Family

Historical references are not necessarily events in which Wells family members participated,
but are noted to indicate what was happening in world history
about the time some Wells ancestors were alive.

HISTORY

780 –  800 Viking and Danish invaders raid England and Ireland.

800 –  Charlemagne, King of the Franks, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. 

1. Origin of De Welles

 The De Welles family of Lincolnshire, England, designated barons by summons to Parliament,

originated among descendants of the House of Vaux, located in tbe ancient province of Neustria, (now part of Normandy) France, and was one of the most illustrious families known to history. The Vaux family derivation can be traced as far back as 794 A.D., from which time family members held positions of high rank and were allied by marriage with most of the sovereign families of Europe.

 The use of surnames was not universally adopted in England until the thirteenth century. It is probable that the name de Welles (of Welles) derives from an early place of residence in England of members of the House of Vaux. The exact relationship of many early members of the de Welles family to one another is uncertain. The information given here can be verified by documents still in existence and is generally accepted as accurate.

 Latin was the ecclesiastical and governmental language of England until well after the Reformation. Our family name was generally written de Welles in early Latin texts. Later it was “anglicized” to Welles or Wells. Family members since the fourteenth century have elected to spell the name either with or without the second “e”.

 HISTORY

1066 – William the Conqueror invades England with a Norman army from France. He defeats King Harold at the Battle of Hastings and is crowned King William I. 

2. Jocelyn de Wells – 1066

 Jocelyn de Wells was a close friend and companion, as well as kin to William the Conqueror, with whom he came to England from France in 1066, and took part in the Battle of Hastings. After the Normans conquered England, Jocelyn stayed on and acquired lands there. He was the first Norman member of the House of Vaux to use the surname de Welles, and to establish residence in England. The extent of his family is unknown, but at least two of his descendants, Hugh and Jocelyn de Welles became bishops in the Catholic Church and very prominent English nobles.

 HISTORY

1215 – English barons and church leaders force King John to sign the Magna Carta, the first document to guarantee personal rights of individuals against the power of government. 

3. Hugh and Jocelyn de Welles – 1135 – 1215

 Hugh de Welles was born in 1135 and became Bishop of Lincolnshire and Lord Chancellor of England. Hugh was a leader of the twenty‑five English barons who, in 1215, were instrumental in obtaining the Magna Carta (Great Charter), the bulwark of English liberty, from King John at Runnymeade. This famous document was actually written by Hugh’s own hand. His name and that of his brother Jocelyn de Welles, Bishop of Bath and Glastonbury, are mentioned in the opening paragraph of the Charter and their seals appear on it. One of the four original copies of the Magna Carta still rests in Lincoln Cathedral, seat of Bishop Hugh de Welles. As Catholic clergymen, neither Hugh nor Jocelyn had families and so we descend from another member of the House of Vaux who arrived in England after the first Jocelyn. 

HISTORY

1120 – King Henry I of England and King Louis VI of France make peace, but Henry’s only son drowns in the White Ship disaster. Civil war follows Henry’s death from 1136 to 1154. 

4. The House of Vaux becomes de Welles in England

 Harold de Vaux, Lord of Vaux in Normandy, France, having conferred his seigniory upon the Abbey of the Holy Trinity founded at Caen, France, by Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, came into England and settled in Cumberland County about the year 1120. He was

related to Jocelyn de Welles, but exactly how is unknown.

 The eldest son of Harold de Vaux, was Hubert de Vallibus. Hubert’s son was Robert de Vallibus, who is designated in English records as Robert de Welles. His descendants afterwards bear the title of Lords de Welles of Ravne Hall, in Essex Shire (county).

 Our family descends through Robert de Welles, whose grandson William de Welles had four sons, Robert de Dalston, baron; Adam and William de Welles of Lincolnshire, and Oliver de Vallibus, prior of Pentney Abbey.

 A Richard de Welles is stated to have also held the manor of Welles ever since the Conquest (1066), by the service of being baker to the king, but his relationship to other family members is unknown.

 HISTORY

1189 – King Richard I, Couer de Lion, is crowned, then captured and held for ransom during the 3rd Crusade.  He is released in 1194, but later killed during a siege in 1199.  He is succeeded by his brother John. 

5. Sir Adam and Sir William de Welles, Knights – 1194‑1208

 Adam and William de Welles thus became the founders of the long line of noblemen of Lincolnshire whose history is given in full hy Sir William Dugdale in his standard work Baronage of England, from which most of the following information is taken. The older brother, Adam de Welles, in the 6^th  year of the reign of King Richard I, (1194) paid 10 marks for adhering as a knight to John, Earl of Moreton, brother of Richard I, who at that time assumed more authority, during his brother’s captivity, than he was afterwards able to justify. Adam de Welles died without issue and was succeeded by, his brother:

 William de Welles who in the 9^th year of the reign of King John (1208) gave 60 marks for one knight’s fee which was paid in Grimsby, Lincolnshire. He was succeeded by his son or grandson:

 HISTORY

1286 – King Alexander III of Scotland dies. His successor, Margaret of Scotland dies in 1290 before she can marry Edward of England. English begin struggle to conquer Scotland. 

