William Huntington and Edith Clara Wells

[*Sandra*]

Margaret A Pomeroy.

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0bkw/

and Ralph Pomeroy

http://www.rootschat.com/links/0bkx/

[bagpuss]

Excellent work Sandra, you've well and truly cracked it!

So Louise survived, and William was divorced not widowed - naughty boy!

It's really brilliant to solve this,

thank-you   thank-you   thank-you.


   Sue

[*Sandra*]

Hello Sue,

Your most welcome. I could kick myself for not pursuing that marriage entry earlier - I must have looked at it a dozen times !!!

Pleased that everything tied in nicely and the mystery was unravelled.

Regards
Sandra 

[bad bill]

Hi Sandra,

Just an update to let you know that I received the marriage certificate of William Huntington Wells and Edith Clara Wilson this morning, and I'm pleased to say his condition is listed as Widower, I was a bit worried there for a while!

It also confirms that his father's name was indeed Charles Kittredge Wells, so you were right on the mark there.

I haven't heard from the Wells family tree holder despite contacting her through Ancestry and GenesReunited, so I've not been able to verify the US family, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that she'll be in touch.

Just wanted to share this with you as you have been so very helpful with this search.

All the very best,
Sue   

[bad bill]

Hi,
I'm new to this website and I came across this by accident. William Huntington Wells is quite familiar to me in that he is one of my great heroes. This man is a legend in Indian motorcycle circles in UK and Ireland. He was better known as Billy Wells and he was the leading importer of Indian machines into the UK via his London base. He came second in the 1907 TT races on the Isle of Man on a Vindec machine. He hurt himself badly whilst starting the 1909 TT races and conldn't complete. This is the man who introduced the great Irish racer and engineer Charles B. Franklin to the Indian board of directors who subsequently, in 1916, offered Franklin a job at their factory in Springfield, Mass. USA. Charles Bayly Franklin went on to design two of the most iconic machines in motorcycle history, the Indian 'Scout' and Indian 'Chief' models.
Wells also was a star in his own right in that he is the man responsable for the development of the motorcycle sport of 'Speedway' in Britain.
Is Wells' wife Clara related to you? Please let me know as I know a chap from Sussex who has a wealth of information on Billy Wells. Much more information can be found in a very recently published biography on Charles Franklin called 'Franklin's Indians' (Panther Publications).
Billy Wells' son, called George Hendee Wells, died in 2009. I MIGHT be able to put you in touch with his son (Billy Wells grandson) in Australia.
Regards
Bad Bill

[bagpuss]

Hello Bad Bill,

Your post has really excited me, I had no idea about any of this and would have continued not to have had it not been for your wonderful information, I will certainly search out the book you mention, and having a father and husband who are both very interested in motorbikes this will be of great interest to them too.

I also didn't know that they had had children so thanks for that information too.  I am related to Edith Clara Wilson through my dad's line, she was his grandfathers sister.  I don't know a deal about this family apart from the information already listed above, and I never discovered the death dates for either Clara or William, so a link to living relatives who may have these answers would be invaluable and if you could sort this out I would be eternally grateful.

Many, many thanks for taking the trouble to get in touch with me, You have given me a wealth of information to go on.

All the best,
Sue

[bad bill]

Hi Sue,
I will be glad to help.

Billy and Clara were photographed on the deck of the Lusitania on their way to the U.S. in 1915. This boat was sunk on the return journey to Liverpool.
In all, Wells made as many as 30 voyages between the U.S. and U.K between 1906 and 1924.
Billy and Clara's first born was called George Hendee Wells as a tribute to his employer George Hendee, boss of the Hendee Manufacturing Company. (This business was later renamed 'The Indian Motocycle Company' ).
G.H. Wells died last year. There is a DVD/Video featuring this wonderful old gentleman. He appears for a few minutes in 'Old Indians Never Die'. This is still available at Duke Video.
I also have live pictures of Billy Wells ( a few seconds) in an early film of a motorcycle organisers meeting. This is copyrighted so may be costly to reproduce.

The reason for Billy Wells coming to Britain in the first place is that he was a motorcar salesman. This didn't work out so he returned to the U.S.  He was at a loose end when he bumped into George Hendee his old pushbike racing rival who, when discovering Wells was out of work, offered him a job selling Indian motorcycles into the British Isles. Wells accepted the job and returned to London where he set up the 'Indian' franchise on the Euston Road.

As I've already mentioned, there's loads more info on this subject contained in the new Charles Franklin biography, 'Franklin's Indians'.

Sue, should you wish to speak to me directly, I would have no objections.
Regards
Bad Bill

[bagpuss]

Hi again,

This is all really interesting stuff, you say George was their first born, does that mean they had more children? I'd love the details and a copy of the photograph you mention if that's possible I don't have any photo's of Edith, how exciting!

I'll send you a personal message with my e-mail address

Kindest regards,
Sue

[davidcus90]

Hi Sue - you maybe the same person as we have just "met" But I am Billy and Clara's grandson David. George....my father was the only child of Billy and Clara. He died only last year at 94...and would have loved all this. Really interesting stuff!