The Wells Family of Kentucky's Big Sandy Valley
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THE WELLS FAMILY OF KENTUCKY’S BIG SANDY VALLEY S.S. HORNET - 1779 By John Britton Wells III THE WELLS FAMILY OF KENTUCKY’S BIG SANDY VALLEY “From Willesborough, England to Daniels Creek” ***************** John Britton Wells III and The Historical Committee Wells Family Association, Inc. Otter Bay Books, Inc. Baltimore, Maryland 2013 Revised 2020 Copyright ©2013, 2020 John Britton Wells III and The Historical Committee Wells Family Association, Inc. All rights reserved Permission to reproduce in any form must be secured from the Wells Family Association, Inc. Please direct all correspondence and book orders to: Wells Family Association, Inc. c/o John B. Wells III 216 Lake Ridge Dr. Newnan, GA 30263 Library of Congress Control Number 2013937158 Published for the Wells Family Association, Inc. by Otter Bay Books, LLC 3507 Newland Road Baltimore, MD 21218-2513 www.otter-bay-books.com Printed in the United States of America WELLS FAMILY REUNION, JOHNSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY – 1915 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO MY PRECIOUS GRANDCHILDREN WHO I HOPE WILL GROW UP TO BE PIRATES THEMSELVES. AARRGGHH!!! SOPHIE GRACE WELLS PHOEBE FAITH WELLS GATELY JACK WELLS CLAIRE BRITTON WELLS LYDIA DIANA WELLS “The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I passed at home in the bosom of my family” ----Thomas Jefferson v vi CONTENTS Preface………………………………………………………………….ix Prologue………………………………………………………………...xi Chapter One: Our Germanic and English Beginnings…………………..1 Chapter Two: Thomas Atte Welle of Willesborough…………………...3 Chapter Three: Godmersham and Boughton Aluph…………………...13 Chapter Four: To America……………………………………………..20 Chapter Five: Dr. Richard Wells of Dover, Delaware………………....23 Chapter Six: The Mystery of Richard Wells “III”………………..…....27 Chapter Seven: The Revolutionary War of “Uncle George” and Richard Wells “IV”……………………………………………....37 Chapter Eight: To Virginia and Beyond……………………………….44 Chapter Nine: The Legacy……………………………………………..46 Chapter Ten: Illustrations…………………………………………….115 Family Descendancy Chart (1452-1838)..….………………………...139 Blank Family Group Sheets……………….………………………….141 vii viii PREFACE I have lived in all sorts of places in my life, from New York City to Paris, France, and from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to Newnan, Georgia. However, I grew up in the mountains of East Kentucky in the “heart” of Appalachia. My father’s family, the Wells family, has lived in Appalachia for over 230 years. Although the word “Appalachia” conjures images of poverty, floods, drugs and strip mines, there is a positive in those mountains that outweighs all the negatives. There is one thing we value more than any other aspect of our culture … and that is FAMILY! My wife, Terrie, is from South Central Kentucky. When I brought her to the mountains she was amazed at how many relatives I had and how I “claimed” so many very distant cousins. Often, I would introduce her to a kinsman with, “We’re cousins three or four different ways. We don’t know exactly how we’re related – we just are.” Half jokingly, I explained to my bride that I had to travel all the way to South Central Kentucky to find an unmarried woman who wasn’t related to me. Ironically, it turned out that we are related after all. Mountain people travel, you know! The Wells family identity has always been an important part of who I am. I am a “Wells” from Johnson County, Kentucky. My people have been high and mighty and low and humble. They have helped make East Kentucky a family oriented, nurturing place. The entire community helped me raise my children. If they got into trouble, a cousin or an aunt would let me know long before they came home. If there was ever an emergency, my boys had but to knock on the nearest door and identify themselves as my sons and help was on the way. Some experts argue that this kind of protective shell has debilitated our youth to the point that they cannot function outside of the mountains. I say the opposite is true. The security of growing up surrounded by family gave me a self-confidence and sense of place that is lacking in many parts of our country. Therefore, it is with a great deal of family pride that I present to you volume one of The Wells Family of Kentucky’s Big Sandy Valley. This book weaves the story of our Wells family’s early history, from Denmark to England to America. It follows the generations from 1452 A.D. through the grandchildren of our mountain pioneer ancestors, Richard and Susannah (Hutchison) Wells. Future volumes will trace our family’s journey to the present day. I urge you to personalize this history of your family by adding the details of your own lineage using the blank family genealogy group sheets ix located at the end of the book. Be proud! God made