6. William de Welles – 1283

 William de Welles, who, in the 11^th year of the reign of King Edward I (1283), obtained license for a weekly market and a yearly fair at his manor of Alford, in Lincolnshire. He married Isabel de Vesei, and had two sons, William, who apparently died while still a minor, and: 

7. Baron Adam de Welles – 1294 – 1307

 Adam de Welles, in the 22^nd year of the reign of King Edward 1 (1294), was in the wars of Gascony.  In 1298, he had summons to Carlisle equis et armis, and was named in the writ as a baron, all then summoned being designated by their ranks of nobility.

 Sir Adam was summoned to parliament as a Baron, 6 February, 1299. He was one of those who in that parliament, which was held at Lincoln, affixed their seals to the famous letter to the pope, by the designation of Adam Dominus de Welle. In the same year he was made constable of Buckingham Castle, and warden of the forest. The next year he was in the wars of Scotland, and again in 1301 and 1302; and had regular summonses to parliament during the reign of Edward I.

 He was summoned to the coronation of King Edward II in 1307 and his seat in Parliament was continued by that king until the year of his death, the 4th year of the reign of King Edward II (1311). He died, being seised of the manor of Welle, in Lincolnshire. He married Joane, daughter and heir of John d’Engayne, and had two sons: 

HISTORY

1326 – Isabella, wife of King Edward II and her lover Roger Mortimer invade England and capture the king. Edward II is deposed by Parliament, murdered, and succeeded by Edward III. 

8. Baron Robert de Wells – 1297– 1320

 Robert de Welles, Baron, who was never summoned to parliament. This noblemen died in 1320, two years after he had attained his majority, and leaving no issue by his wife, Maud de Clare, widow of Roger de Clifford, he was succeeded, by his brother: 

9. Baron Adam de Welles – 1304 – 1345

 Adam de Welles, 3rd baron, summoned to parliament from 20 July 1332 to 20 April 1343. This nobleman, at the period of his brother’s death, was only sixteen years of age; he attained his majority in the 20^th year of the reign of King Edward II, and doing his homage had livery of his lands.

 In the 7^th year of the reign of King Edward III, he was in the wars of Scotland, and again two years afterwards, at which latter period he was a knight. In the 16^th year of the same reign he was charged with ten men at arms and ten archers for the king’s service in France, and the like number in the next year.

 He married Margaret, daughter of John, Lord Bardolf, and died in 1345. He had a daughter, Margaret who married William, son of William, Lord Deincourt, and a son, John, who succeeded him. 

HISTORY

1337 –  Edward III claims the French crown and the Hundred Years War begins.

1347– 1350 –  Black Death plague devastates Europe and kills a third of the people in England. 

    10. Baron John de Wells – 1335? – 1361

 John de Welles, 4th baron, summoned to parliament 15 December, 1357, and again in November, 1360. The wardship of this nobleman, who was a minor at the time of his father’s death, was granted to Margaret, widow of William, Lord Ros, of Hamlake.

 In the 22^nd year of the reign of King Edward III, although still a minor, John caused his father’s executors to purchase a rent of ten pounds per annum, from the monks of Bardney; for the behoof of the abbess and nuns of Grenefield, which monastery was founded by his ancestors; in consideration whereof they obliged themselves and their successors, to find two fitting priests to celebrate masses, matins, placebo, dirge, and commendation, every day in the chapel of our lady, within the monastery of Grenefield, for the health of the souls of his predecessors.

 He had livery of his lands in the 29^th year of the reign of King Edward III, and in four years afterwards he was in the wars of Gascony.

 He married Maud, daughter of the aforesaid Margaret, Lady Ros, died in 1361, and was succeeded hy his son:

 HISTORY

1399 – King Richard II is deposed and succeeded by King Henry IV.

1340 – 1431 –  French and Scottish conflicts continue with intermittent truces.

11. Baron John de Welles – 1352 – 1421

 John de Welles, 5th baron, was summoned to parliament from 20 January 1376 to 26 February 1421. 

This nobleman served in the expedition made into Flanders, in the retinue of John Duke of Lancaster. In the 27^th year of the reign of King Edward III, and in the 1^st year of the reign of King Richard II, he was in the wars of France. The next year he was in the garrison of Berwick, under Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, its governor.  He subsequently obtained license to travel beyond sea, and returning in the 8^th year of the reign of King Richard II, had leave to go abroad again for the vindication of his honor, having received some affront from a knight in France. He seems to have come home solely to procure letters testimonial vouching for his credit and reputation.

