FYI
Here are the articles concerning the Wells DNA Project which were printed in
the winter issue of the newsletter:
Message from the President [Jon Hagee}
Wells Family DNA Project Results In!
Dear Wells Cousins,
THANK YOU!
Thank you for your participation in the Wells Family DNA Project. We have
had some incredible breakthroughs due to your contributions. Patricia will
go into more detail, but essentially we have proof of links to more than one
established family in the late 1700's. There is still a lot of work to do,
however, because the exact relationships still remain unknown.
DNA RESEARCH
Let me explain how this works. There is more than one type of DNA testing
that can be used. The one that worked out best for the Wells surname
relationship study examines what is passed from father to son., so only
males carrying the Wells surname were eligible The rest of us may get a
chance to participate in a future phase of this study.
Imagine DNA as being a comprehensive and detailed instruction manual for
assembling parts of the human body and assigning duties to these parts.
Each generation potentially passes copying mistakes in the DNA code
Sometimes it is essential and causes severe problems. Sometimes it is minor
and may go unnoticed. In any case (fortunately for us!), changes can be
detected and documented from generation to generation. After many years of
work, scientific methods have just reached the point where determination can
be made whether or not people are close or distant relatives (or for all
practical purposes not related).
In any case, we now have eliminated some known Wells families as well as
have indications that certain families are closely related. That's the good
news. We have been communicating with these families and sharing research.
Please contact me or Patricia if you want to share in that. These are very
exciting times to be living in for a genealogist. Combining Internet
communications and the DNA breakthroughs, we are making leaps that were near
impossible in the past.
The bad news is that each of these families seems to have the same problem
that we have. That is, each of their founding fathers seems to have come out
of nowhere. We know a lot about these men and their families in the years
following, but their origins are a mystery.
There is a lot of work and research left to do, but there are more leads to
follow than we have had for several years. Although we know we are related
to these new families, we don't know how. DNA studies offer very definite
kinship proof, but do not show an actual relationship. We are looking
forward to future Wells studies that may tie us in to European Wells
families. Maybe one of them has a long-lost missing Aaron that we just might
know where he is! And we have not seen the end to the DNA goldmine. DNA
research is relatively new and new discoveries are being made all the time.
You can find more information at the Wells Family Special DNA Project at:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wellsfam/dnaproje/dnaproje.html
Aaron Wells Y Chromosome DNA Signature
[graphic]
NEWFOUND KINSMEN OF AARON WELLS
[by Newsletter Editor, Patricia Straube]
One of the questions some of you may be asking is, "Is Aaron the son of
Richard Wells and Nancy Brown as printed in The Families of Southeastern
Kentucky?” The answer is, "No!" Aaron differs by 18 markers from the
so-called “Little Wells” which is Richard’s family. Nor does he match any
other of those old established colonial families of Maryland. However, as
Jon has already mentioned, he does match several other families whose
origins seem to be as mysterious as our own. A difference of fewer than four
markers is generally thought to be evidence of relationship. None of these
families differs by more than one and several are identical. The current
estimate is that the rate of change on the male Y chromosome appears to be
once every 20 to 25 generations. But, by definition, a random mutation can
happen at any time. The fact that several of these are identical to Aaron
does not mean that they are brothers. They may not even have personally
known each other. What it proves is that they have a common paternal
ancestor. But exactly how far back in time can't be known. Now let me
introduce you to our new relations:
ROBERT WELLS
The surprise is not that Robert Wells turned out to be a kinsman, since his
and Aaron's families interacted, but that in all five samples from his
descendants, a marker varied by one at the same point. Either Robert himself
was the source of the mutation or he is a bit more distantly related than
previously thought.
Robert Wells was born about 1753 and died about 1837 in Tate Township,
Clermont County, Ohio. He married Mary Downing, 5 January 1778, in
Washington County, Maryland. Our Aaron was probably the Aaron Wells who
witnessed the marriage of Ann Wells, Robert's daughter, and James Callon in
Mason County, Kentucky in 1798 since Ann's brother Aaron was only about 12
years old at the time. Lucy Thompson discovered that our Aaron, Robert, and
James Callon all owned land adjoining each other in Mason County before they
sold out when Aaron moved to Nicholas County, Kentucky and Robert with his
son-in-law and other children moved to Clermont County, Ohio. Besides
daughter Ann, Robert had children: Solomon, Isaac, Aaron, John D., Robert,
Jesse, Nathan, Mary D. and Eli.
