Hi. Andrew,
Thanks for the superb article on the Thomas/Frances Wells family. I too
wonder why there were not more participants in the DNA study. I know I have
a lot of gaps in my genealogy info and surely wish I had more documentation.
Anyway, Thanks for the E-Mail.
Ken Wells
-----Original Message-----
From: AJWEYER(a)aol.com [mailto:AJWEYER@aol.com]
Sent: Sunday, September 28, 2003 8:29 AM
To: ZachariahWells-L(a)rootsweb.com
Subject: [Zachariah Wells] Thomas Wells (1653-1718) of Prince George's
County, Maryland.
Hi Everyone,
First let me introduce myself. I am Andrew Weyer a descendant of
Zachariah Wells through his son Jacob. I am actually descended two ways from
Jacob
Wells through his sons James and also through Jacob's son Davidson. I have
been
working on trying to find Zachariah's father off and on for twenty years. I
have been sitting on the side lines watching and hoping that the DNA study
would
answer that question for us. The study did prove that Richard Wells was not
the father of Zachariah. The DNA study also added the information that we
are
related to Robert and Aaron Wells of Mason County, Kentucky and Augustine
Wells
of West Virginia. Several other Wells have popped up over the last few
months
and I will mention them later. I have taken this new information and tried
to
make it work for us. I realize that the DNA study only proves a relationship
and that relationship could be recent or many generations apart but I have
been looking far and wide for a Wells who would fit the bill as an ancestor
of
Zachariah, Robert, Aaron and Augustine. My research always comes back to
Thomas
Wells of Prince George County, Maryland.
Thomas Wells was born in England in 1653. As a young man Thomas bonded
himself out to pay for his passage to America. Thomas later married Frances
and
had a large family. In his will dated 26 September 1718 Thomas Wells, Sr.,
Planter, Prince George's County, Maryland, lists 5 sons: Thomas, Robert,
Nathan,
Joseph and George. I will mention the elder Thomas by Thomas Sr., here on to
help lessen the confusion. Thomas Sr.'s son Thomas' will mentions sons: John
and Thomas. Thomas Sr.'s son Robert's will mentions sons: Jeremiah, Thomas,
Nathan, Lender, Robert, William, Joseph and Benjamin. In a family tree of
Thomas
Sr.'s son Nathan it lists the following sons: Nathan, Richard, George, John
and Jacob. In a family tree of Thomas SR's son Joseph it lists the following
sons: Levi, Joseph, Isaac and Thomas. Lastly Thomas SR's son George's will
lists
two sons George and Joseph. So here is a man in Maryland in the late 1600s
who
had 5 sons and possibly 21 grandsons born before 1750. That should mean that
by the time the DNA study was taken Thomas Sr., s descendants should be
quite
abundant. Thomas is listed in the DNA study as family #W006. So far there
are
only three test subjects who claim to be descendants of Thomas, Sr. In our
group we already have reached 20 test subjects whose DNA matches. It seems
to me
that there should be more than just 3 descendants tested. I will discuss
these
three later in this message.
Now let me mention why I keep coming back to Thomas, Sr. First let's
look at Zachariah. Zachariah's eldest son was named Thomas. Zachariah had
sons
named Robert, Jeremiah and William. Thomas SR's son Robert also had sons
with
the names Robert Jeremiah and William. In the book "History of Buchanan
County,
Missouri" there is an article on W. S. Wells. "W. S. Wells of Rushville was
born in Lee County, Virginia, September 13, 1812. His great grandfather was
a
native of Wales, and was among the early settlers of Maryland. His
grandfather,
Zachariah Wells, during the Revolutionary War was a resident of North
Carolina, whence he afterwards moved to Lee County, Virginia. His father
Robert Wells,
was born in North Carolina. He married Elizabeth Shepherd in Virginia..."
Here is a grandson of Zachariah who was raised next door to Zachariah.
(Thomas,
Jacob and Robert all received part of Zachariah's original land grant.) We
know
that Zachariah was still in Lee County as late as 1827. So William would
have
been at least 15 years old when he was around his grandfather. William S.
Wells was later a school teacher and a legislator which shows that he was an
intelligent individual. This seems to me to be first hand knowledge that
Zachariah's forefathers came to Maryland.
I will talk about Robert and Aaron Wells of Mason County, Kentucky
together because I feel that there is not any real doubt that they were
related.
Both Robert and Aaron had sons named Nathan and Robert. Thomas SR's son
Robert
Wells had a brother and a son named Nathan. Robert's will was probated in
Frederick County, Maryland. Robert of Mason County, Kentucky was supposedly
married
in either Washington or Frederick County, Maryland. Washington County was
created in 1776 from Frederick County.
