James Martin Wells proved to be James E. Wells

James Wells who was married to Mary Josephine Reno was referred to as James Martin Wells on the Social Security registration of his son, Robert I. Wells.  This has been a mystery since a James M[artin] Wells could not be found in any internet Dallas County records (census or directories).

Today (8/7/11) the divorce record of James and Mary J. was found in the 14th District Court of Dallas. The court papers refer to him as James E. Wells. With their marriage date given in that record, the published marriage books for Dallas County, Texas were searched a the marriage record of James E. Wells to Mary Josephine Reno [dated 1 Jul 1896] was found.

Based on these two sets of records, I believe it can be concluded that his name was James E. Wells. It is not known at this time where the name Martin could have come from.