Peter Wells

Peter Wells Jr. in Revolutionary War Peter Wells, Jr. was born in 1759 in Bucks County, Pa., and appears to have moved around the eastern states. In 1800 he was on a tax list in Hampshire County, Va. Peter served as a private in the militia from Tanny Town, Frederick County, MD in 1781. He later lived in Ross County, Ohio until 1831. He went to IN, to a place near both Warren County and Vermillion County when he was 75 years old and applied for a pension there. He had one leg off as a result of the leg being broken in the war. He had no means to hire a horse and wagon to take him to the county seat, so it is assumed that the judge went to his house to take a pension application July 22, 1835. http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/20097235/person/1352606102/media/1?p...

From: "Margaret Wells" <maggi59@msn.com> Subject: Re: [WELLS-PA] PETER WELLS b, 1759, Ancestry Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2007 12:45:35 -0800 References: <4C47CDB8-C2AD-11DB-BEDC-000A958AFBBA@socal.rr.com>

Dear Mari A few years ago, Virginia Knapp and I -- along with several other descendants -- finalized the data on the descendancy of Peter Wells Jr and sent copies of the data to various county historical societies where the family had lived. Based both on DNA and actual research, the connection to Peter Wells Jr seems well prove, although there are no actual wills. Most importantly, we found not only that Matthew and Sarah could be found in early Vermilion Co IN selling land, but that they were neighbors there to one Daniel Moosberger who testified in support of the pension application of Peter Wells Jr at that location. While we could not find Peter Wells Jr himself on the relevant census, we did find that Matthew had a neighbor with the odd last name of Lunlak in whose home was living an elderly gentleman of 70-80 years old, who might well have been Peter Wells Jr. The 1840 census, however, does not reflect a Rev War pensioner of that name at that location. I no longer have a copy of the data that we worked up, but would be happy to send you my notes separately, if you would like. Margaret Wells

On Tuesday, February 20, 2007, at 08:17 PM, mari wrote:

Trying to locate information on Peter Wells, born Bucks co. Pa. C/A
1759..

My line is Matthew Wells & Sarah Beard, William Wells & Eliza Abott,
Moses Peter Wells & Caroline Hoyer, Ada Wells & W. D. Hopley , Joseph
Wells Hopley & Emelia Hetland, &Me..
I am trying to prove a relationship to Peter Wells , that Matthew was
a son of Peter<1759.
Places of residence are:
Matthew born in Md. 1790.
Then on to possible Virginia, Ohio (Ross Co & Muskingum)
Green co. Wisconsin, Then Iowa, where Matthew is buried
Thanks
Mari Hopley Jackson
oneprairierose@netins.net<mailto:oneprairierose@netins.net>
.

Dear Mari Jackson,

Welcome, husband’s cousin!

Thanks to the good work of Margaret Wells, of San Diego, Virginia Knapp, of Salem, Oregon, plus the DNA project shepherded by Orin Wells, President of the Wells Family Research Project, we have the ancestry of your Peter Wells Jr., born in 1759 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Peter Wells Jr. was the son of Peter Wells, Sr, born about 1720-1725 in order to have him be 21 or older, able to marry Susannah Brock, daughter of Richard Brock and wife Susannah, without the recorded permission of a parent or guardian, in 1746.

Peter Wells Sr. was, by several associations, his location, and the DNA of his descendants, the son of William Wells [Sr.] of Bucks County, born about 1691, the eldest son of Henry Wells, who had died there in 1714, leaving a will naming his nine living children and “wife with child.”

Both Peter Sr.’s father William [Sr.], who probably had a first wife whose name we do not know, and Henry Wells, whose first wife was named “Mary,” left widows who were probably their second wives. William Sr. died in 1748 during a measles epidemic which devastated Pennsylvania along with other Colonies, and did not leave a will.

Henry Wells, father of William Sr. and grandfather of Peter Sr., was baptized in Bradfield, Berkshire, England (just west of London) to Edmund Wells and wife Mary, in 1672, the oldest of seven sons baptized there by that couple. The family came to the New World after March 1684, when they baptized their last known two little boys. Henry, at 13, worked his own passage in 1685 as an indentured servant, so there is a record of his arrival. Since Edmund and Mary (apparently) paid their own way in full, no record has been found of their arrival. The oral tradition that came down my husband’s line (through William Sr.) is that they came to escape religious persecution.

We cannot verify your later research, but I can share with you this e-mail from Margaret Wells of San Diego dated Aug. 29, ‘02: “There was another family that came out of Pennsylvania about this time - Matthew Wells b. cir 1790 m. Sarah Beard. Their children included William Wells b. 1811 Muskingum County. Ohio (there is THAT connection again); Peter Wells b. 1814 m: Jane Bowman & Julian Kepler; and I believe a Matthew and Joshua Wells. The family wandered through parts of Ohio including Ross County; Vermillion County, Indiana; and Wisconsin. Some ended up somewhere in the midwest - Nebraska or Kansas - don’t recall which off hand. I can probably locate some descendants of this branch.”

Best wishes, Mary Belle Wells http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/WELLS-PA/2007-02/1172...