Next let's talk about Augustine Wells. I have seen several family trees
that say that Augustine was the son of George Wells, grandson of George
Wells
and great Grandson of Thomas Wells, Sr. This information comes without any
documentation. There is a message on one of the message boards talking about
a
deposition that Augustine gave on the Brasheer family of Prince George
County. I
believe this deposition was given in Washington County, Pennsylvania.
Augustine was able to give information about several generations of the
Brasheers. In
a 1745 will George Wells of Prince George's County, Maryland is a witness to
the will of Middleton Belt. In this will Middleton Belt leaves an
inheritance
to his nephew Middleton Brasheers. In 1798 a Nathan Wells married Ruth
Brasheers in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. This seems to show a connection
of
Augustine to George Wells son of Thomas, Sr.
Since the initial DNA results have come out, three more people have
been
connected to our DNA. The one that is most important is the latest one. DNA
sample 270 and family W187. This is Jacob Wells and Elizabeth Sedgwick of
Bullitt County, Kentucky. Jacob Wells has always been believed to be the son
of
Nathan Wells and grandson of Thomas Wells, Sr. Again documentation seems
lacking.
Sample 270 was given by Billy Wells and I have been trying to help him make
the connection to our Wells. He has good documentation back to James M.
Wells
who was born in Bullitt County, Kentucky in 1808. According to the 1810 and
1820 censuses there were 3 Wells living in Bullitt County: Jacob, Nathan and
Thomas Wells. According to Billy Wells his James was a son of this Jacob. In
1810
the three men were under 45. In 1820 they were over 45. That would give us a
birth range of 1765 - 1775. This age group would be too young for Robert,
Aaron
and Augustine. We know that Zachariah's Thomas and Jacob still lived in Lee
County, Virginia during this period. So here we have another distinct line
that
matches our DNA group. And again the name Nathan jumps right out at you.
Sample #131 is attributed to family W092 which belongs to Isaac Kindred
Wells who was born in Jefferson County, Tennessee in 1830. Isaac served in
the
Illinois Infantry during the Civil War. He applied for a pension from this
service and more information may be available at the National Archives where
this record is kept. In the 1880 census he states that his father was born
in
Georgia. Which again doesn't match any of our known lines.
Sample #186 and family W122 belongs to a George W. Wells who was born
in
Indiana in 1866 and in a later census George states his father was born in
Ohio.
Now to discuss the main stumbling block to my theory. There are three
samples that are attributed to family W006, Thomas and Frances Wells of
Prince
George's County, Maryland. I have emailed all three of the individuals to
see
if they would send me their lineages. I received an answer from only one of
them. Ken Wells has very good documentation back to the Orange County, North
Carolina Wells. The Orange County Wells were started by Joseph Wells. Joseph
is
supposed to be the son of Thomas Wells, Sr. Joseph was a Quaker and there
are
records showing him moving from Frederick County, Maryland to Orange County,
North Carolina around 1750. In the book "Pioneer Quakers at Monocacy" it
mentions that Joseph came from Chester County, Pennsylvania. This in itself
means
nothing because Joseph could have been born in Maryland moved to
Pennsylvania and
then back to Maryland. Also living in this Quaker community at the time was
an Isaac Wells. He is known to have a brother Samuel. When Isaac died in
1746
he lists sons: John, Isaac, Samuel and Benjamin. It would be wrong of me to
dismiss Joseph as a son of Thomas, Sr. without any proof. I say this knowing
that
this blows my theory out of the water. Is Quaker Joseph who lived in the
part
of Prince George's County that became Frederick County the same Joseph who
is
mentioned in the will Thomas, Sr.? That is what I need to prove or disprove.
Orin if you are reading this could you give me the lineage of the other two
gentleman who trace their DNA back to this Thomas Wells, Sr.? I only need
the
line from Thomas Sr. down to around 1850 to check the validity. Also Orin,
Thomas Wells of Prince George's County is supposed have been studied in an
article
in the Wells Chronicles. Do you have access to that article and could you
post
a copy or tell me where to find a copy?
I have been tossing and turning for months on whether to advance my
theories on this subject to this board. I am afraid that I might be making
muddy
waters darker yet. I have always considered myself to be a "Joe Friday
Genealogist." "Just the Facts, Ma'am." Nevertheless here I stand on
the
precipice of
guess and supposition and I don't like it. It is up to you all to push me
off
and prove that I don't know what I am talking about or can you add some more
information that could pull me back from the edge. In my 25 year trip
through
the wonderful world of genealogy I have been wrong many times. I may be
wrong
this time but I have been right much more often than wrong.
Andrew J. Weyer
Andy
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