Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Thomas Wells

Male 1723 - 1805  (82 years)


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  • Name Thomas Wells 
    Born 27 Aug 1723  Old Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Died 1 Sep 1805  Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Buried Godfrey's Hill Cemetery, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I1098  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Thomas Wells,   b. Abt 10/10 Jan 1694/5, of Dudley, Worcester, England Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Feb 1760, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 65 years) 
    Mother Elizabeth Merrill,   b. 13 Dec 1686, Old Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 24 Dec 1770, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 84 years) 
    Married 13 May 1720  Old Saybrook, Middlesex, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F756  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 1 Thankful Rowley,   b. 15 Jul 1723, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 28 Apr 1750, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 26 years) 
    Married 8 Nov 1743  Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F754  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family 2 Prudence Shipman,   b. 28 Mar 1728, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. Abt 26 Apr 1795, Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 67 years) 
    Married 14 Nov 1750  Hebron, Tolland, Connecticut, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F755  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. FHL book 929.273 W462c "History and Genealogy of the Wells Family. Some Ancestors and Descendants of Thomas Wells of Saybrook and Hebron, Connecticut, who had come from Dudley, Worcestershire, England in 1712. Supplementing: "The History and Genealogy of the Wells Family" by Philip L. Cobb, 1897"; compiled by John. L. Cobb, 1999, pp. 12-13:
      "Thomas Wells. Second son of Thomas, "was born at Saybrook, CT, 27 Aug. 1723, and was taken by his parents to Hebron in 1725, where he lived the remainder of his life, and died at an advanced age" (will of 15 Dec. 1801, probated after 13 Nov. 1805, Hebron, CT district Court record: vol. 3: 187-8, 200-1, John H. WELLES both witness to the will and one of the estate appraisers, wife Prudence and son Thomas executors); m. 1st 8 Nov. 1743, Hebron vi. rec.: 1:40, CT, to Thankful ROWLEE, ROWLEY, daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (FULLER) R. of Hebron, CT, b. 15 July 1723, who died 28 Apr. 1750, Hebron, CT vi. rec.: 2:360; he married 2nd, to Miss -name unknown-, but possibly Marcy, Mary or Phebe, Peters, dau. of John Sr. and Mary (MAR(C)KES) P. of Hebron, CT, "who bore him two children and died about 1750"; he married 3rd, 14. Nov. 1750, Hebron, vi. rec.: 2:122: CT, to Prudence SHIPMAN, dau. of Samuel and Martha (SHIPMAN) S. of Hebron, CT, born 28 Mar. 1728, Hebron vi. rec.: 1:28? CT, "by whom he had ten children"; she died 26 Apr. 1795?; his will calls him a husbandman, and the inventory of his estate lists 130 acres of land in Hebron, with the buildings thereon, at $22 per acre: $2860; Thomas Wells was buried about 1 Sep. 1805 in Godfrey's Hill cemetery, Hebron, CT. Thomas Wells's children, the first four by 1st and 2nd wife (it is unclear which): [Lists 19 children b. 1744-1777.]
      References:
      NY Gen. and Biogr. Rec.: 1906:97; "Hist. and Gen.: Wells Fam.," by P.L. Cobb 1897:1, 2; B.E.T.: 21 Aug. 1905 (re: Bateman Wells); Hebron, CT vi. rec. (Barbour mf.); I.G.I.: CT (as of Apr. 1992); Bailey's "Early CT Marr.: bk. 3: Hebron, CT: "Hds. Fams, 1790 and 1800 census and Indexes;" NY: Montgomery Co., Mayfield census fr. Indexes: 1800, '10, '20, '30, '50, '60; "Shipman Fam. in America." Edward S. and Descendants (1962): 234-6, 8; Mrs. M. Sue Wells, 3400 Somerset Rd., London, KY, 40741-9693 (Apr. 18 and May 19, 1995; Apr. 3, 1996).
      Will of Benjamin Trumbull of Bolton, CT, 3 Mar. 1790, pro. 3 Sept. 1790, Hebron, CT. Pro. dist.: 1 142-3 inv.: 145, sons, Benjamin and Asaph: exec., wf.: Abigail, daus. Mary Phelps, Sara Skinner, Esther Carter.
      Will of Capt. Asaph Trumbull of Hebron, CT, 28 Sept. 1819, distrib.: 24 Jan 1823 and 2 Dec. 1823, son Jonathan: exec., witnesses Daniel, Thomas and Lucy Brown.
      Will of Daniel Ingham of Hebron, CT, 15 Feb. 1797, noted that not recorded, Hebron, CT pro. dist.: 3: 138, son Oliver: sole exec., witnesses: Shipman Welles, John Post, Zilpha Welles (wf. of Shipman W.).
      Will of Jordan Post, 19 Jan. 1747/8, of Hebron, CT, yeo., pro. VI, Feb. 1747/8, E. Haddam, CT. pro. dist.: 2:3, wf.: Phebe: exec.
      Legal case: Ingraham vs. Baldwin 9 NY45 (1853) ac. 12 Barl 10 (begun Apr. 1849) Bateman Wells mortgaged property (where?) to Russell Wells 1 July 1818 who died 1838 having will made Feb. 1837 appointing Leonard Wells and Samuel A. Gilbert execs ... property occupied by Bateman Wells and son-in-law ___ Baldwin, ___ Baldwin claiming Bateman W. insane; claim denied."

      2. TAG 46:180-183: "The Wells (Welles) Family of Hebron, CT. and Cambridge, N.Y.," by John G. Hunt:
      "Writing in September 1848, Dr. Asa Fitch, tireless biographer of Washington County, New York, recorded the account furnished him by Austin Wells of Cambridge, N.Y., at that time, as follows:
      "Grandfather Thomas Wells came from Dudley in Worcestershire, England, to Saybrook, Connecticut, in 1712. He there married a Miss Merrill and had three children."
      In 1898, however, there appeared a variant version, titled "A History of the Ancestors and Descendants of John Howell Welles." In that it was said that Thomas Welles, born at Dudley, England, in 1694, came to America in 1712, marrying Elizabeth Merrill at Saybrook, Conn.; died in 1760 at Hebron in the same colony, having had seven sons. See also Wm. H. Cutter, "Genealogical and Family History of the State of Connecticut" (1911), 4:1905...
      As before noted, the accounts of the Wells family printed in 1898 and 1911 claimed that Thomas1 Wells, who died in 1760 at Hebron, Conn., had seven sons. On the other hand, his will, dated there in 1745 and proved there in June 1760, names wife Elizabeth and three sons only, Edmund, Thomas and Joseph. The question therefore arises as to whether this progenitor had lost four sons before drawing up his will in 1745, or whether he had given their portions before that date.
      It is not practicable to list the numerous descendants of the last testator, for they are scattered far and wide. A fair list of the descendants of Joseph2 and of Edmund2 appears in the Asa Fitch Manuscript History of Washington County, N.Y., a copy of which is in the hands of the historian of said county. The family of Thomas2 Wells is discussed in J. R. Coles' "History of Tolland County, Conn." (New York 1888), 339..."