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Thomas Everett Welles

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| image_size =225px
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| date_of_birth =[[November 24]], [[1855]]<ref>Armstrong, Henry Clay. ''History of Escambia County''. St. Augustine: 1930.[http://fulltext10.fcla.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?type=simple;c=fhp;cc=fhp;xg=1;q=Armstrong;rgn=author;a=37;sid=d91b4bad39a5784b12f6f95a0798236d;q1=Armstrong;view=toc;sort=occur;start=1;size=25;subview=fullcitation;idno=WF00000021;node=WF00000021%3A1 (digital copy)]</ref>
| place_of_birth =Mystic, Connecticut
| date_of_death =[[November 26]], [[1914]]
==Early life==
Welles was born in [[1855]] in Mystic, Connecticut and was educated in the schools of that city. In his youth he was employed by Captain T. C. Cobb of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, who operated a fleet of ice-harvesting ships. In the early 1870s, Welles was the purser of a ship delivering ice to the [[E. E. Saunders Pensacola Fish Company]], a leading fishing company in Pensacola. The owner, [[E. E. Saunders]], was apparently so impressed by Welles that he offered to sell him a stake in the company. Welles returned to Massachusetts, where he married Captain Cobb's daughter, Caroline Brown Cobb, and borrowed money from him to purchase his stake in the E. E. Saunders Company' company. Thereafter, he moved with his wife, first to Key West, before settling in Pensacola around [[1878]], he moved at which time Welles began working for Saunders. Around [[1883]] Saunders reincorporated the company as the [[E. E. Saunders Company]], with his wife to Pensacola Welles as partner and Welles assumed the position of manager of the company. At the time, the E. E. Saunders Company employed over one thousand men, operated ice and fishmeal manufacturing plants, and had an annual payroll exceeding $100,000.<ref>[http://www.stjohnshistoriccemetery.com/pensacolas_heritages/fishing.htm#t_e_welles Pensacola’s Heritage at St John’s Historic Cemetery]</ref>
Welles became very successful and in later years entered the banking industry, serving as vice president of the [[Citizens National Bank]] and a director of the [[Peoples National Bank]]. Welles was the president of the Good Government League, and a member of the Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, and the Masons. Welles owned a home at [[Gadsden Street]] and [[12th Avenue]], as well as a large plantation in north Alabama.

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