you a “Wells” – some of His best work! There are hundreds of family members who deserve mention because of their efforts to preserve our family’s unique story. They came together to form the Wells Family Association, Inc. and made it possible for this book to be published. Special thanks are reserved for the members of the family history committee who have continued to collect and preserve our history. They are Louise McMonegal, Bobby Wells, Mary Walton, Patti Quallich, Kelly Johnson, Lou Sherburne, Rich Bonitz, Terry Strasser and the late Charles C. Wells. Without the editing skills of Louise McMonegal and Bobby Wells, and the photos collected by Patti Quallich, this book would not have been possible. The most important person in my life and my best friend is my wife Terrie Ann Barrier Wells. Her love and unending patience have made it possible for me to spend countless hours in libraries and archives in England and America. Finally, I want to thank my 8th great grandfather Richard Wells for having the courage to come to America and establish one of our nation’s finest families. John Britton Wells III Newnan, Georgia January 25, 2020 x PROLOGUE In 2002, Orin Wells, founder of the Wells Family Research Association, initiated the Wells Family DNA Project. This study compared the Y- Chromosome DNA of over 300 males who carry the last name of “Wells.” Twelve members of our branch of the Wells family participated and confirmed that we descend from Zorobabel Wells and his father Richard. It was also found that our Wells branch, designated as family W003 for the study, is not related to either the General James Wells family of Baltimore, Maryland, or the family of Zachariah Wells of Southwest Virginia.1 This discovery provided the impetus for a renewed effort to discover our correct ancestry. For almost eighty years, the family had accepted the genealogical research accomplished in the 1920s by a grandson of our ancestors Richard and Susannah (Hutchison) Wells. His research contended that we were connected to both the families of General James Wells of Maryland and Zachariah Wells of Southwest Virginia. It was assumed that since the grandson of Richard Wells had access to so many of the older members of the family, his conclusions were correct. However, the results of the Wells Family DNA Project proved that he was wrong. Since then, family genealogists have worked tirelessly to document our family’s unique story. Because the new DNA results matched us with other well-documented descendants of Zorobabel Wells we were able to attempt research from both ends. Our ancestor Richard Wells was born in 1760 and our distant forebearer Zorobabel Wells of Virginia and Maryland was born about 1646. The research challenge was to close the 114 year gap between the two. From our ancestor Richard’s Revolutionary War pension record, we also knew that Richard’s uncle was Dr. George Wells of Georgia. It took years of searching, but we were finally able to connect Dr. George’s ancestry to the descendants of Zorobabel. Additionally, the will of Dr. George Wells included only two brothers, Thomas and Richard, who could have been the father of our ancestor Richard. Thomas, born after 1748, was too young to have been Richard’s father, leaving George’s brother Richard as the only possible father of our direct ancestor Richard. The further connection with England is the result of the efforts of eight professional English genealogists who searched the deeds, wills and birth records of every English county before finding the records of our family in Kent. 1 “Wells DNA Project,” Wells Family Research Association, Inc., P.O. Box 5427, Kent, Washington 98064-5427. xi Two additional DNA studies revealed that our family’s DNA profile contains a distinctive Y-DNA subclade found mainly along the coast of Europe from the Netherlands to Denmark and common among the early inhabitants of Denmark and northern Germany.2 With the dissolution of the Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D., the fierce sea-faring tribe called Jutes from Denmark, along with some Angles, Saxons and Frisians from today’s northern Germany and the Netherlands, sailed across the North Sea to raid and eventually invade Great Britain, either displacing, absorbing, or destroying the native Celtic peoples there. While the other invading tribes settled farther to the North and West, the Jutes, from “Jutland” in Denmark, claimed what is now the County of Kent as their permanent home.3 Even today there is much surviving archeological evidence of their habitation.4 Since our Wells family traces its earliest documented ancestors to Kent and our DNA haplogroup was most common among the Jutes, it is likely that our pre-historic roots extend deep into the peat bogs and plains of western Denmark.5 The publication of this book is a direct result of the DNA testing and resultant genealogical research.