222 RACEALONG 



In due time Levi Wells became a Spanish subject. 

 Three of his children were born under that flag 

 prior to 1800 when the Louisiana territory was taken 

 over for France by Napoleon. 



Montfort, the fourth addition to the family, was 

 born a French subject. His brother Thomas Jeffer- 

 son, as his name implies, was born in 1803 under 

 the American flag after the Louisiana purchase was 

 completed. 



In 1803 for the second time Levi Wells became 

 an American citizen. Later on another son was added 

 to the family. He was named J. Madison Wells. After 

 the Civil War he was Governor of Louisiana and 

 Chairman of the returning board which had con- 

 siderable to do with making Hayes instead of Tilden 

 President of the United States. 



Another trail to the White House traces to a home 

 in Rapides Parish with which the Wells brothers, 

 Montfort and Thomas, were connected by marriage. 

 The brothers owned Wellswood Plantation. They pro- 

 duced large quantities of sugar, while as a side line 

 they had a stable of race horses. It was started by 

 the purchase of ten thoroughbred fillies from James 

 Jackson of Alabama. 



The brothers married sisters. They were daugh- 

 ters of a neighbor named Dent. Their brother was 

 also the father of Julia Dent, wife of General Grant, 

 who was President for two terms. 



Montfort and Thomas Wells bred the first Ameri- 

 can thoroughbred horses shipped to England to race. 

 They were Lecomte, Prioress and Stark. All of them 



