Daniel H. Wells - Personal Life

Personal Life

Wells married Eliza Rebecca Robison in 1837 and with her had one son Albert Emory Wells. His wife refused to accompany Wells to Utah in 1848 and later divorced him. Between 1849 and 1852, Wells married six additional wives: Louisa Free, with whom he had eight children; Martha Givens Harris, with whom he had seven children, Lydia Ann Alley, with whom he had six children; Susan Hannah Alley, with whom he had four children; Hannah Corilla Free, with whom he had eight children; and Emmeline Belos Woodward, with whom he had three children. Louisa Free, Hannah Free and Emmeline Woodward were all previously married and divorced or widowed. Each had one or more children whom Wells adopted and reared as his own.

In 1852, Wells married his seventh wife, future Relief Society General President Emmeline B. Wells. She bore him three daughters.

Wells died in Salt Lake City at the age of 76 and was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery. Wells' son by his wife Martha G. Harris, Heber Manning Wells, was the first governor of the state of Utah, serving from 1896 to 1905.