When Knox township was first laid out, it was bounded on the north by the Pennsylvania state line. It was on land north of the mouth of Yellow Creek where Wellsville now stands that James CLARK made his tomahawk claim for several hundred acres of wild land. As it was not safe to occupy this primeval wilderness, the owner would go back and forwards to his clearings from his Virginia cabin on the east side of the Ohio River.

William WELLS, who was Clark’s son-in-law, believed this land safe from settlement a few years later, so that the records show that in February, 1798, he bought a large tract of land from Clark, built a round log cabin and moved to the west side near the entrance of Little Yellow Creek into the Ohio.

William Wells was a progressive, active pioneer, for on Friday, June 15, 1804, John WARD, Clerk of the County Commissioners, ordered "that Wells receive out of the County Treasury $9.00 in full for services as Viewer and Surveyor in laying out a road from the mouth of Yellow Creek to the western boundary of Pennsylvania." This was the first road laid out in Jefferson County.

As there was only the moral law in operation in this territory at that time, and the enforcing officer being somewhat negligent in his duty, there was sure to be more or less misunderstanding and trouble, because of no authority to sit in judgment when trouble did arise.

Again, the Scotch, Irish and Pennsylvania Dutch were moving into this area and it is known that their tempers were not adjusted to mediate a dispute nor drop the question even if it caused no trouble, but loved to fight them to a finish—so that a judge qualified by the state was sadly needed. This point was settled by the appointment of William Wells as a Justice of the Peace by the territorial Governor Arthur St. Clair on July 15, 1798. Wells was sworn in on that date by his cousin Bezaleel Wells, the founder of Steubenville.

In the late autumn of 1798 a bald-headed bewhiskered Scotchman by the name of Duncan MCBANE brought a suit against one Michael BANNAN for selling the former a horse guaranteed "to be sound, safe and well broke," but later the Scot found the horse to be moon-eyed—not able to see at certain times—hence brought suit for his money in Justice Well’s Court.

The day of hearing proved to be the first snow fall of the season, and people walked and rode from all directions to hear the case come to trial on November, 1798. Excitement ran high, especially as two nationalities were involved; a perfectly legitimate question was up for solution, and people craved this sort of mental relaxation—helped strongly to gain weight by many nips from the jugs of "joy water."

By the time Justice Wells called his cabin court room to order, there had already been several fights and the Scotch constable was threatened so many times for interfering in the brawls that he was almost afraid to act. They all crowded into the cabin, the Irish being in the majority, took the choice locations, even up among the log rafters. The only furniture in this pioneer court room was a shoemakers bench and three stools. Judge Wells sat on the middle one of the stools, the plaintiff and defendant on the others, all facing the crowd. Bannan told his story and the whole audience listened, but when McBane began to tell his story his bald-head was the target to pitch buckeyes at. About every five words that his burring tongue told, a buckeye glanced from his head much to the amusement of the crowd. At last McBane’s temper got the best of him, when he started swinging his fists at an innocent by-stander, who floored him with a complimentary swing on the chin.

Justice Wells ordered the constable to remove the chief Irish culprit from the rafters, but the former demanded help to pry the big Irishman from the heavy rafter, as he was the strongest man present. Four other Scotch countrymen were deputized and they pulled the trouble maker down, amid an uproar of laughter and a hail of buckeyes, when the Irishman bellowed out,

The latter course was followed and the Court room was emptied as all expected to see a fight to the finish, but the Scotch constable soon came running back saying,

And by this time a well placed ear slug put the Scot on his back, the source not known, but the result certain. He was temporarily out of business.

Just then a traveler, also excited, stopped at this court and told of seeing a fresh bear track in the snow in a nearby hollow. As old Duncan McBane, the plaintiff, could not be found, the whole group agreed to go and trail the bear to its den and take out the price of its hide in refreshments at a nearby tavern. Thus ended our first court trial in original territorial Knox Township.