Edmund W. Wells - Later Life

Later Life

Following his time on the bench Wells was appointed Attorney General of Arizona Territory by Governor Brodie, a position he held from August 2, 1902 to November 14, 1904. In 1910, he was chosen to represent Yavapai county in Arizona's constitutional convention. At the beginning of the convention, Wells was nominated by fellow republicans to be President of the convention but failed to gain the position. He instead worked on the Committee on Style, Revision, and Compilation assisting the committee chairman, Michael Cunniff, with final wording of the constitution. Despite having worked on it extensively, at the end of the convention Wells refused to sign due to what he viewed as radical features in the final document.

When elections were called, Wells received the Republican nomination to be Arizona's first state Governor. He was then defeated on December 12, 1911 by George W. P. Hunt with a 11,123 to 9,166 vote differential. From 1918 to 1925, Wells served as a regent for the University of Arizona.

After retiring from his position at the Bank of Arizona, Wells wrote Argonaut Tales, a book about his early experiences, and donated the book royalties to the Prescott chapter of the Boy Scouts. His wife died on May 14, 1922 and he lived with one of his children in Phoenix before moving to San Diego, California to live with another of his children. Wells died in San Diego on July 4, 1938 and was entombed in his family mausoleum at Mountain View Cemetery in Prescott.