Tanner Duski, in the persona of James M. Wells, Millville’s first mayor and founder of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, has spearheaded efforts to intall a gravestone at Wells’ burial site in that very cemetery. Photo: Bill Horin
Community effort will honor Millville’s first mayor during 160th anniversary of both the city and Mount Pleasant Cemetery.
For as long as anyone can remember, Millville’s first mayor and the founder of its most historic cemetery, has rested in an unmarked grave.
This year, that changes.
James M. Wells, known locally as “Squire Wells,” was Millville’s first mayor. He was elected in 1866, the same year Millville became a city. That year he also founded Mount Pleasant Cemetery, later serving as its first superintendent and its president.
A glassblower by trade who went on to become a well-known local businessman, Wells was remembered for his oyster saloon, his confectionery on North High Street, and an ice cream business that in its day was said to be the best in South Jersey.
Wells served four terms as mayor, guiding Millville through its earliest years as a city, a time when the community was still a mill town of dirt roads and glassworks. During those years the city graded and drained its streets, a new railroad depot went up, and as many as 200 homes were under construction at once. In the decade spanning his terms, Millville grew from under 4,000 people to more than 6,000.
Wells was laid to rest at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in 1889. As far as anyone has been able to determine, his grave has never been marked.
The oversight has been noticed before. In a 1974 “Ramblin’ Round” column in The Millville Daily, Virgil S. Johnson wrote that if he held public office in Millville, he would work to see the first mayor’s grave properly marked. Jean Jones wrote about it again in 1991, noting that Wells’ grave, like that of town founder Joseph Buck, was unmarked.
Now, Millville resident Tanner Duski has taken the lead on giving the city’s first mayor a proper memorial in the very cemetery Wells founded.
“Ever since I began work on the Millville Hall of Mayors Memorial Exhibit and first learned his story, I set a goal for myself to find a way, however possible, to give our first mayor the gravestone he deserved,” Duski said. “This is about more than one man and one gravestone. It is about Millville pride and knowing the story of where we came from.”
The timing carries particular significance. This year marks the 160th anniversary of Millville’s incorporation as a city and the 160th anniversary of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, both of which trace directly back to Wells. It is also the 250th anniversary of the United States, making this a fitting year to look back on the people who built our communities.
The project has come together as a community effort. The stone and its installation were donated by Bob Francois, former president of the Millville Historical Society. The effort is also being carried out in partnership with Robert Nuskey, president of the Mount Pleasant Cemetery Association, who is covering the cost of the stone’s foundation.
The memorial will be a granite headstone bearing Wells’ name and dates along with his titles as Millville’s first mayor and founder of Mount Pleasant Cemetery, as well as a line drawn from his 1889 obituary describing him as “a man of large executive ability.” The reverse of the stone will be engraved with the family name, serving as a marker for the Wells family plot, which has gone without one.
Duski presented the project to the Millville City Commission at its August 4 meeting.
A public dedication ceremony will be held on Thursday, September 3 at 4 p.m. at Mount Pleasant Cemetery, the anniversary of Wells’ death. Current Millville Mayor Dan Dixon will speak, and the community is invited to attend.
Duski, who has portrayed Wells in period costume at local events throughout the year, says the ceremony is meant for the whole city.
“Millville has an incredible history, and it belongs to everyone who lives here,” Duski said. “This is one way we can honor that.”
To follow updates on the project and the upcoming dedication, readers can follow Tanner Duski or the Millville Historical Society on Facebook.”
