Obituary William Washington Wells (1830-1903)

            Transcribed from Norwalk Daily Reflector, dated 2 February 1903; page 7 column 4

LAST EARTHLY ROLL CALL

Sergeant William W. Wells Join’s the Army of Immortals

            William W. Wells, for many years a well known resident of Norwalk, has answered his last earthly roll call and joined the army of the immortals.  Sunday afternoon, at 3:30 o’clock, he passed onward to join the vast army of the patriotic dead.

            Mr. Wells, whose death took place at 16 Marshall street, had been sick but two weeks, his death resulting from pneumonia.  Although since the civil war, not in the best of health, previous to that he was a strong, vigorous and robust man, a machinist by trade, and was employed in the old Perkins sewing machine shop and afterwards, for a number of years, in the Wheeling & Lake Erie shops.

            He was a soldier in the civil war, a man of bravery and courage, and he served his country well and true, as a sergeant in Company D, Eighth O. V. I., for three years.

            He was born in Windsor, Vt., seventy-two years ago. He was a resident of Norwalk for over fifty years and was always a steady, honest, industrious man who had many friends.  His wife died October 13, 1900, and he has six children left to mourn the loss of a good and kind father.  The following are the names of his sons and daughters who survive him:  William and George, of Cleveland; Albert, of Norwalk; H. A., of Toledo; Mrs. T. H. Evens, of New York, and Mrs. L. B. Gebhart, of this city.

Note:  1850 Census states born in New York; 1870 Census states born in Ohio; 1880 Census states born in Ohio and parents born in Vermont; 1900 Census states born in Ohio and parents born in Ohio;  Death Register for Ohio states he was born in Birmingham, Ohio in 1831; Obituary states he was born in Windsor, Vermont:  This will need more research.  Still need to locate marriage records for the daughters.