Born in Cumberland, Maryland, to a father and mother from Hesse and Bavaria,[1] respectively, Wellington attended a German school with some private instruction.

On September 4, 1900, Wellington formally withdrew from the Republican Party and supported Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan (who was running against Pres.

The September 5, 1900, edition of The New York Times described it thus: CUMBERLAND, Maryland, Sept 4.—In a Speech delivered here to-night, in the presence of William J. Bryan, who afterward spoke from the same platform.

In the course of his speech he said: 'As the Governmental policy of President McKinley was developed I was compelled to differ from it at several points and gave evidence of my disagreement in the speeches delivered by me during the last three years upon the floor of the Senate, touching the Spanish–American war, the Philippine Islands, Porto Rico, and the South African affairs.

I am here to-night to reiterate the convictions I voiced in the Senate and record my opposition to the principles of President McKinley as evidenced in his foreign policy and protest against the violation of the principles upon which our Government is founded, against the desecration of the Constitution, and the reversal of the policy which has given us a century and a quarter of National life.