 After this we find him in the Scottish wars; and in the 19^th of the same reign, he was ambassador to Scotland, where during his sojourn, being at a banquet, where deeds of arms becoming the subject of conversation, he exclaimed, “Let words have no place; if ye know not the chivalry and valiant deeds of Englishmen, appoint me a day and place when ye list, and ye shall have experience. This challenge was immediately accepted by Sir David Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, and London Bridge was appointed as the place of combat.

 The battle was fought on St. George’s Day, 23 April 1369 in the presence of the King and Sir David, the Scottish earl, displayed such an extraordinary degree of prowess, that notwithstanding Lord Welles’ spear was shattered against his helmet and visage, he remained so immovably fixed in his saddle that the spectators cried out that, in defiance of the laws of arms, he was bound thereto. Whereupon he dismounted to show the contrary, and got up again, and both warriors ran a second course which was also inconclusive. But in tbe tbird course, Lord Welles was unhorsed and flung to tbe ground; on which Crawford, dismounting, embraced him, that the people migbt understand that he had no animosity, and the earl subsequently visited him witb great courtesy until his recovery.

 Lord Welles married Margaret, or Eleanor, daugbter of John Lord Mobray, and had two daughters, Margaret, wbo married first John de Huntingfield, and secondly, Stephen, 2nd Lord Scrope of Mathers; and Anne, married to James, 3rd Earl of Ormonde. He died in 1421 and was succeeded by his grandson, the son of his deceased eldest son, Eudo, by his wife, Maude, daughter of Ralph, Lord Greystock. He may have had other children.

 HISTORY

1429 – 1431 – Joan of Anc leads French armies, but is captured and burned at stake by English.

1453 – The Hundred Years War ends and English give up nearly all French claims. 

12. Baron Lionel de Welles – 1407? – 1461

 Sir Lionel (or Leo) de Welles, 6th baron, was summoned to parliament from 25 February, 1432, to 30 July, 1460. This nobleman received tbe honour of knighthood, in the 4^th year of the reign of King Henry VI, from the Duke of Bedford at Leicester, with the young king himself, and divers other persons of rank. He served for several years after with great honour in France and was made lieutenant of Ireland for seven years, in the 14^th of the same reign.

 When the fatal feud between the houses of York and Lancaster (the War of the Roses) broke out, the Welles family was deeply divided by the conflict and suffered many misfortunes. These began when Lord Welles arrayed himself under the banner of Lancaster, and adhering to his colours with unbending fidelity, was slain at the Battle of Towton Field on Palm Sunday, 1461. His remains were deposited in Waterloo Chapel at Methley, county York.

 Sir Lionel married first Joan or by some accounts, Cecilia, only daughter of Sir Robert Waterton of Waterton and Methley, county York. She was also the sister and heir of Sir Robert Waterton, also of Waterton, a Knight.

 Joan and Sir Lionel had a son and four daughters. Their son Was Sir Richard Welles, who married Joane, daughter and heir of Robert Lord Willoughby de Eresby, and was first summoned to parliament in her right as Lord Willoughby, from 26 May, 1455 to 20 February, 1466, and afterward as Lord Wells and Willoughby. (See additional information regarding him below.)

 Their daughters were Alianore, who married first Thomas, Lord Ho and Hastings, and secondly, James Lawrence; Cicily, who married Sir Robert Willoughby, and had issue; Margaret, who married Sir Thomas Dymoke, of Scrivelsby, Lincolnshire, and had issue; and Catherine, who married first Sir Thomas de la Launde, Knight, and had two daughters, his co‑heirs.

 Lord Welles married secondly, Margaret, the sister and heir of Sir John Beauchamp, of Bletshoe, and widow of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset (by whom she was the mother of Margaret, Countess of Richmond, mother of King Henry VII.), and had another son, John, created Viscount Welles (see additional information regarding him below).

 Following his death at Towton, Sir Lionel was attainted a traitor by the victorious King Edward IV, under which decree the Barony of Welles became forfeited to the crown. It was later restored to his son and heir.

 HISTORY

1453 – Gutenberg prints the 42-line Bible at Mainz.

1453 – Turks capture Constantinople, crush Byzantine Empire, conquer the Balkans by 1467. 

13. Sir Richard, Lord Willoughby and Wells ‑ 1420? – 1469

 Sir Richard Welles, Lord Willoughby, Seventh Baron Welles, held the opposite loyalty as his father and supported the House of York. He had a grant in the 4^th Edward IV (1464), through the king’s special favour, of all the goods, chattels, and movables, whereof his father died possessed.

The next ensuing year (1465) he had restitution of the manor of Welles, and other estates in the county of Lincoln, with other lands in Northumberland. In three yean; afterwards (1468), he obtained a full restitution in blood and honour. In the 1^st, 6^th, and 9^th of Edward IV, he was summoned to Parliament as Lord Willoughby and Welles.

