Allen Casey “A.C.” Wells

Born in Napanee, Ontario in 1837 as the sixth of ten children, the Wells family lived on a farm there.  In his youth, A.C. pursued farming and harness making until he moved out West in 1862 during the Caribou Gold Rush. Just before he left, on 17 May 1859, he married his wife Sarah M. Hodge of New York. While out West prospering for gold, he was joined by a A MINISTER who observed the Sabbath, just as A.C. Wells did.  While they were panning for gold,  the prospects were quite poor and he was forced to sell his claims for grub claims.   A.C. Wells then moved down to Yale (now Yarrow), British Columbia and took up his trade of harness making.   As a result, he made the first harnesses that crossed the newly completed Caribou Road in 1865.  During that same year, his brother-in-law, Charles Evans, died leaving behind farm land for his widow, Jane (Wells) Evans.   A.C. Wells immediately took up farming to help his sister with her farm, leaving the harness business behind him.

In 1865, Wells asked his wife to come out West and she obliged. Sarah’s sister, NAME, and her sister-in-law, NAME also accompanied her on the trip out West. While in Yale, they had their first child, Lilly, in 1865.   In June of 1866, Wells bought his first plot of land in Chilliwack, Lot 38, which contained 150 acres of land for about $1.00/acre.  Next year, 1867, he added the adjacent lot, 261 which contained 160 acres, by preemption. This meant that he got first choice to purchase the land or was given the land by the federal government.  This newly acquired lot became their place of residence when they moved from Yale to Chilliwack on 15 April 1867. Their son, Edwin A. Wells, was born in New Westminster, British Columbia in 1867. Ten years later, in 1877, A.C. Wells added another adjacent lot, 279, to his farmland, bringing it to over 450 acres.