Mary (Waite) Wells (1672 - 1704)

Born 25 Feb 1672 in Hatfield, Hampshire, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Wife of Ebenezer Wells — married 4 Dec 1690 in Hatfield,Hampshire,Massachusetts

Descendants

Died 29 Feb 1704 at age 32 in Deerfield, Franklin, Massachusetts

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Biography

Mary Waite was born on February 25, 1672, in Hatfield, Massachusetts to Benjamin Waite 28, and Martha Leonard 22.

When Mary was five, her village of Hatfield, Massachusetts, was attacked by Indians and Mary, her mother, Martha, and her sisters, Martha and Sarah, were taken captive and marched to Canada, along with some of their neighbors. Benjamin Waite, Mary's father, led the effort to retrieve his family from Canada. After some delays in getting governmental permission to pursue the captives, Benjamin and Edward Jennings, who also had family members captured, finally set out for Canada, in December, via Lake Champlain. After many hardships the two men reached Canada and were able to negotiate a ransom for the release of their families and other captives. While in Canada, Mary's sister, "Canada" was born on Jan 2, 1678 The group returned to Massachusetts in May,1778.^[1]

Mary Waite married Ebenezer Wells, son of Thomas Wells and Mary Beardsely, on December 4, 1690, in her hometown. They had six children in 11 years.

She died in the Deerfield Raid, during Queen Anne's War, on Feb. 29, 1704^[2] in Hatfield, Massachusetts, at the age of 32. During the raid, led by a combination of French and Indians, 44 of of the town's inhabitants were killed and 109 were taken captive and marched to Canada.^[3] She was buried in Hill Cemetery, Hatfield, MA. ^[4]

Excerpt from History of Hatfield

"3. Ebenezer, son of Thomas (2), was b. July 20, 1669 in Hat. He m. (1) Dec. 4, 1690, Mary, dau. of Benjamin Waite. She was one of the captives taken by Indians Sept. 19, 1677. She died about 1704. He married (2) Aug. 15, 1705, Sarah, wid. of John Lawrence (who was slain by the Indians at Brookfield 1694). She was dau. of Samuel Smith of Hat.

Ch.: Ebenezer, b. Sept. 13, 1691, m. Abigail Barnard in 1720; He d. in Dfd. in 1758. Thomas, b. Sept. 25, 1693. Joshua, b. August 31, 1695. Martha, b. Sept. 18, 1697; m. Edward Allen, Feb. 4, 1720. John, b. June 9, 1700; Jonathan b. Sept. 6, 1702; Mary, b. Oct. 24, 1707; m. Aaron Graves; Removed to Williamsburg. She died in 1788.

"^[5]

Excerpt from History of Hadley

"6. EBENEZER, s. of Thomas, (1) Hatfield. He m. (1) Dec. 4, 1690, (1) dau. of Benjamin Waite; (2) 1705 Sarah, wid. of John Lawrence. Children-- Ebenezer b. Sept. 13, 1691, m. 1720, Abigail Barnard, and d. s. p. in Deerfield, 1758; Thomas, b. Sept. 23, 1693; Joshua, b. Aug. 31, 1695; Martha, b. Sept. 18, 1697, m. Feb. 4, 1720, Edward Allen; John, b. June 9, 1700; Jonathan, b. June 26, 1702; Mary, b. Oct. 24, 1707, m. Aaron Graves."^[6]

