Dr. Richard WELLS^{[1, 2, 3]}

1618 - Aft 1667  (49 years)

• Name	Dr. Richard WELLS  [4, 5]
  Born	1618	Boughton, Aluph, Kent, England   [6]
  Gender	Male
  Died	Aft 22 Jun 1667	, Anne Arundel, MD, USA   [4]
  Person ID	I2904	Ancestrees
  Last Modified	8 Jul 2022

  
  

  Family	Francis WHITE,   b. , Essex, England ,   d. Bef 1667
  Children	1. Richard WELLS,   b. Abt 1635,   d. Aft 11 May 1671  (Age ~ 36 years)   2. William WELLS,   b. Abt 1638, , Norfolk, Virginia, USA ,   d. Bef 22 Jun 1667  (Age ~ 29 years)   3. Mary WELLS,   b. Aft 1640, , , VA, USA ,   d. Jan 1698, , Anne Arundel, MD, USA  (Age ~ 57 years)   4. Martha WELLS,   b. Bef 1640,   d. Yes, date unknown   5. George WELLS,   b. Abt 1640, , Lower Norfolk, Virginia, USA ,   d. 1695, , Baltimore, MD  (Age ~ 55 years)   6. John WELLS,   b. Abt 1640, , , VA, USA ,   d. Abt 1714, , Queen Anne's, MD  (Age ~ 74 years)   7. Robert WELLS,   b. Abt 1642, , , VA, USA ,   d. Aft 22 Jun 1667  (Age ~ 25 years)   8. Benjamin WELLS,   b. Abt 1646, , , VA, USA ,   d. Abt 1702  (Age ~ 56 years)   9. Ann WELLS,   b. Abt 1647, , , VA, USA ,   d. Aft 1667  (Age ~ 21 years)   10. Elizabeth WELLS,   b. Bef 1653, , , VA, USA ,   d. Bef 1667  (Age ~ 14 years)   11. Frances WELLS,   b. Bef 1653, , , VA, USA ,   d. Bef 1667  (Age ~ 14 years)
  Last Modified	8 Jul 2022
  Family ID	F5092	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Documents

  dvm_LocHist010043-00021-0.jpg

  
  

• Notes

  Richard Wells could be the son of John and Elizabeth Elyott Wells of Saltash, England. Harry Wright Newman supports this theory because Richard's son, George, used a seal on his documents that was highly similar to the arms of the Wells of Saltash, County Cornwall, England. That Wells family settled in County Cornwall about 1530 from Lincolnshire. Their arms included a shield with a chevron with three birds and horse's head for the crest. This evidence suggests that the Wells in Saltash need to be studied closely. What we know for sure about Richard is that he was a staunch Puritan of wealth and influence at a period of history when the Puritans were in power. He and his wife were both the immigrant ancestors in this line. He immigrated from England to Virginia before Sep. 13, 1637. Richard was unmarried when he arrived and settled south of the James River in Virginia. (C-637) He received head rights in Charles City Co., Virginia and received fifty acres of land on the River between two creeks. He apparently had property back in England. He is sometimes confused with another Richard Wells also in Virginia. Our Dr. Richard Wells is apparently the Richard who was a Surgeon. He was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses in 1645. He and his family probably moved to Maryland to seek religious freedom offered by Lord Baltimore in 1653. The fact that he was a liberal puritan provoked the move. He took with him all of his children but Martha who had not been born, plus his servants, Thomas Boone, Henry Symonds, George Hall, Thomas Linstead, Edward Howard and Martha Windright. The birth place of he and his wife's children was in Virginia. Only their daughter, Martha's, birth date and place is unknown. In Maryland, he was granted 600 acres on Herring Bay that he named "Wells". He built the Manor House they lived in throughout their days on that property. He was appointed a member of the Parliamentary Commission on July 22, 1654, a year after arriving in Maryland. He along with Capt. Fuller, Richard Preston, William Durand Edward Lloyd, Capt. John Smith, Leonard Strong, John Lawson, John Hotch, and Richard Ewen controlled Maryland's government from 1654-1658. Any four of them could act as long as one of them was Fuller, Preston or Durand. (C-603) He held multiple offices for the courts. He accumulated much wealth in the form of land and a sixteenth of a ship called "The Baltimore." In checking public record, one family researcher has found this Richard Wells and his sons to be ambitious, furious when thwarted, and unsympathetic to those who could not further their interests. (C-637) After his death in 1667, his son Richard returned to England where his father's will was probated at the Prerogative Ct. of Canterbury, (1668). He still owned land in England at that time. His estate was appraised on Dec. 5, 1667 by Capt. John Howell and Godfrey Bayley. In it, a "chirugeon chest" contained interest in the ship "Majesty". His total worth was L1,735/6/4 plus 57,145 pounds of tobacco, several servants, silver plate, L7/8/9 currency. His Majesty owed him several sums on top of that. His will was witnessed by Francis Stockett, Bonham Turner and Wm. Linckhorne. He named five sons and three daughters. He wished all things to be divided including things in Maryland (the plantation where he lived), Virginia and England. According to a book on the "Welsh Family" whom his grandson, Thomas Stockett through daughter Mary married into, Richard held the title of "Major" as well as Dr.

  
  

• Sources

  [S702] Richard M. Kelly, The Maryland Ancestors of Rachel Wells THE SOUTHERN FRIEND: JOURNAL OF THE NORTH CAROLINA FRIENDS HISTORICAL SOCIETY; Vol. XVI Spring-Autumn 1994, Numbers 1-2 p. 35-63. [S1183] Florence Montgomery, Wells Family of Herring Creek?. [S687] Welsh, Luther W., Genealogies of the Welsh and Hyatt Families of Maryland and their Kin (Independence, Mo: Lambert Moon Printing Co., c1928). [S3457] Maryland, Calendar of Wills, 1635-1743, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc Date:1998 Place:Provo, UT, USA), 1,3250::0., Volume: I, Wills from 1635 (Earliest Probated) to 1685 (Reliability: 0). [S3458] The founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, Maryland, Ancestry.com, (Ancestry.com Operations Inc Date:2004 Place:Provo, UT), 1,24819::0. (Reliability: 0). [S1140] Wells Y-DNA Project (https://www.familytreedna.com/public/Wells/default.aspx?section=yresults as per 12/1/2015).