Individual Details

Thomas Wells and wives Hannah and Mary

Thomas Wells (21 July 1778-1855) had been born during the Revolution, possibly in New Geneva, Pennsylvania. He himself, in the 1850 Census of Clark County, Missouri, listed "Virginia" as his birthplace--which then also included today’s southwest Pennsylvania or West Virginia. He was married in Pennsylvania at least by October 1797, when he was nineteen, as we see by his baptism record. He lived in Nelson County, Kentucky from 1798 to 1835, where he was a farmer and distiller by occupation. He and his first wife Hannah Smith had six children but tragically only one, a childless daughter Parthenia, outlived him. According to Family Bible records kept in Clark County, Missouri, these children were:
William Wells b. 1 July 1798 m. 16 May 1818 d. 23 Sep. 1823 a. 25
Rebecca Wells b. 15 Apr. 1800 d. 20 July 1803 a. 3
Parthenia Wells b. 23 Mar 1802 (m. late in life) d. 28 Nov. 1884 a. 82
David Smith Wells b. 4 May 1804 m. 7 Aug. 1826 d. (last ch.1843) a. 39+
Alanson Oliver W. b. 8 Jan. 1806 d. 2 June 1828 a. 22
Matilda Wells b. 8 Jan. 1808 d. June 1808 a. 6 m.

In the summer of 1808 some sort of epidemic struck all of the Wells families in Nelson County. Thomas lost his unmarried sister Frances, who lived with him, his new baby Matilda, and his wife, Hannah. Jesse Wells lost his second wife, Catherine Cross Wells. We do not know how many family members their brother David may have lost, nor their sister Abigail Wells Brown, but each had fewer surviving children than their years of marriage would have made likely. Both Jesse children by his first marriage (except for one), and Thomas’ daughter Parthenia, although they survived, were childless.

Thomas, widowed but having small children, was faced with finding a new wife. He married for the second time Nov. 24, 1809, Mary Hoskins, daughter of Revolutionary patriot and Valley Forge veteran Joseph Hoskins. Mary Hoskins Wells not only cared for and kept up all the household responsibilities for Thomas’ first family, but proceeded to have nine additional children, all of whom, fortunately, lived to grow up and marry.

By 1835, faced probably with high land prices when this younger family needed to get onto land of their own, and conflicting land claims in Kentucky, he took his younger children with him and again moved west, this time to public domain land, first in Lewis and then, by 1837, in Clark County Missouri. He successfully provided good farms for each of his sons and for his daughter Parthenia, became “the biggest landowner in that part of the county” according to his great-grandson Robert Lee Wells, who was raised in Missouri (though some land had to be sold to settle his estate) and saw each of his surviving children married.

He left behind in Kentucky grandchildren by three sons: by William Wells and Mary "Polly" Heddon or Hayden, though we have not been able to trace those children; by David Smith Wells, probably already living in Grayson County, Kentucky; and by Vardeman Rucker Wells, oldest son of the second marriage, who remained on a Nelson County farm.

Thomas Wells died in Clark County Missouri Feb. 14, 1855 at age 77, and his wife Mary Hoskins Nov. 1, 1873, at age 88. Both are buried on the farm which had been their home.

Researched and written by Marybelle "Preston" Wells

Birth	21 Jul 1778	Redstone, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania
Marriage	Sep 1797	Hannah Smith
Religion		Baptist
Moved	1798	Nelson Co., Kentucky
Occupation		farmer, miller, and distiller
Marriage	24 Nov 1809	Mary Hoskins
Moved	1835	Lewis Co., Missouri
Death	14 Feb 1855	Union Twp., Clark Co., Missouri
Burial		Wells family farm, Clark Co., Missouri

Spouse	Hannah Smith (1778 - 1808)
Child	William Wells (1798 - 1823)
Child	Rebecca Wells (1800 - 1803)
Child	Parthenia Wells (1802 - 1884)
Child	David Smith Wells (1804 - 1843)
Child	Alanson Oliver Wells (1806 - 1828)
Child	Matilda Wells (1808 - 1808)

Spouse	Mary Hoskins (1785 - 1873)
Child	Vardeman Rucker Wells (1810 - 1858)
Child	Alva Harrison Wells (1812 - 1853)
Child	Hannah Matilda Wells (1814 - )
Child	Joseph Wells (1816 - 1893)
Child	Isaac B. Wells (1818 - 1851)
Child	Ann Wells (1820 - 1903)
Child	Rebecca Olive Wells (1822 - 1862)
Child	Thomas Jefferson Wells (1826 - 1898)
Child	Alanson O. Wells (1829 - 1915)

Father	William Wells (1731 - 1798)
Mother	Rebecca Oliver (1735 - 1799)
Sibling	William Wells ( - )
Sibling	David Wells (1760 - )
Sibling	Abigail Wells (1764 - )
Sibling	Jesse Wells (1765 - 1838)
Sibling	Francis W. Wells (1767 - 1840)
Sibling	Sarah Wells (1770 - )
Sibling	Elizabeth Wells (1774 - 1833)

Notes