 This good fortune had only a brief endurance, however, for the next year (1469), Richard Nevill, the Earl of Warwick, took up arms for the restoration of King Henry VI. Although Sir Richard Welles, remained loyal to the House of York, the Earl of Warwick made Sir Robert Wells, son and heir of Sir Richard, Lord Willoughby and Welles, and a brave and able commander, general of the Lancastrian forces. This further division in the family between the warring factions resulted eventually in the complete destruction of the Welles noble line, as described below.

 Sir Richard, Lord Willoughby and Welles and his wife Joane, the heiress of Willoughby, had a son, Sir Robert Welles, and a daughter Joane. 

HISTORY

1471 – Edward IV defeats and kills Richard, Earl of Warwick, at Barnet; Queen Margaret, and Prince Edward at Tewkesbury. Henry VI is murdered in the Tower of London. 

14. Sir Robert Wells – 1442? – 1469

 Sir Robert Wells raised the standard of Lancaster and, at the bead of 30,000 of the people, cried King Henry. He promptly drove Sir Thomas Burgh, a knight of King Edward IV’s bouse, out of Lincolnshire, pulled down his dwelling, and seized upon all his goods and chattels. As soon as King Edward IV bad intelligence of this insurrection, be summoned Sir Richard Welles to his presence. Sir Richard, upon arriving in London, with his brother‑in‑law, Sir John Dymoke, and learning that the king was highly incensed, fled to sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, and determined to remain there until the king’s wrath was assuaged. King Edward, however, desiring to terminate the disturbance in Lincolnshire, without being obliged to take the field, sent for Sir Richard Welles, the father of Sir Robert Wells, and induced him to leave his asylum, on the king’s solemn promise of safety. He then required Sir Richard to command his son, Sir Robert, by a written message to lay down his arms.

 While awaiting Sir Robert Welles’ reply, the king marched at the head of what forces be could collect into Lincolnshire, taking Lord Richard Welles and Sir John Dymoke with him. But when he arrived within two days’ journey of Stamford, where his adversaries were stationed, he learned that Sir Robert Welles had refused to obey the injunctions of his father, which had been conveyed to him by letter. Becoming enraged at this refusal, King Edward caused, in violation of his royal promise, the heads of Lord Welles and Sir John Dymoke to be forthwith cut off.

 In revenge of this act of treachery by the king, Sir Robert Welles, without awaiting the coming up of the Earl of Warwick with reinforcements, attacked the royal army which was superior in number to that which he commanded.  After a most gallant and obstinate struggle his forces sustained a defeat, and be being made prisoner, was immediately beheaded.

 The death of the father and his heroic son took place less than a week apart in 1469, and they were both attainted as traitors to the crown after the restoration of Edward IV, in 1474.

 Sir Robert died without issue leaving a widow, Elizabeth. daughter of John Bourchier, Lord Bemers. She survived her husband by only one year, and bequeathed her body to be interred with his, in the cburch of the friars, at Doncaster.

 HISTORY

1481 – Spanish Inquisition begins, followed by other religious persecutions.

1485 –  Henry VII defeats and kills Richard III; begins Tudor dynasty. 

15. Joane Welles and Richard Hastings, Lord Wells – 1444 – 1503

 Joane Welles, daughter of Sir Richard Welles and sister of Sir Robert Welles married first Richard Pigot; and secondly, Richard Hastings, Esq., brother of William, Lord Hastings, chamberlain to King Edward IV.

 Sir Richard Hastings had so much favor from King Edward that he obtained a special livery of all the castles, manors, lordships, and lands, whereof Richard, Lord Willoughby and Welles, and his son, Sir Robert Welles, died possessed. In the act of attainder against Sir Richard Wells and Sir Robert Wells a special provision is made that Richard Hastings should enjoy certain manors that belonged to the said barons, in considerations of his having married Joane daughter and heir of Richard Welles, and also of his loyalty and services. Sir Richard Hastings was summoned to parliament, as Richardus Hastinges de Welles, Ch’v’r on 15 November, 1482, and 9 December 1493. Sir Richard and his wife Lady Joane Wells had an only son, Anthony Wells, who predeceased them.

 Sir Richard Lord Hastings and Welles died in 1503. If his summons to parliament be deemed a continuation of the old Barony of Welles (but it must be recollected that the attainder of Sir Richard Wells and Sir Robert Wells was never reversed), then that barony fell into abeyance amongst the descendants of the daughters of Lionel, the 6th Lord Welles. But if the summons be considered a new creation, the barony at Sir Richard Hastings Lord Welles’ decease became then extinct. 

HISTORY

1492 – Spanish conquer Grenada, destroy the Moorish kingdom in Europe.

1492 – Columbus sails from Spain to discover America. 

16. Viscount John Welles – 1465? – 1499

 John Welles, only child of Leo, 6th Lord Welles, by his 2nd wife, Margaret, Countess

Dowager of Somerset, was uncle by the half  blood to Henry, Earl of Richmond. Having taken up arms in behalf of Henry of Richmond, John Welles was made constable of the castle of Rockingham, and steward of Rockingham Forest, after the accession of Henry to the throne as King Henry VII.

