He is a zealous advocate of the temperance cause and fearlessly supports its principles. At the formation of the Republican party in j 1854, he found its views coincident with his own, and has ever since been a prominent member of that organization. Fervid in his opposition to slavery, he i was a firm supporter of the Union in the war which | ended in the destruction of the system which had so long been a blot on the nation.

He married Hannah Hamill, daughter of Rev. Charles W. Nassau, D.D., of Lawrenceville, N. J., who was formerly a professor and for a time the president of Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. Their children are Edward, Jr., who graduated from Yale College in 1884 ; Charles Nassau, now a student of Lafayette College; and Anna Hamill, who resides with her parents at Peekskill. [

Mr. Wells is a man of extensive learning, the possessor of a large and valuable library, well versed in general literature, and especially in the study of Roman civil law, and holds an honorable position as a member of the legal fraternity.

THE BENCH AND BAR.

CHARLES THORN CROMWELL.

Mr. Cromwell is a descendant of the famous family whose history was for so many years identified with that of the British Empire. Among his ancestry are enrolled the names of Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex, .Secretary of State to Henry VIII., who was beheaded July 28, 1540 ; Sir Henry Cromwell, of Hinthinhrook, surnamed, for his munificence, the Golden Knight ; Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, and many others.'