"He would walk every year back to Illinois to visit his siblings in Hillview
and Patterson in Greene Co. He would ride by train part of the time, but
his daughter told me he wore out a pair of shoes on the journey. He was a
Mason and would walk from Prairie Grove to Lacey to the Masonic Lodge
before Ladelle got one. This was six miles minimum. He was my grandmother
Thurman's father and came to this country in 1901 or 1902 after his wife
died. She was a first generation American. her parents were German and
Swiss. He was born in IL and his parents had come from TN and NC. He is
buried in Ashley Co., but he lived in Prairie Grove his older life. He led
the singing and taught Sunday School. He also occasionally subbed at the
school. He played a fiddle, too.
William Washington (Billy) Wells, (but) everyone referred to him as Uncle Billy. He had two brothers come here, too. One was Lemuel Wells, and the other was
Addison Wells. They moved back to Greene Co., and Addison went to
Washington state."
