Wells Herbert Gage was born to Charles and Ida (Towne) Gage July 24, 1884, on the family homestead in Ellsbury Township, Barnes County, North Dakota. He received a teaching certificate from Valley City State University (at the time known as Valley City State Normal School) in 1904, and taught at the Aljoe School in the northwest part of Ellsbury Township. In 1905, he taught at the "Bill McClellan" School District 101 in Rochester Township, Barnes County. Gage decided to abandon teaching due to poor wages and, with the urging of his parents, attended a private school in Des Moines, Iowa, to study pharmacy. He completed coursework in 1908 and moved to Oriska, North Dakota, to work in a drug store. After a short time, he gave up this work and began farming. Gage worked for five years as a farm hand on the Andrew Brudevold farm near Page, North Dakota. During his time as a farm hand, he met Wilhelmena "Minnie" Augusta Sophia Peter, who was working as a housekeeper on the Brudevold farm. Wells and Minnie were married November 6, 1912.

Gage purchased 160 acres of land from Andrew Brudevold and, by 1912, began his own farming operations in Rochester and Ellsbury Townships, while residing near Walden, North Dakota. Wells and Minnie had eleven children, but one, Ida Ruth Gage, died at the age of one in 1920. Gage retired from farming and moved to Valley City in 1948. In 1972, he and Minnie moved to Hi Acres Manor in Jamestown and resided there until his death on January 22, 1974. Minnie then returned to Valley City where she remained until her death in 1983.

Source: Page, North Dakota: One Hundred Years. Page, ND, 1982.