1872–1947

Introduction

portrait

Born: No­vem­ber 11, 1872, Li­ber­ty Town­ship, Penn­syl­van­ia.

Died: De­cem­ber 9, 1947, Whit­field Coun­ty, Geor­gia.

Buried: West Hill Ce­me­te­ry, Dal­ton, Geor­gia.

Biography

James was the son of Chaun­cey Wells and Su­san­nah Freer, and hus­band of An­nie Eli­za­beth Lin­der (mar­ried cir­ca 1918).

He is re­mem­bered as a hymn writ­er, po­et, and news­pa­per co­lum­nist.

His col­umns (such as Lit­tle Light Lyr­ics and Vers­es of Vic­tory) ap­peared re­gu­lar­ly in The Dal­ton/North Georg­ia Ci­ti­zen news­pap­er. One col­umn had this head­ing:

By JAMES WELLS—The Printer-Poet

Writer of Hu­mor­ous Verse, Gos­pel Hymns, and Po­pu­lar Song Hits. Sac­red songs in all Lead­ing South­ern Song Books for 1917. Mem­ber of the Song-Writ­ing Team of Wells & Pond, with H. S. Gor­don, New York, Pub­lish­er.

Wells lat­er wrote a re­gu­lar col­umn in the Dal­ton Ci­ti­zen called The Cor­ner Store Gos­sip. In 1940, Hal M. Stan­ley of the Georg­ia Press As­so­cia­tion wrote:

His co­lumn each week be­gins with a sort of tri-cor­nered de­bate. In a re­cent is­sue it was be­tween Si Green, Shor­ty Moore and Old Lem Burke. They were seat­ed around a stove at the Cor­ner Store dis­cuss­ing the mer­its of their re­spect­ive cows. Said Si Green:

The other day when it was cold,
My old cow ate some sweets.
Some kids had left some candy there
Around upon the seats.
’Twas lemon flavored, most of it,
She got cold, it would seem;
For next day she did not give milk—
She only gave ice cream.

The At­lan­ta Journ­al
Sunday, De­cem­ber 29, 1940, page 5-D

Sources

Lyrics