Henry Wells - Definition and Overview

Henry Wells (December 12 1805 - December 10 1878) was an American businessman. He was born in Thetford, Vermont and moved to New York as a child.

He started a school for speech disorders in his twenties, due to his own speaking problems.

In 1836 he became a freight agaent on the Erie Canal and soon founded his own company.

In 1841 Wells hired William Fargo and soon the two men formed the American Express company. Wells was president of the company from its founding in 1850 until 1868.

In 1851 Wells and Fargo with other partners founded the Wells Fargo Company. The company held a near monopoly on banking and express services in California for several years.

Henry Wells founded Wells College in Aurora, New York with an endowment to make it one of the first women's colleges in the United States.

Wells died in Scotland.