He was also elevated to the peerage by letters patent (but the date is not known), to Viscount Welles, and was summoned to parliament in that dignity, 1 September, 1487. He was afterwards made a knight of the Garter. He married the Lady Cecily Plantagenet, daughter of King Edward IV and sister of Elizabeth, wife of King Henry VII and is stated to have had two daughters: Anne, who died an infant, and Elizabelh who died prior to her father. He died in the 14 year of the reign of King Henry VII (1499), at which time his viscounty became extinct. 

HISTORY

1498 – Vasco de Gama of Portugal discovers a route around Africa to India.

1502 –  Amerigo Vcspucci completes discovery of South America. 

17. Robert Wells – 1484 

Little is known of Robert Wells except the date of his birth and the place, Warwickshire, England. The only records of him are for taxes paid beginning in 1523. He was a gentleman of coat armour, which means that he was a direct descendant of one of the Barons Welles and, consequently, had the right to display the family crest and coat of arms. Which of the Barons he

was descended from is unknown, but he may have been a grandson or great grandson of John de Wells, fifth Baron Welles, through a younger son of John (the Welles title descended through John’s eldest son Eudo, but John apparently had at least one other son). Further details about the exact relationship of Robert Wells to the titled Wells lineage are now being investigated.

 HISTORY

1509 – 1541 ‑ Henry VIII separates the English Church from Rome, marries six wives.

1588 – Elizabeth I’s navy defeats the Spanish Armada. 

18. Thomas Wells – 1518 – 1558 

Thomas Wells was the son of Robert Wells and was also born in Warwickshire. Like his father, he was a gentleman of coat armour due to his direct relationship to the Barons Welles. He married twice and both of his wives were named Elizabeth. He paid taxes al Whichford, England in 1542. He had a brother named Walter who administered his estate after his death and his second wife’s death (both in the same year, possibly as victims of an influenza epidemic that was then in progress) for the benefit of his two children Robert and Ann. 

19. Robert Wells – 1540 – 1619

 Robert Wells was the son of Thomas Wells and was also born in Warwickshire. Like his father and grandfather, he was a gentleman of coat annour due to his direct relationship to the Barons Welles. He married Alice (surname unknown), who lived until at least 1615, and with her had two children, Robert Wells, who died in 1627, and Gov, Thomas Wells, our direct ancestor.

 HISTORY

1607 – Jamestown, Virginia founded; first English colony in America.

1620 –  Pilgrims land at New Plymouth, found Massachusetts Colony. 

20. Governor Thomas Wells – 1598 – 1659

Thomas Wells was the son of Robert Wells and was born in Essex, England. He was a gentleman of coat annour and he immigrated to America with his family, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts Colony in 1635. In 1636, he joined in establishing the new Connecticut Colony, and settled in Hartford, where be served in many public offices. He was a magistrate and court officer from 1637 until his death and was first elected treasurer of Connecticut colony from 1639‑1642 and again from 1648‑1652. He moved to Wethersfield, Connecticut in 1646, about the time of his second marriage. He was elected deputy governor four times beginning in 1654 and Governor in 1655 and 1658. He was also twice appointed Commissioner of the United Colonies. He married Alice Tomes, daughter of John Tomes. in 1615 in England and with her had six children, all born in England. The entire family emigrated to America and Alice died there about 1646. Thomas Wells then married Elizabeth Deming Foote, but they had no children. She survived him and died about 1683.

Thomas Wells, the first of his family to immigrate to America, descended from a family that had lived in Warwickshire, England for at least four generations.  Thomas Wells’ great grandfather, Robert Wells, was born about 1484 in Warwickshire.  He and his wife Elizabeth had at least three children: Walter, born about 1510; Thomas, born about 1512; and William, born about 1514.

Robert Wells’ son, Thomas, married Elizabeth Bryan in Warwickshire in 1535 and they had at least three children: Ann, born about 1537; Robert, born about 1538; and Walter, born about 1542.  Robert Wells married Alice Harbourne in 1572.  He and his wife had at least seven children: Mary, born about 1570; Jane, born 1573, Alice, born 1575; Robert, born about 1580; Hugh, born 1590; Thomas, born 1598; and Elizabeth, born 1611.  Thomas Wells, the son of Robert and Alice Wells, immigrated to America with his family in 1635.

The identities of these early generations of the Wells family are all known principally from the pleadings of a lawsuit regarding the ownership of property sold by Thomas Wells before he left England.  In 1648, John Wells, a nephew of Thomas Wells, filed suit in the English courts claiming that the land that Thomas Wells sold before he left England belonged by right to him, John Welles, through inheritance from his late father, Robert Wells, an older brother of Thomas Wells.

