph’s first wife, Laura, and also of his brother Vardeman’s wife, Kessiah E. Skaggs], was born Jan. 1841, also in Kentucky, so is age 59. With them is a son, James T. Wells, age 24, born June 1875, not listed correctly in 1880.
Abraham L. Wells is found in 1900 in Vol. 26, Enumeration District 20, sheet 16 Line 32 in Grayson Co., Kentucky, in District 1, Leitchfield (town). He is white, was born in May, 1866 in Kentucky, and his wife Lucy is listed as born Sept. 1872, so 27 years old, born Kentucky. Their son Ben L., born in April 1900, Kentucky, is “6/12ths.”
By 1910, Abraham L. Wells is found in Grayson County, Kentucky, Clarkson Precinct, Enumeration District 24, page 10A, dwelling 66, enumerated on 26 April 1910. (In this county and census we find his cousins David S. and Peter B. Wells, sons of his uncle Alanson O. Wells, and his uncle Vardeman Wells, now 67, also living with their families.) We find Abraham is now ”43”, is in the 13th year of his first marriage (married 1897), he and both parents were born in Kentucky, he is marked “10” (years?) under “owner or worker on his own account”, is English speaking, and owns his farm/home free and clear.
Lucy W. Wells is white, female, age 37 (that is born 1872/3), thirteen years into her first marriage, speaks English, is a teacher in public school, has followed this occupation for 9 years. Nothing is stated concerning the number of children ever born to this mother. Their son Ben L. is 10, single, speaks English, and like his parents, can read and write.
In 1920, the latest census to be released, we find Lucy Wells still in Grayson County, in Leitchfield (Page 49, sheet 11A, enumerated 12 January 1920). Hers is dwelling and family #145 and she is a “Roomer”, age 48, a widow, able to read and write, she and both parents were born in Kentucky and all spoke English. She teaches in a rural school. Ben is not found in the county, and the 1920 Soundex was not available to us to search other Kentucky counties for him.
Researched and written by Marybelle Wells
Events
| Birth | 14 Feb 1838 | Grayson Co., Kentucky |  | ||
| Marriage | 16 Mar 1864 | Grayson Co., Kentucky - Laura A. Skaggs | | ||
| Military | with Co. I, 3rd Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, Union Army, during the Civil War | ||||
| Marriage | 31 Jan 1881 | Grayson Co., Kentucky - Honora C. Paris | | ||
| Death | 2 May 1911 | of tuberculosis - Leitchfield, Grayson Co., Kentucky | | ||
| Burial | Walnut Hill cemetery, Leitchfield, Grayson Co., Kentucky |  | |
Families
| Spouse | Laura A. Skaggs (1839 - 1880) |
| Child | Abraham Lincoln Wells (1866 - 1916) |
| Child | William Garrett Wells (1868 - 1925) |
| Child | Mary Olive Wells (1871 - 1939) |
| Child | Fielding David Wells (1873 - 1874) |
| Child | James Thomas Wells (1875 - 1949) |
| Child | Lucy Glenn Wells (1877 - 1940) |
| Spouse | Honora C. Paris (1841 - 1914) |
| Father | David Smith Wells (1804 - 1843) |
| Mother | Permelia Bruner (1804 - 1860) |
| Sibling | Alanson Oliver Wells (1825 - 1870) |
| Sibling | John B. Wells (1830 - ) |
| Sibling | Thomas Wells (1832 - ) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth A. Wells (1834 - ) |
| Sibling | Hanna P. Wells (1836 - ) |
| Sibling | Parthenia Wells (1841 - ) |
| Sibling | Vardiman Wells (1843 - 1918) |
Notes
Burial
Photo of tombstone in my files.Endnotes
1. death certificate.
2. Civil War Pension records of Joseph Henry Wells.
3. Civil War Pension records of Joseph Henry Wells.
4. Civil War Pension records of Joseph Henry Wells.
5. Grayson Co., Kentucky cemeteries, Vol. I, revised 2008, 390.