William Allen Wells, Sr

DNA testing has proven that William Wells and his brother Jonathan are family W032. It has been proven through this testing that they are not related to William Wells and Sarah Westmoreland, their branch is W13h. DNA testing also proves that John Wells and wife Anne are also not the parents as their branch is W11b.

Potential relatives of William and Jonathan through DNA family Wo32:

W032 _ID053 B275 b. 053 John Wells b. 1720 Bath England _ID103 B274 b. 103 Jacob Wells b. 1805 PA _ID152 B089 b. 152 Archie Craft Wells b. 1798 GA _ID156 B093 b. 156 Thomas Wells b. 1766 England _ID228 B160 b. 228 George Wells b. 1808 MS _ID255 B175 b. 255 James Joseph Wells b. 1817 NJ _ID276 B199 b. 276 William Wells Sr _ID282 B202 b. 282 Jonathan Wells Sr _ID414 B202 b. 414 Son of Jonathan Wells _ID486 B494 Missing b. 486 John Allen Wells b. 1778 NJ , maybe a cousin _ID??? ???? b. ??? James Wells[Hannah Kugler] b. 1763

From the Will of William Wells Sr, located at the Jefferson County Courthouse, Mt Vernon, Il. This was handwritten inside the packet. Heirs to the estate of Wm Wells Deceased Wm Wells Jr Pinckney Wells, Susan Davis, Heirs of Mary Crosno Joseph H Crosno John S Crosno Wm T Crosno Charles B Crosno Samuel W Crosno Heirs of Barton Wells, Parthena Manus ( Not sure of spelling of last name) Barton C Wells, Heirs of Henry Wells, Dicy E Wells, Caroline Wells, Tabitha Wells, Margaret A Wells, Nebraska Wells, (Not Nebraska Hutcheson Wells wife of James LF Wells, Wm T Wells, Ellis W Wells, Heirs of Tabitha Carter (Wells) Susan E Henry Wm E Carter Heir of John Wells, John W M Wells, Dated August 20, 1865 by Wm Wells Jr Administrator

History of Jefferson County, Illinois 1810 - 1962, Continental Historical Bureau, Mt. Vernon, IL 1962 Page M-24 John Maxey - youngest son of Jesse Maxey, did not come to Illinois until 1823. William and Jonathan Wells accompanied him on the trip.

McClellan Township Early Land Sales Extracted from Illinois Public Domain Land Tract Sales Database WELLS WILLIAM FD W2SW 14 03S 02E 3 80.00 1.25 100.00 MALE 06/18/1836 JEFFERSON 110 059

                                       JEFFERS

WELLS WILLIAM FD E2SW 14 03S 02E 3 80.00 1.25 100.00 MALE 07/06/1838 JEFFERSON 110 123

                                       JEFFERSON

WELLS WILLIAM SEN FD E2NW 23 03S 02E 3 80.00 000.00 WARRANT MALE 01/19/1853 UNKNOWN 105 096

                                       JEFFERS

WELLS WILLIAM SEN FD W2NW 23 03S 02E 3 80.00 1.25 100.00 MALE 04/18/1854 JEFFERSON 112 103

                                       JEFFERS

According to William Wells, Jr. obituary, William married a Miss Livingston [Elizabeth] in KY, a sister to John Livingston. In 1819 William Wells moved to Lauderdale Co., AL. William Wells Sr. moved to Jefferson County, IL from Alabama in 1823. [Perrin's History of Jefferson County states William moved to Jefferson County in 1825]. He rented the land of John Wilkerson near Old Union for one year. He lived two years near Rhodam Allen and Isaac Hicks two miles west of Mt. Vernon and in 1828 settled in Wolf Prairie. Here he became a prominent man, filling the office of magistrate and other positions of public trust. He died June 2, 1865 in his 82nd year. He and his brother Jonathan were leading Methodists.

History of Jefferson County, IL 1810-1962, The Story of Wolf Prairie Cemetery as told by Paul H. Wells: This is the story of how Wolf Prairie Cemetery, located in McClellan Township, got started . The story was related by the older people which included my father, W.P. Wells, who was born in 1860, and his brother and sisters; the oldest sister, Dicy E., was born in 1845.

"The earliest of the Wells family in Jefferson County was named William Wells, and he handed down the story through the generations. I think he came here about 1839, but have found nothing to prove or disprove this. Here is the story: A convoy of covered wagons was on its way to a place to settle in Elk Prairie Township, Jefferson County, IL. While en route to their new home, night caught them where Wolf Prairie Cemetery now is located; it was woods then. While they were camped here, a sick child became worse and died. The problem for them was what where they going to do with this child's body? They had to move on, and they couldn't take it with them. While they were still pondering the issue, two of the women who were sitting on the ground talking about it noticed a small bird acting very queer. It would flutter close to them, then it would flutter away, then back again. It kept repeating these strange actions until the women decided to follow and see if it were trying to show them something. They started after the little bird, and it led them down "what looked like a dim path" a short distance; and there they found two little graves with crosses on them. If anybody ever found out who were buried in these little graves, I haven't heard of it. They buried this child by these little graves, and that is how Wolf Prairie Cemetery got started. I have heard my father, W.P. Wells, and my Aunt Dicy E., "Aunt Sis" Wells Pasley, tell this story many times. It is my understanding that this happened about 120 years ago, though I have found nothing recorded as to the date. "