Wells

(Number 76 on the 1958 Highland map - 10595 N. 5600 W.)

Boise Alexander & Emma Christine Miller Wells

Boise was born February 7, 1877, in King's Mountain, York County, North Carolina to David Zechariah and Susan Gordon Wells. David Wells served in the Civil War and later worked in the White House for President Abraham Lincoln. After the war he gathered his wife and family and came to Utah for the Church. He ran the first toll bridge into American Fork Canyon, charging 25 cents to those entering.

Emma was born August 27, 1876 (other records indicate 1877 and 1879) in Lehi, Utah to Martin and Christina Peterson Miller. They were married July 3, 1900, in American Fork, Utah in the midst of a big snowstorm. They first lived in Lehi for about eight years then moved to Highland and built a home (Number 76 on the 1958 Highland map) in 1910 (that is still standing in 2021). They had five children: Elma, Katie, Dick, David, and Marion Carl, all but Elma were born in Highland.

They had orchards on the south and north and west of their home and also raised hay and grain. Boise was a sheepman and had two to three thousand sheep that he grazed in the west desert as well as in Provo Canyon and near the Strawberry Reservoir. He hired eight to ten herders to live with the sheep. Emma hired the Strasburg, Adamson, and Miller girls to help with the housework and food preparation.

Emma remembered when the Relief Society prepared a bunch of chickens in boilers for a Relief Society function. They left them in the boilers overnight and ate them the next day. Quite a few ladies got sick and her mother-in-law, Susan Gordon Wells died a few days later.

The Wells three older children went to school in Highland and their teachers were Minnie Oberhansley (who later married Laurence Harmon), O. C. Day and Alice Miller.

Just before Dick was born in 1910, Emma wasn't well so Kate went to live with Grandma Wells in American Fork Canyon for four or five years.

Emma died July 26, 1936, in Highland and Boise died in the Bingham Hospital July 4, 1947. They are buried in the American Fork City Cemetery.

Richard Boise Martin & Lucile Ann Mecham Wells

Dick (as he was always called) was the son of Boise Alexander Wells and Emma Christine Miller (q.v.). His birth certificate shows his name as Boise M. so how the other names came about is a mystery.

Dick and Lucile were married January 12, 1933, in Heber, Utah. Lucile was born January 15, 1914, in Wallsburg, Utah to John F. and Percy E Taylor Mecham. They were living in Highland in 1935 and 1940 and he was listed as a farmer. When Dick registered for the WWII draft in May, 1943, he was working for Utah Power and Light.

Dick and Lucile had eight daughters: LaWanna, Dixie, Sherrie, RoxAnn, DeAnn, DiAnn, Cindy, and Tamra Lee.
The Wells apparently lived with his parents in Number 76 and were good friends with George and Josephine Duncan (q.v.) who lived in Number 44.

Dick died September 18, 1982, and Lucile died August 12, 2000. They are buried in the Wallsburg Cemetery.

Source: HIGHLAND HISTORY: A compilation by Charles T Greenland II for the Highland Historical Society

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Boise Alexander & Emma Christine Miller Wells

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