His headstone shows a birthyear of 1838.
In 1881 the Canadian census lists him (44, Ont) a Lutheran farmer of German descent, with his wife Harriet (38, Ont) along with children Guy (16), Leonard (13), Herbert (11), Annie (8), Laurena (6), and Ova (2).
"About 1890, Henry had had a falling out with his father John on the Front, and had packed his whole family off to Crary Mills, where he settled on a small rented farm. The family story is that Henry left and went back to the States with $100 John gave him and told him that was all he was getting. The various children married in due course and settled not far away.
Henry was past 50 when he moved to New York. His farm there was small and poor; today the buildings are gone and the land is growing up in bush. Harriet died first, and we find Henry living for a little while with his daughter Rene Petersen in Pierrepont, and then for the rest of his life he was taken care of by son Leonard and his wife Laura on their farm on the bank of the St. Lawrence River."
In 1900, he listed as a farm laborer in Canton with his wife and daughter Maggie after 40 years of marriage, when 7 of their 11 children were living.
In 1910 he is listed as a widower, living with his son Leonard.The census indicates that he immigrated from Canada in 1891, the year before his father died.
[Obituary] St. Lawrence Weekly Democrat - Thursday 5 June 1913
Waddington, June 3 - Henry Wells an old and highly esteemed townsman died at the home of his son Leonard Wells, at White House Bridge farm, Saturday. He had been a sufferer of rheumatism for a number of years. Interment will be at Canton.