The Wells family owned land in Warwickshire, some of which was deeded to Thomas by his father and his older brother at the time of his marriage to Alice Tomes.  His family and the generations of Wells that preceded him in Stourton were likely sheep farmers and wool merchants, occupations that produced a generous income that enabled family members to acquire a quality education and to live a comfortable lifestyle.  Thomas’ work activities in his later life demonstrate conclusively that he could read and write in Latin as well as English and his personal library, as noted in the inventory of his will, shows that the scope of his education was well above that of most of his contemporaries in America.

Thomas Welles and his wife probably converted to the Puritan faith about 1620, some five years after their marriage.  Some of their neighbors, among them George Wyllys, the Griswolds, Rev. Ephraim Huit and Daniel Clark, also embraced Protestant doctrine and worshiped with Lord Saye and Sele (an English nobleman sympathetic to the Puritans), and with the group around Rev. Thomas Hooker.

Thomas was a moderate Puritan.  He decided to leave England after King Charles I appointed William Laud as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633 and the latter’s ecclesiastical reforms attempted to pull the Church of England back toward Catholic doctrine and away from nonconformist theology and protestant Calvinism.  As the crown enforced religious uniformity by closing down Puritan organizations and replacing recalcitrant clergymen, a number of Puritans and other dissidents left England for the relative freedom from religious persecution in America.  Among them were Rev. Thomas Hooker and Rev. John Cotton, who arrived in Massachusetts in 1633 with about 200 others.  The Wells family followed about two years later.

Ironically, Thomas may also have been influenced to leave the Old World for the New by the political and religious views of his wife’s family.  Alice Tomas’ half‑brother John was a fierce Cavalier (Royalist adherents to the Church of England led by Charles I and the nobility who supported him) who later provided shelter to the fugitive King Charles II during his escape to France.  Loyalists were frequently treated as traitors by the Roundheads (Puritan adherents supported by Parliament and led by Oliver Cromwell) during the turbulent years of religious conflict between King Charles I’s accession in 1625 and his execution in 1649.  Thomas probably that whether Roundheads or Cavaliers emerged victorious, his family might be persecuted for being on the losing side.  He thus was doubly encouraged to quit England for more tolerant shores.

When he got there, Massachusetts did not meet his expectations and Thomas Wells  stayed only a few months in Boston before moving to Saybrook, Connecticut and then, in June of 1636, to Hartford.  There he prospered, acquiring a home on the east side of Governor’s Street, and becoming a member of the Court of Magistrates in 1637, an office he continued to hold until his death.  He was also a member of the Court that in 1639 issued the Fundamental Orders or Constitution of Connecticut Colony, the original manuscript copy of which is in his handwriting.  On 11 April 1639, he was appointed treasurer of the colony and held that office for two years.

In 1646, Thomas’ wife Alice Wells died, leaving him with four minor children, and he soon married Elizabeth Deming, who was the widow of Nathaniel Foote, one of the first settlers of Wethersfield, Fairfield, Connecticut.  Thomas Wells had no children with his second wife who survived him by more than twenty years.

John Wells, the eldest son of Thomas Wells, was born in 1621 and was a teenage youth at the time his family immigrated to America.  In 1647 he married Elizabeth Bourne, born about 1626, probably in Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut.  She was the daughter of Elisha Bourne and Elizabeth Collyer.  The same year John moved from Wethersfield to Stratford to manage his father’s properties there and to be nearer his wife’s family who resided there.  John and Elizabeth Wells had seven children, four sons and three daughters, born between 1648 and 1660.7

John Wells died about five months before his father and left most of his property to his wife and three of his sons: John, the eldest, Thomas, the third, and Samuel the fourth.  His daughters shared with their brothers bequests of household goods and cash.  John’s second son Robert must have been favored grandson of Thomas Wells as the following paragraph concerning him appears in John’s will: “I freely give to my dear and loving father my sonn Robert to be educated and brought up as he see good.”

At the time his will was made, John expected that his father would long outlive him, but events proved otherwise.  About five months after John’s death, Thomas Wells also succumbed suddenly one evening after being, as attested by Governor John Winthrop, “very well at supper and dead before midnight.”

Perhaps prodded by his son’s unexpected demise, Thomas had written his own will on 7 November 1659, a few weeks after John’s passing.  His grandson Robert, then age 11, was the principal beneficiary, being given Thomas’ home and its contents with a provision that Robert eventually pay each of Thomas’ children or their heirs the sum of twenty pounds.  Thomas’ sons also shared his farm lands among them.

After reaching adulthood and gaining control of his inheritance, Robert Wells quarreled with his step‑grandmother over the administration of the home and adjacent buildings in which they shared occupancy.  On 9 June 1675, Robert Wells married Elizabeth Goodrich, the daughter of William Goodrich the Younger and his wife Sarah Marvin.  Robert was almost 26 years old at the time of his marriage, but his wife was only 18.  The conflict between Robert and his step‑grandmother intensified when he desired to place his new wife in charge of his household and Elizabeth Wells’ resisted that change in her standing as head of the household.

