WELLES, welz, OtDEON ( 1802-78). An meri can statesman. lie was born in Glastonbury, Conn., and was a student for a time, without graduating, at Norwich University. He early entered polities and, as editor.and part owner of the Hartford Times from 1S26 to 1836, he ex erted a powerful influence in his State in favor of the Democratic Party. lie n•as an enthusiastic adherent of Andrew Jackson, and was said to have been the first to advocate his election to the Presidency. From 1827 to 1835 he was a member of the State Legislature, where he advo.: cated the abolition of imprisonment for debt and opposed a proposed measure for excluding from the courts such witnesses as did not believe in 'a future state of rewards and punishments.' He was Comptroller of the State in 1S35 and again in 1s42 and 1543. was postmaster at Hartford from 1835 to 1842. and from 1846 to 1849 was chief of the Bureau of Provisions and Clothing in the Navy Department. Joining the Republican
Party soon atter its organization, he was a dele