Wells was born in
Salt Lake City,
Utah Territory, to LDS Church leader
Daniel H. Wells (1814–1891) and Louisa Free (1824–1886). In 1875, Wells travelled to
Europe as a
Mormon missionary and worked primarily in
Germany and
Switzerland. He returned to the United States in 1877. On January 18, 1883 he married Josephine Eliza Beatie (1857–1923). In April 1893, Wells was chosen as a member of the seven-man
First Council of the Seventy. In 1896, he succeeded
Anthon H. Lund as the
president of the European
Mission of the church, headquartered in
Liverpool,
England. In December 1898, Wells returned to Utah. In the United States election in 1900, Wells was elected to the
Utah House of Representatives. He served as a member of the house for its 4th session, which lasted from January to March 1901. He did not stand for re-election in 1902. Following the death of
J. Golden Kimball in 1938, Wells became the senior president of the Seventy, a position he held until his own death in 1941. Wells died in Salt Lake City from
colon cancer; he had been a general authority of the church for almost 50 years. ==Notes==