WELLS, Joseph ^{2 3 4 5 6 7}

  General Notes:

Joseph apparently had a twin sister named Sarah. Joseph Wells was living in Anne Arundel Co., MD. on Dec. 8, 1726. He paid taxes on the Mattapony Hundred of Prince George's Co. (now Frederick Co., MD). He had moved to the Monocacy Valley in west Prince George's Co. by 1742. His name is on a petition that sought the establishment of All Saints Parish from Prince George's Co in 1742. He bought land named "Boyling Springs", which was forty acres surveyed June 12, 1743. In November of that year, he was made constable of the Monocacy Hundred. He had 2 known wives and possibly 3. Rachel is the wife in question. She is only listed in one place as the mother of his daughter Rachel. There is a fairly strong theory out there that Rachel was simply a repetitive error on the person in the Quaker records later listing her as Rachel's mother in a Quaker record written after Joseph had become a Quaker. His wife Margaret was received in membership on 11/29/1745 and he on 2/29/1746.

They removed to North Carolina around 1750 after they sold "Boyling Spring", on Tuscorrah Creek near the mouth of the Monquescy. His certificate of removal to Carver's Creek MM, Bladen, NC was dated Jun 25, 1750. He and his wife were charter members of Cane Creek Monthly Meeting that was estabalished Oct. 7, 1751. Joseph gave his son Joseph 269 acres of land in Orange County, North Carolina on June 13, 1752. He sold another 137.5 acres of land to John Marshall in Sept. 1752. In that same year, Margaret stops appearing in Quaker Records when her husband Joseph and some children are in it. This could suggest that she had passed on in 1752 or earlier. (C-575)

  Noted events in his life were:

• Will, Jul 20, 1804, , Orange, NC.

Joseph married Rachel UNKNOWN. (Rachel UNKNOWN died in 1720-1721.)

Joseph next married Margaret SWANSON, daughter of Francis SWANSTON Jr. and Susannah PLUMMER, on Apr 11, 1721 in All Hallows Episcopal, Anne Arundel, MD, USA.¹ (Margaret SWANSON was born about 1705 in , Prince George, MD, USA and died about 1750 in , Orange, NY ⁸.)

  Marriage Notes:

If this marriage date is correct, and Rachel Well's birth took place a year earlier, it is possible that Rachel's mother is not Margaret as stated in most sources. (C-866)

Joseph next married Mary UNDERWOOD, daughter of Alexander UNDERWOOD and Jane HARRY, on May 27, 1758 in New Garden M.M., Surry, NC, USA. (Mary UNDERWOOD was born about 1710 in , Chester, PA, USA.)