Robert Wells prospered rapidly after his marriage.  He and his wife had three sons by 1681, the year Robert was made a freeman12 and two more sons and a daughter by 1691. Robert’s wife Elizabeth died 17 February 1697, while all but one of their five children were still minors.  On 13 October 1698, Robert married Mary Stoddard, who was born 25 March 1668 in Salem, Essex, Massachusetts.  Mary was 30 years old and 20 years Robert’s junior at the time of their marriage.  Although she proved an able and loving stepmother to Robert’s children, the couple had no additional children of their own.

Robert Wells died 22 June 1714 while serving a final term as justice of the peace in Wethersfield.  He was survived by Mary, his second wife and four of his five children.  Robert’s will directed that the family harmony continue.  Mary was given a small plot of land, livestock, a “sixth part of all my silver, bills, and plate,” and an annuity of eight pounds to be paid in equal shares by Robert’s four sons.  He concludes: “My will is that my wife live with some of my children and they to take care of her,” a directive which the children followed until Mary’s death.

Joseph Wells, the third son of Robert and Elizabeth Wells, was born in Wethersfield September 1680 and spent his entire life there living in the home and farming the land he inherited from his father.  He was made a freeman and served a one year term as lister (tax assessor) in 1712.  He also served one year as a tax collector in 1715, but perhaps burdened by his duties in these necessary but reviled offices, he was never appointed to any others.  His brothers, Thomas, Robert and Gideon, all served as captains of Wethersfield militia companies and in other municipal offices, but Joseph was content with life of a prosperous farmer.

 He married Hannah Robbins, the daughter of another militia captain, Joshua Robbins, and his wife Elizabeth Butler on 6 January 1709. They had eight children evenly divided between sons and daughters.   The youngest child Christopher, appears to have predeceased his father, but all the others are named as heirs in Joseph’s will.

Joshua Wells, born 3 September 1726, was Joseph’s youngest son and was still a minor at the time of his father’s death.  He chose a close family friend, Joseph Hurlbut of Wethersfield, to be his guardian until he reached majority age.

Joshua gained full control of his inheritance in 1747, but did not marry for another ten years.  He worked the land he had received from his father and, in 1757, married Experience Dickenson, the daughter of Elihu Dickenson and his wife Lucy (Eunice) Deming. Experience was born 17 April 1736 in Wethersfield and was the sixth of eight children in her family.

Joshua and Experience had nine children, all born in Wethersfield during the years 1759 to 1773.  Their youngest child Daniel Wells, born 15 June 1773, was the father of Daniel Hanmer Wells.  Less than two weeks after Daniel Wells’ birth, his mother died on 27 June 1773, whether as a consequence of childbirth complications or from other causes is not known.

Although the oldest of Joshua and Experience Wells’ nine children was only 14 years of age at the time of her death, Joshua did not remarry.  He relied instead on the homemaking and parenting skills of his two eldest daughters, Experience Welles, born 14 September 1758, and Hannah Wells, born 26 October 1759, to care for and help educate their younger siblings.  They seem to have accepted this heavy burden willingly and to have performed it admirably.

Joshua Wells was confident enough in the capacity of his family to manage without him (probably with the assistance of other family members and friends) that he volunteered to go to war.  He was older than most of those who enlisted to fight in the Revolution, almost 50 when the Declaration of Independence was signed, but he still served throughout the conflict and survived another 15 years beyond it.

After the Revolution, Joshua Wells resumed his active leadership as patriarch of the family and continued to operate his farm as, one by one, his children married and began their own families.  Daniel Wells, the father of Daniel Hanmer Wells, was the last sibling to marry.  He married Honor Francis, born 19 September 1774 in Wethersfield, on 26 March 1799, six months after his father Joshua’s death at age 71.

Eliza Wells, Daniel and Honor’s first child, was born in Oneida County 24 September 1800.  Four additional daughters were born in Trenton during the following years as Daniel developed his property and prospered as a farmer.  Pamela Wells arrived on 7 May 1803, Abigail Wells on 15 March 1805, Lucy Ann Wells on 17 August 1809, and Honor Francis Wells on 20 August 1812. 

On 8 September 1812, less than three weeks after the birth of her fifth child, Honor Wells died, probably as a result of complications from childbirth.  She was eleven days short of being 38 years old.

On 30 November 1813, Daniel Wells and Catherine Chapin, born 15 March 1788, were married in Trenton. Catherine was the daughter of David Chapin, born in New Hartford, and his wife Ruth Seymour.

Daniel and Catherine’s first child, Daniel Hanmer Wells, was born on 27 October 1814. 

The Chapin Family in England and America ‑ 1484 ‑ 1814

Deacon Samuel Chapin was born in 1598 in Paignton, Devonshire, England and his wife Cicily Penney was born in 1601.  Samuel and his family immigrated to Massachusetts in 1635, the same year that Thomas Wells arrived in the colony.  Like the Wells family, the Chapins were Puritans seeking refuge from religious persecution in England.  Unlike the Wells, who soon relocated to Connecticut, Samuel Chapin remained in Massachusetts.  In 1642 he moved with his family from Roxbury to the new Agawam settlement, which by the time of their arrival had been renamed Springfield.

