[1] The elder James Wells participated in the Texas Revolution of 1835-36 as a privateer, settling on St. Joseph Island after the end of the conflict to raise cattle and operate a merchant ship.

[1] Wells proved to be a very successful local attorney by winning 20 victories in 21 cases during one session of the Cameron County District Court.

[2] In addition to his practice of law, Wells was active as a ranch owner, land speculator, and investor in oil exploration and life insurance.

[4] He was unable to amass a fortune, however, and was driven to speculative investments, which sometimes failed magnificently and brought him to the brink of bankruptcy on three separate occasions.

[1] When Powers died in 1882, leadership of the Cameron County Democratic organization fell to Wells, who would remain at the helm of the soon-to-be-dominant political party's patronage machine for the better part of four decades.

[9] He was also a strong supporter of railroad construction in the region, including a bold 1889 project to connect Corpus Christi and Brownsville with the nations of Central America by rail.

[12] Wells held consistently conservative views, including support of the gold standard, and was a political opponent of reform Democratic Governor "Big Jim" Hogg, father of the Texas Railroad Commission.

In the estimation of historian Evan Anders, despite modest corruption in Cameron County,[17] financial gain was only a secondary motive behind Wells' public life: