Individual Details
William Wells
(Abt 1731 - 31 Mar 1798)
1790 Census states that there were two free white males of 16 years and upward including heads of families. Also, two free white males under 16 years and three free white females including heads of families. There were no slaves. Possibly born in 1732. Patricia Hutcherson has birthdate of 1750. Occupation: Blacksmith/Distiller. 1769 Berks Co., PA tax list (PA archives)
Religion: Baptist. Member of Great Bethel Baptist Church, Uniontown, PA., 1767.
Left a will dated 12 Mar 1798 which was recorded in Fayette County, PA. on 31 Mar 1798. I have a transcription of the will in my records. JMT
FATHER-SIBLINGS: Letter from William L. Wells-343, of Quincy IL, to L. Jeffrey Wells in Pittsburg KS; 1994; Letter dated 11 Jul 1994; ; in possession of Jeff Wells, Pittsburg KS; COMMENT: Bill has been corresponding with Mrs. Loella S. Young of Ft. Myers FL, who has traced her ancestry to an Abraham Wells who she believes was a brother to William Wells. She thinks their Father might have been Edward Wells.
Information from Robert Hewitson WELLS dated 22 Sep 1997 - William WELLS possibly born in Bucks Co., Pennsylvania about 1731. If correct, then he was son of William Wells, d.1748., son of Henry Wells, son of Edmund WELLS, b. in Bradfield, Berkshire Co., England. Edmund may have been a Quaker but many of the family became Baptists in the early 1700's. Still searching for conclusive evidence. Also likely that Rebecca OLIVER was of Welsh ancestry. Fairly certain they have identified her father and at least one of her brothers, but still have no conclusive proof.
William Wells and Wife Rebecca Oliver
The story of our particular Wells family, as passed down by oral tradition in the Clark County, Missouri, branch of the descendants of Revolutionary War ancestor William Wells, is that the family descends from one of "four brothers from Wales named Wells, who came to America because of religious persecution, on the Mayflower." No such men are found on the passenger list of the famous 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim fathers of Massachusetts, of course. Nevertheless, the Mayflower made at least one other voyage carrying passengers, this time to the James River settlement of Jamestown in very early Virginia. Who knows whether or not "four Welsh brothers" were aboard? For the time being, that mystery is beyond our solution.
Let us merely say that we first meet the direct ancestry of David Smith Wells in the person of one William Wells and wife Rebecca Oliver about 1762, when William bought land in Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was taxed there in 1767 as "William Wells, Blacksmith [having] 60 acres, 2 horses, one cattle, one sheep, tax 4", probably shillings. The couple first sold some of their Berks County land in 1773, remained on the tax list through 1775, the last year the list was kept before the Revolution, and may have moved then or when they sold land there for the last time in 1777. We do not have proof of William’s service during the Revolution, but oral tradition is that he served under "Mad" Anthony Wayne.
By 19 May 1781 William and Rebecca were in Fayette County, on the western Pennsylvania frontier, when they joined Great Bethel Baptist Church at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the first organized west of the Appalachians. William was ordained the third Deacon of that church 20 Jan. 1782, and in October 1784, he and his wife Rebecca, his son-in-law Joseph Brown and daughter Abigail Wells Brown were among the charter members of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in what is now Smithfield, Pennsylvania. Their home was at New Geneva, down beside the swift-flowing, broad Monongahela River, well below the plateau of the rolling, fertile farmland of Springhill Township above them. William operated iron and perhaps coal mines, ran a forge and made iron castings, did blacksmithing, distilled corn into whiskey, operated a grain mill and a sawmill--in short, he was a very prosperous businessman.
His world became dangerous, however, after 1791 when the Congress of the United States established confiscatory taxes on whiskey, the only means the frontier settlers had to get their grain to market over the rugged Appalachian Mountains. This would have taken in taxes what little money came into that remote western region. William was for obeying the law, paying the tax. Around him however his neighbors organized a full-scale revolt, with threats to the life of anyone who was not in favor of "Tom the Tinker", the mythical rebel who was threatening the revenue collectors. On three occasions the house of Benjamin Wells from Virginia, "hated tax collector" was attacked: in April and November 1793, and in July 1794, burned to the ground. Within William’s beloved church, trumped-up charges were brought against him Oct. 12 1793 (easily disproved by the still-existing church minutes) and he was excommunicated in his absence May 10, 1794. Meanwhile, by March 22, 1794 he and an older son, David, and perhaps the rest of the family, were taxed in Franklin Co. Pennsylvania. Happily, by 1796, the "Whiskey Rebellion" was over and they were back in Fayette Co., as proved by the Fayette County tax records.
But the new lands in Kentucky were calling. October 7, 1797 Mt. Moriah Church heard the experience of David Wells [son of William and Rebecca], John Cross, John Smith, Jesse Wells [another son of William/Rebecca] Marthy Cross, Cathren [Cross] Wells [wife of Jesse], Hannah [Smith] Wells [Thomas Wells’ first wife Hannah], Rebecca Brown [oldest granddaughter of William/Rebecca, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Wells Brown], Keziah Taylor and Thomas Wells [youngest child and son of William/Rebecca.] (The Smiths may be the children of the Thomas Smith mentioned in the church minutes in 1785; all but Keziah Taylor are apparently Wells children and their in-laws.) Also ". .Allen Oliver [Rebecca’s brother?], Mary Ann Wells [wife of David] . .Elizabeth Oliver, and Susannah Smith. All Approved of and they Baptized Oct. 29, 1797."
Then Nov. 11, 1797, "William Stone, David Wells and wife request dismissions.. . Granted."
William Wells had reconciled his family with the church of which he was the first charter member listed, had seen all but his son William and daughter Frances safely married and baptized, and had lived to see the first part of his family’s subsequent move to Kentucky.
William died March 17,1798, still in Springhill Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. His will named his sons William, David, Jesse and Thomas, and his daughters Abigail, Frances, Sarah and Elizabeth. We presume he is buried in the Mt. Moriah Church Cemetery there, but our search found that the oldest tombstones are so darkened and worn down by years of frost and rain that no inscriptions remain visible.
In September 1798, his widow Rebecca, with twelve members of her family and that of her kinsman Allen or Allison Oliver, traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio. Her sons David and Thomas were already in Nelson County, Kentucky, for they signed as witnesses to a wedding there in July 1798, four months after their father’s death. Some disaster apparently struck the party, for in late September and early October of 1799, first Rebecca Oliver Wells and then Allen Oliver died within two weeks of each other. Both left wills, and Rebecca’s youngest son, the Thomas who became our ancestor, was named an executor for both his mother and Allen Oliver, proving kinship.
Researched and written by Marybelle "Preston" Wells
Religion: Baptist. Member of Great Bethel Baptist Church, Uniontown, PA., 1767.
Left a will dated 12 Mar 1798 which was recorded in Fayette County, PA. on 31 Mar 1798. I have a transcription of the will in my records. JMT
FATHER-SIBLINGS: Letter from William L. Wells-343, of Quincy IL, to L. Jeffrey Wells in Pittsburg KS; 1994; Letter dated 11 Jul 1994; ; in possession of Jeff Wells, Pittsburg KS; COMMENT: Bill has been corresponding with Mrs. Loella S. Young of Ft. Myers FL, who has traced her ancestry to an Abraham Wells who she believes was a brother to William Wells. She thinks their Father might have been Edward Wells.
Information from Robert Hewitson WELLS dated 22 Sep 1997 - William WELLS possibly born in Bucks Co., Pennsylvania about 1731. If correct, then he was son of William Wells, d.1748., son of Henry Wells, son of Edmund WELLS, b. in Bradfield, Berkshire Co., England. Edmund may have been a Quaker but many of the family became Baptists in the early 1700's. Still searching for conclusive evidence. Also likely that Rebecca OLIVER was of Welsh ancestry. Fairly certain they have identified her father and at least one of her brothers, but still have no conclusive proof.
William Wells and Wife Rebecca Oliver
The story of our particular Wells family, as passed down by oral tradition in the Clark County, Missouri, branch of the descendants of Revolutionary War ancestor William Wells, is that the family descends from one of "four brothers from Wales named Wells, who came to America because of religious persecution, on the Mayflower." No such men are found on the passenger list of the famous 1620 voyage of the Pilgrim fathers of Massachusetts, of course. Nevertheless, the Mayflower made at least one other voyage carrying passengers, this time to the James River settlement of Jamestown in very early Virginia. Who knows whether or not "four Welsh brothers" were aboard? For the time being, that mystery is beyond our solution.
Let us merely say that we first meet the direct ancestry of David Smith Wells in the person of one William Wells and wife Rebecca Oliver about 1762, when William bought land in Berks County, Pennsylvania. He was taxed there in 1767 as "William Wells, Blacksmith [having] 60 acres, 2 horses, one cattle, one sheep, tax 4", probably shillings. The couple first sold some of their Berks County land in 1773, remained on the tax list through 1775, the last year the list was kept before the Revolution, and may have moved then or when they sold land there for the last time in 1777. We do not have proof of William’s service during the Revolution, but oral tradition is that he served under "Mad" Anthony Wayne.
By 19 May 1781 William and Rebecca were in Fayette County, on the western Pennsylvania frontier, when they joined Great Bethel Baptist Church at Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the first organized west of the Appalachians. William was ordained the third Deacon of that church 20 Jan. 1782, and in October 1784, he and his wife Rebecca, his son-in-law Joseph Brown and daughter Abigail Wells Brown were among the charter members of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in what is now Smithfield, Pennsylvania. Their home was at New Geneva, down beside the swift-flowing, broad Monongahela River, well below the plateau of the rolling, fertile farmland of Springhill Township above them. William operated iron and perhaps coal mines, ran a forge and made iron castings, did blacksmithing, distilled corn into whiskey, operated a grain mill and a sawmill--in short, he was a very prosperous businessman.
His world became dangerous, however, after 1791 when the Congress of the United States established confiscatory taxes on whiskey, the only means the frontier settlers had to get their grain to market over the rugged Appalachian Mountains. This would have taken in taxes what little money came into that remote western region. William was for obeying the law, paying the tax. Around him however his neighbors organized a full-scale revolt, with threats to the life of anyone who was not in favor of "Tom the Tinker", the mythical rebel who was threatening the revenue collectors. On three occasions the house of Benjamin Wells from Virginia, "hated tax collector" was attacked: in April and November 1793, and in July 1794, burned to the ground. Within William’s beloved church, trumped-up charges were brought against him Oct. 12 1793 (easily disproved by the still-existing church minutes) and he was excommunicated in his absence May 10, 1794. Meanwhile, by March 22, 1794 he and an older son, David, and perhaps the rest of the family, were taxed in Franklin Co. Pennsylvania. Happily, by 1796, the "Whiskey Rebellion" was over and they were back in Fayette Co., as proved by the Fayette County tax records.
But the new lands in Kentucky were calling. October 7, 1797 Mt. Moriah Church heard the experience of David Wells [son of William and Rebecca], John Cross, John Smith, Jesse Wells [another son of William/Rebecca] Marthy Cross, Cathren [Cross] Wells [wife of Jesse], Hannah [Smith] Wells [Thomas Wells’ first wife Hannah], Rebecca Brown [oldest granddaughter of William/Rebecca, daughter of Joseph and Abigail Wells Brown], Keziah Taylor and Thomas Wells [youngest child and son of William/Rebecca.] (The Smiths may be the children of the Thomas Smith mentioned in the church minutes in 1785; all but Keziah Taylor are apparently Wells children and their in-laws.) Also ". .Allen Oliver [Rebecca’s brother?], Mary Ann Wells [wife of David] . .Elizabeth Oliver, and Susannah Smith. All Approved of and they Baptized Oct. 29, 1797."
Then Nov. 11, 1797, "William Stone, David Wells and wife request dismissions.. . Granted."
William Wells had reconciled his family with the church of which he was the first charter member listed, had seen all but his son William and daughter Frances safely married and baptized, and had lived to see the first part of his family’s subsequent move to Kentucky.
William died March 17,1798, still in Springhill Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. His will named his sons William, David, Jesse and Thomas, and his daughters Abigail, Frances, Sarah and Elizabeth. We presume he is buried in the Mt. Moriah Church Cemetery there, but our search found that the oldest tombstones are so darkened and worn down by years of frost and rain that no inscriptions remain visible.
In September 1798, his widow Rebecca, with twelve members of her family and that of her kinsman Allen or Allison Oliver, traveled to Cincinnati, Ohio. Her sons David and Thomas were already in Nelson County, Kentucky, for they signed as witnesses to a wedding there in July 1798, four months after their father’s death. Some disaster apparently struck the party, for in late September and early October of 1799, first Rebecca Oliver Wells and then Allen Oliver died within two weeks of each other. Both left wills, and Rebecca’s youngest son, the Thomas who became our ancestor, was named an executor for both his mother and Allen Oliver, proving kinship.
Researched and written by Marybelle "Preston" Wells
Events
| Birth | Abt 1731 | New Britain Twp., Bucks Co., Pennsylvania |  | ||
| Death | 31 Mar 1798 | New Geneva, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania | | ||
| Burial | Mt. Moriah cemetery, Smithfield, Fayette Co., Pennsylvania | |
Families
| Spouse | Rebecca Oliver (1735 - 1799) |
| Child | William Wells ( - ) |
| Child | David Wells (1760 - ) |
| Child | Abigail Wells (1764 - ) |
| Child | Jesse Wells (1765 - 1838) |
| Child | Francis W. Wells (1767 - 1840) |
| Child | Sarah Wells (1770 - ) |
| Child | Elizabeth Wells (1774 - 1833) |
| Child | Thomas Wells (1778 - 1855) |
Endnotes
1. ahnentafel chart from William Lewis Wells.
2. ahnentafel chart from William Lewis Wells.
3. ahnentafel chart from William Lewis Wells.