Orin,
I don't recall if anyone has ever found an exact marriage date for
Zachariah and Abigail.
Every family tree I have researched has 1770....but....Grayson
County...which did not exist in 1770. I have no idea where this comes
from. No way to reject it, no way to verify it currently. Regarding
Grayson County, the reference may be the current county for where they
were married.....would be my guess.
Unless we find a document we are all guessing.
Agreed.....and that document may be hard to find as where they were living
was basically wilderness....but there have to be records
somewhere.....even if in a bible the the national archives may have.
Now did Jonathon Brickey Wells come up with 1750?
Yes.
Greg
>On 8/6/2013 6:38 PM, Greg Scalf wrote:
>>
>> I have been away from the research group for a while, but was able to
>get
>> back at the Zachariah Wells mystery recently. I am optimistic that my
>> recent research may have opened some new doors in solving the question
>> of
.who was Zachariahs father.
>>
>> After learning the DNA connection, I researched the children of Thomas
>> Wells, born 1653. The good news (most of you are probably aware) is that
>> Maryland has accurate birth records even for this time period. The six
>> sons of Thomas produced 24 male grandchildren. After looking over the
>info
>> and birth dates, I believe 1 of these 24 male grandchildren is the
>Father
>> of Zachariah.
>>
>> Several of the grandchildren can be eliminated because their birth was
>too
>> close to the approximate birth date of Zachariah. I researched all the
>> others and eliminated all of those that did not have Zachariah in the
>> Maryland birth records. This leaves us with three prime suspects and two
>> long shot prospects. The prime suspects are:
>>
>> John Wells, son of Thomas Wells& Mary Hopkins: born 10/26/1712 Queen
>> Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland
>> George Wells, son of George Wells& Susannah Plummer: born before 1725
>> Anne Arundel County, Maryland
>> Nathan Wells, Son of Robert Wells& Ann Lackland: born 12/27/1722 Queen
>> Anne's Parish, Prince George's County, Maryland
>>
>> There are no Maryland records for the above suspects. In all likelihood
>> they moved from the area to blaze their own trail. Where? That is the
>next
>> step of research.
>>
>> The long shot prospects are:
>>
>> Possible unknown Wells, son of John Duckett Wells& Mary Margaret
>> Parsfield. John was born between 1690-1695 and died before 1717. No
>> records of children for John Duckett Wells. He was married in 1715 but
>> dies soon thereafter. Did he leave Maryland and die in the wilderness?
>Did
>> he have children before his death?
>>
>> Joseph Wells, Son of George Wells& Susannah Plummer born before 1750
>> Prince George's County, Maryland. I highly doubt Joseph is a suspect due
>> to the fact when researches put before 1750 that usually means a date
>> close to the given date, in this case 1750. However, cant rule him out
>at
>> this point though, especially since he has a brother born before 1725.
>>
>>
>> Based on the available information (if you want the specifics I used I
>can
>> send them if you like) the 1750 birth date for Zachariah as told by
>> Jonathon Brickey Wells appears reasonable. I found references on line
>that
>> range from 1739 to 1745 to 1752 to 1755. The 1739 date can be eliminated
>> as this is calculated from the pension records of the Zach Wells from
>> Tennessee. But, the remaining dates are reasonable when cross checked
>> against the available information. So our Zachariah was likely born
>> between 1745-1755 with 1745-1750 more likely than 1750-1755. This is
>> especially true if the 1770 marriage date is accurate. All references I
>> have seen have the marriage in Grayson County, but Grayson County did
>not
>> exist until 1793. However, it could have been in a town which is now in
>> Grayson County. I have seen no other date for his marriage to Abigail
>> Osborne, but I have not seen any references to validate it either.
>>
>> Where was he born? I have found in family trees on line with references
>to
>> the states of North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland. I have
>> found specific references to:
>>
>> Paintsville, Kentucky
>> Baltimore, Maryland
>> Giles, Virginia 1745
>> Big Stone Gap, Virginia
>>
>> The only one of the above places that I think proves interesting is
>Giles,
>> as it is near the old Fincastle County and New River. The others I dont
>> think are very promising.
>>
>> I did come across this post in researching email posts on the old
>rootsweb.
>>
>> While I was in BSG 3 weeks ago, I visited the Museum and bought a couple
>> of books about the area. In one of them by Lawrence J. Fleenor, Jr., he
>> states Zachariah was born in 1745 at the Mouth-of-the Wilson area which
>is
>> over by Grayson Highlands.
>>
>> Mouth of Wilson and Giles are in the same neighborhood both use the 1745
>> date. Could be promising. Need to find this book by Fleenor!
