Founder, American Express; Organizing Partner, Wells Fargo And Co.

Stuttering Teacher.

Born in Vermont, where his father was a Congregationalist preacher, Henry Wells was a big, self-educated man who dressed sharply and spoke with a stutter. One of his first jobs was as a teacher at a school for students with speech defects, but, as his own problem did not improve, he lost the confidence of his charges and sought his fortune in the field of transportation. He took a job as a ticket agent facilitating the movement of freight and passengers for shippers on Lake Erie. Then, in 1839, he came to the attention of William Harnden, an entrepreneur who had just begun offering Harnden's Package Express, a delivery service from Boston to Manhattan that moved valuables requiring special handling more quickly (between those cities) than the U.S. Mail. Harnden's business flourished. When...