Attack on Hatfield - Extract from A History of Hatfield

On the morning of Sept. 19, 1677, the town of Hatfield was visited by a sudden and awful calamity, - another attack from the savages, like a bolt from a clear sky, that left a trail of ruin and devastation. On that bright fall morning most of the men were at work in the meadows cutting the golden corn. The women were busy with their household duties and the children were playing about their houses and in the streets unconscious of impending danger. At eleven o'clock, when the savory odors of the noonday meal were rising into the tranquil air, a blood-curdling yell suddenly pierced their ears - the dread war-whoop of the Indians. In a moment the savages were upon the defenseless village and the work of destruction was begun. Through Middle Lane poured a band of armed and painted warriors who fell upon houses lying outside the stockade. The torch was applied to the buildings of Samuel Kellogg at the corner of the lane and his wife, Sarah, and her infant son were killed and another child, Samuel, a boy of three years, was seized and bound. Surprised by the suddenness of the assault, Obadiah Dickinson and one child were captured unresisting at the house below. His wife was wounded and left for dead and the house was set on fire. John Allis's barn was burned and his six-year-old daughter, Abigail, captured. With no attempt to enter the open gate of the stockade the invaders rushed across the street to the houses on the east side, whose inmates in alarm were seeking places of safety. As the savages sped northward they stopped to kill the wife of Selectman Samuel Belden, who lived on the Silas Porter place. John Coleman's house was burned and his wife, Hannah, and infant child, Bethiah, were slain, one child was wounded and two were captured, of whom little Sarah was only four years old. John Wells's daughter, Elizabeth, aged two, was killed, his wife. Sarah, and one child wounded. Hannah Jennings, wife of Stephen Jennings, was made a prisoner with her two children by her former husband, Samuel Gillett, who was killed at the Falls fight. Philip Russell's wife, Elizabeth, and their three-year-old son, Stephen, met death. Across the street, on the J. D. Brown place, stood the home of Samuel Foote, who had moved from his first allotment. His wife, Mary, with a young son, Nathaniel, and a three-year-old daughter, Mary, was seized and dragged along. On the next lot above men were at work building a house for John Graves, Jr., who was soon to marry Sarah White, daughter of John White, Jr. Hastening northward to finish their work of destruction, with an attack on the family of their hated foe, Benjamin Waite, they shot from the frame of the structure being erected the brothers, John and Isaac Graves, and two young carpenters from Springfield, John Atchisson and John Cooper. Waite's house was at the very end of the village street, the site now occupied by M. J. Ryan. The revengeful savages vented their hatred by burning his house and barn and taking away with them his whole family, - his wife, Martha, and three children, Mary, Martha, and Sarah, aged six, four, and two. Abigail, the eight-year-old daughter of William Bartholomew, a former resident of Deerfield, was also captured.^[7]

Children

• Ebenezer Wells, Jr. 1691–1758, m. Abigail Barnard
• Thomas Wells 1693–1744
• Joshua Wells 1695–1768
• Martha Wells Allen 1697–1720, m. Edward Allen
• Col. John Wells 1700–1746
• Ensign Jonathan Wells 1702–1797

^[8]

Sources

• 1704 Raid on Deerfield "Deerfield Massacre", https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Deerfield
• 212th anniversary of the Indian attack on Hatfield, and field-day of the Pocumtuck valley memorial association, at Hatfield, Massachusetts, Thursday, Sept. 19th, 1889 (full text), https://archive.org/stream/212thanniversary00bart/212thanniversary00bart_djvu.txt
• Deerfield Captives of 1704, http://www.babcock-acres.com/Misceallaneous/deerfield_captives_of_1704.htm
• Find-a-grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=150442626&ref=acom
• Famil Records of the Descendants of Thomas Wait of Portsmouth, Rhode Island,1904 - John Cassan Wait (NYC), https://archive.org/stream/familyrecordsde00waitgoog#page/n24/mode/2up/search/benjamin+wait
• History of Hadley : including the early history of Hatfield, South Hadley, Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts; by Judd, Sylvester, 1789-1860; Boltwood, Lucius M. (Lucius Manlius), 1825-1905, Published 1905, Publisher Springfield, Mass. : H.R. Huntting & Company, Pages 796. https://archive.org/details/historyofhadleyi00judd
• History of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in Three Parts, A: I. An Account of the Development of the Social and Industrial Life of the Town from Its First Settlement. II. The Houses and Homes of Hatfield, with Personal Reminiscences of the Men and Women who Have Lived There During the Last One Hundred Years; Brief Historical Accounts of the Religious Societies and of Smith Academy; Statistical Tables, Etc. III. Genealogies of the Families of the First Settlers, Daniel White Wells, Reuben Field Wells

Pub. under the direction of F.C.H. Gibbons, 1910 - Hatfield (Mass. : Town) - 536 pages. https://books.google.com/books/about/A_History_of_Hatfield_Massachusetts_in_T.html?id=8w0WAAAAYAAJ

• Williams, Stephen. What Befell Stephen Williams In His Captivity (Deerfield, Mass., 1889) Page 13 & Page 32: Footnote 22: "Mary Wells and her mother were both killed in the raid of 1704; Mary in the town, her mother on the march."

1. ↑ History of Hatfield
2. ↑ Deerfield Captives of 1704
3. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Deerfield
4. ↑ http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=150442626&ref=acom
5. ↑ History of Hatfield, p. 447
6. ↑ History of Hadley, genealogy section, p. 151
7. ↑ History of Hatfield, pp 88-90
8. ↑ History of Hatfield, p. 447