Call Number:

2005.05

Repository:

Historic Langhorne Association

Extent:

1.5 linear feet

Language:

English

Date:

1845-1959 (inclusive)

Creator:

Wells family

Abstract:

Settled by Quakers beginning in 1680, the small town of Langhorne in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, became an important transportation center between Trenton and Philadelphia. Harvey G. Wells, a stone mason, and his son Gilbert R. Wells, a contractor and builder, were involved in a significant amount of construction in the town during its growth from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. The Wells family papers, 1845-1959, consist primarily of the business records of Harvey G. Wells and Gilbert R. Wells. Records include account books, lists of jobs and workers, daybooks, and land agreements, as well as financial papers such as cashbooks. The collection also includes some Wells family papers and ephemera.

Harvey G. Wells, Sr. (b. 1820) was a stone mason and councilman from Langhorne, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Wildman Wells (1817-1899), with whom he had 10 children. At least five lived to adulthood: Jonathan W. Wells (Vandalis, Ohio), Mrs. Robert Steel (Philadelphia, Pa.), Mrs. Abraham Stradling, Gilbert Randall Wells (circa 1861-circa 1940), and Harvey W. Wells (Langhorne, Pa.).

Gilbert R. Wells, also a contractor and builder, was married to Harriet Muney Wells. He was a member of the Langhorne school board and town council.

Harvey W. Wells married Lille M. Wells (who died at the age of 35), and was a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of the Golden Eagle.

This collection consists primarily of the business records of Harvey G. Wells, a stone mason, and his son Gilbert R. Wells, a contractor and builder in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Records include account books, lists of jobs and workers, daybooks, and land agreements, as well as financial papers such as cashbooks. Because the Wells family were involved in the construction of many significant Langhorne buildings from the late 1800s, this collection is a great resource for local history and property research. It also includes some Wells family papers and ephemera.

An item-level inventory is provided below:

1861 brown leather-covered notebook, 3 1/2" x 5 3/4". Harvey G. Wells account with Thos. K. Flowers

Brown leather cover 3 1/2" x 5 1/2" Harvey Wells Accounts: 1867, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1877, 1879, 1876. Includes list of purchases and days worked.

Green 8 1/4" x 6 3/4" Book-Keeping of Gilbert R. Wells: 1869/1871

1873 account book of Harvey G. Wells with L. L. Kirk. 4" x 6 1/2". Brown leather cover.

May 8, 1880 ---March 15, 1881 receipt book of Harvey Wells, 2 1/4" x 4 1/4".

Mortgage Paper: Harvey G. Wells to William W. Nelson on two messuages and adjoining lots of land in Langhorne Borough. Entered April 4, 1883, Satisfied November 14, 1883. (Document is torn and in two sections.)

Account book of H. G. Wells. No year given. 3 1/2" x 5 3/4". List of workers, jobs, dates and job estimates.

Account book of H. G. Wells 3 3/4" x 6 1/4", no cover, from 1888 --- 1889.

Lists of jobs includes "the library", "the brickyard kilns" and the "brickyard house." 1892 account book of Gilbert R. Wells, reddish design cover. 3 1/2" x 5 3/4" x 5/16".

1894 account book of Gilbert R. Wells, 3 3/4" x 6". Starting March 19. Includes receipts from Samuel H. Longshore to Gilbert Wells. Includes material from 1896 and lists of workers, dates and jobs.

Brown cloth covered account book of Gilbert R. Wells, 3 1/2" x 8 1/2". A date of Jan. 1904 is listed in the back of the book. Work listed includes that for H. Rosebone and W. Girton.

Cloth bound 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" Account Book of G.R. Wells. 1905. Lists workers, jobs and dates.

Black speckled cover 5 1/2" x 11 1/2" Account Book of G.R. Wells. Entries from November, July 28th and December 1925.

A 1926 commence program from Langhorne-Middletown High School.

1929 Day book of G. R. Wells, 6" x 15". List of jobs, workers and pay.

Speckled cover recipe book of Mrs. Mattie Wells with Rumford cookbook enclosed. No Date

Postcard: Old and New First National Bank, Newtown, PA

Postcard: Triumph Store, H. Griffin Miller, Prop., Newtown

Photograph: Mark Granite's Gen'l Store.

Photograph: St. James Episcopal Church, Langhorne

Photograph: North Bellevue Avenue, Langhorne after snowstorm. Circa 1953.