Robert's son, John D. Wells, born about 1786 in Pennsylvania, married Rachel
E. Wells, Aaron's daughter. They lived in Williamsburgh Township, Clermont
County, Ohio. James and Ann (Wells) Callon's son, William, married Aaron's
daughter Ruth. They moved to Marion County, Indiana. [These are the
Editor's ancestors.] John D. and Rachel E. (Wells) Wells were probably the
parents of Dudley H. Wells who married Ruth Ann, daughter of Nathan Wells
and Jane Guffin, as well as John D. Wells (Jr.) who married Martha Ward,
daughter of Andrew Ward and Nancy Wells, and Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of
William Mitchell and Drucilla Wells. Now that Robert’s DNA profile is known,
this theory can be tested.
ZACHARIAH WELLS
One who was an exact match was Zachariah Wells of Lee County, Virginia.
However, If you look at any database referring to him on the Internet, you
will find them a real "mess". That's because so few records exist and like
Aaron and Robert, he had been mistakenly called a son of Richard Wells and
Nancy Brown. He has also been confused with another Zachariah Wells who
received a Revolutionary War Pension in Tennessee, as well as with his own
son, Zachariah Wells Jr. A newspaper article written in 1927, based on an
interview with a descendant, reported that he was born about 1750 in
Virginia and married Abigail Osborne there in about 1770. The article also
stated that he moved away from home after a dispute with his brother,
Robert. Some have identified him as the same Zachariah Wells who appears in
the records of Fincastle and Botetourt Counties in Virginia and in the
records of Wilkes County, North Carolina; however the first definite record
is when, on 3 May 1799, he bought 900 acres on both sides of the Powell
River in Lee County, Virginia, paying $1000. The last reference to Zachariah
Wells Sr. is in a deed dated 1 March 1827. Some give him as many as twelve
children: Thomas, Nancy, Zachariah Jr., William, Robert, Jemima, Elizabeth,
Abigail, Jacob, John, Jeremiah and Joseph.
AUGUSTINE WELLS
Augustine Wells, another exact match, was said to have been born 19 March
1760 in either Maryland or Virginia and to have died 10 September 1838 in
Monongalia County, Virginia (now West Virginia). His wife was Lucy
Doolittle, daughter of Moses Doolittle. Augustine and Lucy may have married
in Fayette County, Pennsylvania since Moses Doolittle was known to have
lived there. Augustine Wells is represented by only one sample of DNA taken
from a descendant of his son, Moses Doolittle Wells. He is also thought to
have had sons, Augustine Jr. and Thomas, as well as several daughters. He
was said to have been the son of Robert and Nancy Wells but with no further
information given.
"STRAYS"
Besides the mysterious Robert, Zachariah, and Augustine Wells, there are
equally mysterious men born in the early to mid 1800's who have been "brick
walls" to their descendants. A couple of them have participated in the Wells
DNA Project and have matched. There will undoubtedly be more.
GEORGE W. WELLS
George W. Wells Jr. was born 2 July 1866 in Indiana. He married Mary Ellen
Gaither, probably in Kansas. He died in 1935 in Oklahoma. The one descendant
tested has differed in only one marker, but at a different point than Robert
Wells. In conducting research on his behalf, it appears that he is a
descendant of John Wells Jr. and Elizabeth Graham who married 3 March 1839
in Jefferson County, Indiana. This John Wells is said to be the son of John
Boyd Wells and Margaret Hawkins. John Boyd Wells was born about 1770 and
died in April 1844 in Jefferson County. The family appears to have traveled
from western Maryland to western Pennsylvania to Kentucky to Ohio, finally
settling in Indiana in 1819. John Boyd Wells' son, Levi, was married in
Clermont County, Ohio in 1815.
ISAAC KINDRED WELLS
Isaac Kindred Wells, an exact match, was born 14 July 1830 in Jefferson
County, Tennessee. He married Mary Ellen Eastin 27 February 1853 in Coles
County, Illinois. He died 7 April 1903 in Indianola, Oklahoma Territory. His
father's name is still unknown but it was said that he was born in Georgia.
With the help of Don Claypool in Illinois, we are actively researching his
family. There appears to be a set of tantalizing coincidences possibly
linking him to Andrew Wells who was born 16 May 1765 and died 17 February
1834 in Sevier County, Tennessee (adjacent to Jefferson County). Andrew
stated in his Revolutionary War Pension Application that he was born in
Conococheague Manor in what is now Washington County, Maryland. He served
from South Carolina but lived for a time in Wilkes County, Georgia. His
parents were said to be Robert and Esther Wells. Again, there is no
definite information about them other than names.
The research on these last two is still in its preliminary stages, not at
all proven and with much more work to be done. We will be keeping you
updated on all the significant findings concerning the newfound kinsmen of
Aaron Wells, including Robert, Zachariah, Augustine and any others, in
coming issues of the newsletter.