| Notes |
- RESEARCH_NOTES:
1. The parents of Elizabeth Merrill are Thomas Merrill and Elizabeth Roe. I do not follow this line further since it is documented by others.
2. The book "History of Washington County, New York," reprinted 1979 by Heart of the Lakes Publishing, Interlaken, NY, copy in public library of Cambridge Village, Washington Co., NY, pp. 252-253:
"Edmund Wells was descended from an English stock. His father, Thomas Wells, was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, in 1694, and came to America in 1712, and settled in Saybrook, Conn. where he was united in marriage with Elizabeth Merrill, in May, 1720. Edmund Wells, one of the original propietors of the Cambridge patent, was born in Saybrook, 19 Feb 1721. In 1773 he removed with his family from Hebron, Conn., and settled in what is now the town of Cambridge, on the farm now owned and occupied by Thomas Cornell. He is the only one of the patentees who came to live upon the patent. His children were John Howell Wells, lived and died in Connecticut, Edmund Wells, Jr., born in 1746; graduated at Yale College, Sept. 14, 1768; came with the family in 1773. He was a prominent man in the town. He died on the homestead, 26 Sep 1826, aged 80 years. Mary Wells, married Walter Raleigh, and lived and died in Cambridge. Henry Wells, died young. James Wells, was a lieutenant of dragoons in the Continental service. he died at Croton River, Sept. 23, 1701 [date looks wrong - porb. 1781], aged 30 years. Sarah, married Joseph Peters, and lived and died in Cambridge. Austin, lived and died on his farm in White Creek, Dec. 8, 1849.
Captain Daniel Wells was born in Hebron, Conn., in 1754; in April, 1776, enlisted and joined the army then stationed on Long Island under the immediate command of General Washington. He held the rank of orderly-sergeant, and was selected as the bearer of a dispatch from General Washington to General Sullivan, containing sealed orders apprising him of the intended retreat. The duties were discharged with promptness amidst darkness and storm. Sergeant Wells' term of enlistment having expired while in the army was at White Plains, he received his discharge, and returned to Hebron, Conn., where he stood as a minute man. In 1779 he removed with his family to Cambridge and settled on the farm now owned by William Curtis. Here he lived with the companion of his youth for more than half a century, and was blessed with a family of sixteen children. He died May 6, 1840, aged 86 years. He was a man of stong mind. Respected by his fellow-citizens, he had been honored with various posts of office, both civil and miltary, which he filled with fidelity.
Descendants of the Wells family are yet living in this and the adjoining towns."
3. 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:
"My father Philip Lothrop Cobb, as a young civil engineer in the 1890's and later, collected material about his Wells ancestry, particularly in Cambridge, Washington Co., NY, where a number of members of the family had settled in the late 1700's. He had contact with a few of those of the family, and in 1913 with his wife, copied gravestone inscriptions there.
Albert Welles's "History of the Welles Family(s) 1876: 161-4," gives some information about our immigrant ancestor Thomas Wells who had come from Dudley, Worcestershire, England to Saybrook, Connecticut in 1712, and eventually removed to Gilead parish in Hebron, CT in 1725. Tradition was that he was born in Dudley, in the Black Country Midlands of England, January 10, 1694; he was called variously: sailor, farmer, in his will: husbandman. Saybrook, CT Town Records Vol. L2, page 512 show that Thomas Wells and Elizabeth MerrillS were married 13 May 1720, and Vol. L2, page 269, their son Edward (Edmund) was born 8 Feb, 1721/2; Elizabeth (daughter of a Thomas and Elizabeth (ROE) MERRELLS Jr. of Hartford, CT) was born there 13 Dec. 1685 or 6, and died at Hebron, CT 13 Dec. 1770 age 84 years old. April 10, 1721 he bought of Joseph Whittlesey, a dwelling house and lot of five acres in Saybrook. By 1725 the family had moved away to Gilead parish in the town of Hebron, CT, where he purchased a small property (at least 55 acres, as by the legacies in his will), and died Feb. 4, 1760 age 66 years. (His will made 20 Dec. 1745 and proved 16 June 1760, E. Haddam, CT pro. dist. court rec., vol. 3, pages 58-9; mentions wife Elizabeth and son Thomas executors, and sons Edmund & Joseph; (tradition says there were other sons: John, Samuel, William, and Daniel; no mention of any daughters)...
Reference: "Wells Chronicle (Wells Family Research Association) Orin R. Wells, P.O. Box 5427, Kent, WA 98064: 1995, 1997."
p. 17: "No mention of any daughters of Thomas Wells the immigrant ancestor, has been found in the records. References: "Hist. and Gen.: Wells Fam.," by P.L. Cobb 1897:4; Mrs. James Edson (Mary Elizabeth Houghton) Wells, Munson Rd., 8243 U.S. Rt. 20, Westfield, NY 14787. Feb. 21 and Mar. 21, 1995."
|
Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy
1686 - 1770 (84 years)