Photograph: Unknown street.

3 1/2 x 8 1/2 --Black notebook: 1907 --G. R. Wells Account Book (Lists of jobs and workers)

7 x 8 1/2 x 5/8 --Speckled brown cover: List of deaths 1897 --1945. Also contains sheets of paper with 1878 recipes.

7 1/2 x 12 x 1/2 --Cash Book -- 1919: List of jobs and workers

5 1/2 x 12 1/2 x 1 --1886 -- List of jobs, workers. Many loose papers included

7 x 12 x 1/2 --"Records" -- List of members of Langhorne Rod and Gun Club and hand copied minutes of the Attleboro Fire Co. --1891

8 x 13 x 1/2 -- Speckled green cover account book containing records from 1881, 1883, 1898, April 5, 1899.

6 1/2 x 15 x 3/8 -- Speckled green Day Book. Records from 1872 --1880. Includes loose piece of paper with estimate for house to be built on West Richardson Avenue

8 x 13 x 1 --Brown speckled cover. Contains "Account of Game Skins"--1845 --1887 listing skins (rabbit, mink, rats, skunks, coons) sold and price. Also accounts 1883 ---1885, and Day Book, 1872 ---1891.

4 1/2 x 6 3/4 x 1/4 --Leather bound: Estate of William Nelson, Harvey Wells executor, and 1872 Account book.

3 3/4 x 5 3/4 x 3/4 --Harvey Wells 1857 Account book of purchases

3 1/2 x 8 1/2 x 3/4 --Gilbert Wells: Account book, 1903. List of jobs and workers.

4 1/2 x 7 x 3/4 --Green cloth cover: Gilbert R. Wells account book, 1912

4 1/2 x 7 x 1/2 --Black Day Book: Gilbert R. Wells, 1913

Invitation to funeral of Sarah J. Steel, sister of Mary E. Stradling, 146 N. Bellevue, April 24, 1921 addressed to Mr. J. Leon Wells

Langhorne High School Class of 1926 graduation program

Handwritten note on letterhead of Samuel L. Ridge, M.D., certifying that Ralph Carlisle Wells was born in Langhorne November 25, 1908.

Diploma of Ralph Carlisle Wells from Langhorne Public Schools, June 17, 1926

Document from Francis O. Cope, Register of the Probate of wills, Bucks County, granting Harvey W. Wells power to administer the goods of the deceased Harvey G. Wells, March 10, 1925.

Gilbert R. Wells

3 County and State tax notices dated 1892, 1893, 1894.

An 8 x 9 3/4 sheet of papers with hand drawn plans for a "house to be built on the Gilbert R. Wells lot opposite the Brick Yard

A 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" Business card for Gilbert R. Wells, Langhorne, PA. "Mason Work in all its Branches."

A Philadelphia- Reading Railroad Ticket, Doylestown to Langhorne, May 23, 1936

Landlord's Notice dated December 31, 1889 to Mr. Joseph Wall tell him that G. R. Wells wants to regain possession of his property at the end of the term, First day of April, 1890

A list of building materials and their costs from A. Schellinger, Builder's Mill Work, Trenton, N.J., March 8, 1888.

Langhorne Spring Water Company Permit "to have a supply of water." July 19,1890

A handwritten letter from the Langhorne Spring Water Company to Mr. Gilbert Wells asking him to put in a bid for doing the mason work on the engine house, signed by J. Shelly Wright, Secretary. (Estimate on back of letter.)

A check drawn on the Peoples National Bank, Langhorne, for $100.00 from . . . . Tomlinson.

A check for $28.20 on December 26, 1887 from Charles H. Stiles.

A blank check from Peoples National Bank, Langhorne, stamped "188_"

An agreement for the sale of land between Amos Flowers and Joseph Eastburn fronting on Marshall Ave, to Gilbert Wells, April _2, 1888. (This is a copy of the original agreement.

September 18, 1934 agreement of sale between Gilbert R. Wells and Arthur and Dorothy Kraus for a lot at the corner of Green Street and Watson Avenue.

July 15, 1939 agreement of sale between Gilbert R. Wells and John A. & Margaret V. Wahl for the purchase of a lot on the plan of Development of North Langhorne. (Wells Avenue)

April 11, 1959 Certificate for Leon G. Wells as a Life Member of the Langhorne-Middletown Fire Company