Samuel and Cicily Chapin had eleven children.  Two of the six who were born in England died prior to 1635 and the remaining four immigrated with their parents.  Four additional children were born in Roxbury and the youngest child joined the family in Springfield a year or so after their move.

Samuel became a prominent citizen of Springfield where he lived for the remainder of his life.  He was elected selectman for several years until 1652 when he was appointed a magistrate and as such could no longer serve on the board.  In addition to his court responsibilities, he shared the duties of minister with two other citizens after the departure of the settlement’s regular minister following a dispute about Calvinist doctrine in 1651. This religious calling gained him the title of Deacon which he retained throughout his life.

In 1660, when the towns of Springfield, Northampton and Hadley were constituted a county, Samuel was sworn in as one of the three judges of the new County Court.  He served in this capacity until 1666 when, at age 68, he retired from active life, deeded most of his property to his youngest son Japhet, and also relinquished his civic responsibilities to Japhet and his sibling Henry.  He lived quietly thereafter until 5 October 1675 when he survived a powerful attack on Springfield by the Agawam Indians who killed several settlers and burned more than fifty homes and barns.  Samuel was not wounded in the action, but at age 77, he was traumatized by the event and it probably contributed to his death on 11 November 1675.

Japhet Chapin resided all but the first year of his life in Springfield.  Like his father he was primarily a farmer, but also had civic and military duties.  He was in the Battle of Turner Falls in May 1676 in which the colonists defeated the Indians who had attacked Springfield the previous year, but at a high cost in casualties to their own force.  Japhet noted the battle thus in his own hand:

“I went out Volenteare against injens the 17th of May, 1676 and we ingaged batel the 19th of May in the morning before sunrise and made great Spoil upon the enemy and came off the same day with the Los of 37 men and the Captin Turner, and came home the 20th of May.”

Japhet married Abilenah Cooley, born 1642 in Springfield, on 24 July 1664 and they had a total of ten children.  Two of these died in infancy, but the surviving eight children all lived long lives.

Ebenezer Chapin, the fifth child of Japhet and Abilenah Chapin, lived most of his life in Springfield and made his living as a farmer.  He married Ruth Janes, born 1682, in 1702.  Ruth was the daughter of Abel Janes, born about 1642, and his wife Mary Judd, born 1660.   Ebenezer and Ruth Chapin had thirteen children born between 1703 and 1726.

About 1721 Ebenezer and Ruth Chapin moved to Enfield, a town about ten miles south of Springfield, that was first settled in 1679 and was then part of Massachusetts.  Their three youngest children were born in Enfield.

In 1749, some 28 years after the Chapins settled in Enfield, a lawsuit was concluded concerning the border between Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies.  In the decision, a surveyor’s error was determined to have placed part of Hartford County, Connecticut in Massachusetts and the boundary was ordered to be corrected.  The town of Enfield, which was in the affected area, seceded from Massachusetts and became part of Connecticut Colony.  The Chapins thus became Connecticut citizens without changing their place of residence and lived the remainder of their lives in Connecticut.

Ruth Chapin died in 1736, but Ebenezer lived to see all his eleven surviving children married and the birth of well over fifty grandchildren.  He died in Enfield in 1772, a little more than two years before the shots fired at Concord and Lexington marked the start of the American Revolution.

David Chapin, born 1722 in Enfield, was the youngest of Ebenezer and Ruth’s children to survive into adulthood.  David’s life was also short in comparison with his other siblings: he died at age 40, more than ten years before his father’s passing.

David married Martha Allen, born 1728 in Enfield, on 5 October 1749 when he was 27 years old and she was 20.  Martha was the daughter of Azariah Allen, born 1701 and his wife Martha Burt, born 1707, both of whom were among the original settlers of Enfield.

After their marriage, David and Martha immediately relocated to New Hartford, Litchfield, Connecticut, about 35 miles west and a few miles south of Enfield.  They had eight children over the next dozen years, all born in New Hartford.  The last of these, David Chapin, was born on 1 August 1762, just six weeks before his father’s death.

On 1 March 1778, David Chapin enlisted as a private in the Revolutionary Army for a period of three years serving in Captain Joseph Walker’s company.  His enlistment at age 15 was exactly three days after that of 51‑year‑old Joshua Wells in the same company. 

David was honorably discharged from service at Newburg, New York on 19 February 1781.  He married Ruth Seymour, born 2 January 1767 in New Hartford, in 1784.  Their first five children were born in New Hartford between 1786 and 1793.  They had three additional children after their move to Sangerfield, bringing their total family to eight. 

On 30 November 1813, Daniel Wells and Catherine Chapin were married in Trenton. Their first child, Daniel Hanmer Wells, was born the following year on 27 October 1814.