Matthew Wells, Sr. 1765-1852  
Categories: The Sabbath Recorder Obituary
"The Sabbath Recorder", Vol 8, No 44, p 175, Apr. 15, 1852.
  In DeRuyter, N. Y., March 28th, Matthew Wells, senior, in the 87th year of his age.
  Brother Wells early made a profession of faith in Christ, the sincerity of which he has evinced by an unvarying attachment to the cause for three-fourths of a century.   He was one of the first settlers in DeRuyter, and had not ceased during life to interest himself in the public welfare, and especially in the welfare of the church of his choice.   Though he was never forward in the improvement of public gifts, his hand was ever open to advance the interests of Zion.   His zeal in this way was evinced to the last, and in his last testament he left $100 for the Seventh-day Baptist Missionary Society.
  He delighted much in the study of the Bible, and he was emphatically a man of prayer, particularly secret prayer, and his devotions at the family altar are said to have been peculiarly fervent.