Born: ABT 1620 Alcester, Warwickshire, England
Land: In 1650 Thomas Wells bought a homelot from his step-father. Thomas Coleman had bought the 3 acre homelot from Abraham Finch Senior a few years before. It was located on the east side of Broad Street. To this house, Thomas Wells brought his bride in 1651.
Marriage: MAY 1651 to Mary Beardsley in Hartford, Connecticut
Birth of Son: 10 JAN 1651/52
Name: Thomas Wells
Place: Wethersfield, Connecticut
Birth of Daughter: 01 OCT 1653
Name: Mary Wells
Note: Lived barely long enough to be baptized
Birth of Daughter: 05 MAY 1655
Name: Sarah Wells
Birth of Son: 14 JAN 1656/67
Name: John Wells
Note: Died that same year
Birth of Son: ABT 1658
Name: Jonathan Wells
Note: Thomas Wells was amongst the mass of men who took the oath of fidelity and became freemen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony on New Years’s Day, 1658. Captain John Pynchon and Elizur Holyoke came up from Springfield especially for this ceremony.
Note: In 1659, Thomas Wells joined the group of engagers going to Hadley. In this group where also his mother and his step-father, the Colemans,and his younger brother John. Thomas Wells was present at the first meetings, but did not go up to Hadley itself until 1660, since his wife was pregnant again.
Occupation: Thomas was listed in the 150 lbs category, which meant he was considered a prosperous Yeoman.
Court: While waiting for Jonathan to be born, Thomas Wells was called to witness the will of Luke Hitchcock, the man who first brought bees into the new world.
Note: On November 28,1659, He helped take Goodman Hitchcock’s inventory. Helping him was his friend John Hubbard and old Mr.Russell, the father of the minister.
Birth of Son: 03 APR 1660
Name: Jonathan Wells
Birth of Son: 10 JUN 1662
Name: Samuel Wells
Occupation: It was imperative that Thomas find other means of earning income besides what he could get from the land. Filling a need, on the 8th of November, the residents of the east side of the river agreed with Thomas Wells and his long time friend John Hubbard to carry their grain over the river to the mill, have it ground into meal, and bring it back again. So, on certain days of the week only Thomas and John went from door with their carts, gathering bags of wheat, or corn, to be ground. They brought all these sacks to the north end of town, loaded them onto a boat and sailed across the river to the mill located, happily, near the mouth of Mill River.There the miller ground the meal and sacked it. Thomas and John then reversed the trip.They were to be paid in one of three ways: in cash at three pence per bushel; in wheat valued at 3 shillings 6 pence; or in Indian corn at 2 shillings 3 pence per bushel. As a farmer Thomas Wells grew the usual crops: oats, wheat, barley, pease, and flax. He also harvested hay for the winter feed of his animals, for he had a yoke of oxen, some cows and heifers, as well as sheep and hogs.Thomas Wells, however, is one of the few people in Hadley to actually own bee hives. He must have learned about bees from Luke Hitchcock years before. Bees were not native to New England and the familiar fruit trees would not bear fruit without bees to pollinate them. Hence Hitchcock had brought bees in. To Thomas Wells, they were a double source of income. During the flowering season, he could rent the hives to farmers who had planted fruit trees and he could sell the honey the bees produced. Two bee hives with bees were valued at 1 pound 10 schillings, which put them in an expensive class of objects.
Military: Was a member of the militia
Note: Became a Townsman, one of the five men selected to oversee the affairs of the town for the coming year. It was the first time he was to hold public office. He held that office for 11 years. It was the first and last time Thomas Wells ever took up any public duty. Public duties were paid for out of the electee’s own pocket, and Thomas did not have much cash to spare.
Birth of Daughter: 08 SEP 1664
Name: Mary Wells
Birth of Son: 26 JUL 1666
Name: Noah Wells
Birth of Daughter: 04 JUL 1668
Name: Hannah Wells
Birth of Son: 20 JUL 1669
Name: Ebenezer Wells
Birth of Son: 11 DEC 1669
Name: Daniel Wells
Note: Only lived 6 months
Birth of Son: ABT ARP 1671
Name: Ephriam Wells
Birth of Son: 18 FEB 1672/73
Name: Joshua Wells
Note: Thomas Wells fell ill. On September 30th, he called his old friend and business partner John Hubbard, and another old friend Francis Bernard to his side and dictated his Last Will and Testament. He was 56 years old. He lingered on throughout the Autumn months before dying. The inventory of his estate was taken on December 14,1676. The estate was valued at slightly over 732 pounds.” These notes are from Fredrick B. Wickman When Thomas died he left a good estate in Hadley and Wethersfield, and a house and lands in Evesham, Worcestershire, England.
Death: 14 Oct 1676 in Hadley, Hampshire Co. Mass
Burial: Hadley, Hampshire Co, Massachusetts
Click here to see Parents: Thomas Wells and Frances Albright
Mary Beardsley
Born: 1631 Ilkeston, Derbyshire, England
Immigration: 1635 on the “Planter” with her family
Settled in: Stratford, Connecticut
Note: “Thus it was that the widow Mary Beardsley Wells found herself in charge of a large and unlikely household. She had ten underage children, ranging from Jonathan at 19 who might or might not live from the wounds he had received six months earlier down to Joshua who was only 4. There was also her son-in-law David Hoyt and his two orphan children. And undoubtedly, there was also her mother-in-law Frances [Wells] Coleman who, since the death of her second husband, had spent more and more time with her “beloved Mary”, and less and less time with her Coleman step-children with whom relationships seemed cool indeed. Also in the house, or perhaps in a little house of their own, were her oldest son Thomas Junior and his Hepzibah and their two children. She was a widow and the burden was heavy.” Notes from Fredrick B. Wickman of Amherst.
2nd Marriage: 25 JUN 1678 to Samuel Belden of Hatfield, Massachusetts
Death: 20 SEP 1691 Hadley, Massachusetts
Click here to see Parents: William Beardsley and Mary Harvey
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