>>
>> Possible other clues as to his birthplace come from references from the
>> movement of other grandchildren. Places that grandchildren of Thomas
>Wells
>> show up outside of Maryland are:
>>
>> Cane Creek, Orange County, NC
>> Leesburg , Fairfax County, Virginia
>> Lincoln County, NC (previously Tryon 1768-1779, previously Mecklenburg
>> 1762-1768)
>>
>> The Zachariah Wells clan.
>>
>> Several surnames show up in the same geographic places as Zachariah.
>James
>> Boggs, James Shepperd, Micajah Pennington
.and
.the Osborne family
all
>> in Fincastle with the clan and about the time Zach& Abigail are
>> supposedly married. They are together in Fincastle County, Virginia.
>Then
>> they show up in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Then in Lee County,
>> Virginia and finally in Missouri.
>>
>> Now this clan first appears in the Fincastle Militia& Tax records.
>> Ironically enough, another interesting name in those records is Daniel
>> Boone. So
..I decided to look into Boones biography. Turns out Boones
>> father moved the family to the Yadkin River Valley, North Carolina.
>Yadkin
>> River is right next to the New River Valley where Zachariah and the
>clan
>> resided. Boone then, of course, goes to Kentucky, and eventually ends up
>> in Missouri. Members of the clan end up in the same places or nearby,
>like
>> Zachariah in Southwest Virginia not far from Boones establishment in
>> Kentucky.
>>
>> An excerpt below from Boggs Genealogy:
>>
>> Sometime around 1798 James L. Boggs and his two brothers, James and
>> Ezekiel, decided to move from North Carolina to find their fortunes
>> in Kentucky. The migratory route from North Carolina to Kentucky was
>> through Cumberland Gap, located in the tri-border of Kentucky,
>> Virginia and Tennessee. This was the route which Daniel Boone
>> established in his first explorations of Kentucky from his base in
>> North Carolina. For whatever reason,(some say the
>> trek became too difficult) James L. dropped out of the
>> journey into Kentucky near Cumberland Gap and settled at the Three
>> Forks of the Powell River in Lee County, Virginia, as did Zachariah
>> Wells, his former neighbor in Wilkes County, North Carolina. This
>> location is near the mountain towns of Big Stone Gap and Appalachia.
>> That area of Wise County was then part of Lee County, which in 1856
>> became part of Wise County when it was chartered
>>
>> Jacob Wells, son of Zachariah ends up in Missouri as his wife was a
>> Sheppard and the eldest Sheppard had followed Boone to Missouri. Jacob
>> moves to Missouri following his father-in-law after Zachariah dies
>(which
>> has to be between March of 1827 last land transaction by Zach and
>August
>> of 1828 Jacob on Missouri voting rolls. It appears Zach was living
>with
>> Jacob in his final years).
>>
>> I have found no reference to Zach and the clan as being pioneers with
>> Boone. However, they certainly followed his paths. Based on that info I
>> decided to keep digging into Boones past. An interesting item was the
>> Boone family moved to Culpeper, Virginia during Indian uprisings from
>> 1758-1762. Since the clan followed Boones paths, could Culpeper offer
>> some info regarding Zachariah.
>>
>> Searching Culpeper and the records of Orange County, Virginia I found 8
>> references to a George Wells between 1734 and 1750. One on a Tithe List
>> the others on Road Orders.
>>
>> Another reference to Orange County is this:
>> Abigail Osborne, born - 15 JAN 1757, Orange County, Virginia.
>>
>> I have not verified this with any documents, but if correct it gives
>more
>> circumstantial evidence to connect Zachariah to George Wells of Orange
>> County.
>>
>>
>> Based on this circumstantial evidence I feel there is a very good chance
>> of the following lineage below.
>>
>> Thomas Wells (1653-1718)
>> ^
>> George Wells (1685-1764)
>> ^
>> George Wells (before 1725 - ????)
>> ^
>> Zachariah Wells (1745-55 1827-1828)
>>
>>
>>
>> Now the problem is proving it. Since it appears that Zachariah was a
>> pioneer, as we all already know records are hard to find and may not
>even
>> exist. Hopefully this info will help to get people working on Zach
>again.
>>
>> I will be happy to share my info, just contact me.
>>
>> I have a Zachariah Wells timeline on excel. I have over 50 verified
>> references relating to Zachariah and a lot of notes.
>>
>> Good luck Zach Wells researchers!
>>
>> Greg
>>
>>
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>>
>--
>Orin Wells
>253-630-5296
>
>
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