Nathaniel Wells Sr (1771 - 1843)

Born 2 Jan 1771 in Abbeville, District 96, South Carolina

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Simmons) Wells — married 18 Sep 1800 in Abbeville, South Carolina

Husband of Rhoda (Walker) Wells — married 1837 in Mississippi

Descendants

Died 27 Oct 1843 at age 72 in Bogue Chitto, Lincoln, Mississippi, United States

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Mary Richardson [send private message] and Bill Parker [send private message]

Biography

The brothers George, Nathaniel and John Wells left South Carolina in 1804 and with their families traveled across western NC to the French Broad River in East TN. From there by flatboat to the Tennessee River and into the Ohio and then to the Mississippi landing in Adams Co. MS just north of Natchez at the mouth of Cole Creek. George and Nathaniel [John?] settled in what is now Pike Coutny MS . Nathaniel settled three miles north of Summit in Pike county. (From Sharpe) Nathaniel Wells and Elizabeth Simmons were married in 1802 and in 1804 moved to Miss. In 1812 he raised a company of Cavalry to fight in the Creek Indian War. In 1814 he was elected a Major in the 13th Regt. In 1821 he became a member of the Miss. Legislature. Was an elder in the Pisgah Prebyterian Church of Amite County, MS, where he was a charter member.^[1]

Letter from Robert Miller (son of Andrew Miller) to Ebenezer Miller, 3 Mar 1818:

" I have never been at Uncle Simmons. Saw William Simmons last summer, the only one of the family I have seen. They were all well the last accounts I had from them. John Simmons is married and living in Tennessee. Robert and William are both single and living with their father. Nathaniel Wells was in this place a short time since (at the time the Legislature was setting). He was Elected a member of the Senate from Pike County ."^[2]

Nathaniel Wells, the first child of Thomas Wells and Anne Bailey Wells, was born January 2, 1781 in South Carolina. His father, Thomas -- who was born about 1757 in the Abbeville District of South Carolina -- was a Revolutionary War solider. Some sources state that Thomas was killed in the battle of King's Mountain, North Carolina, in 1780. However, this is unsubstantiated. It is more likely that he died in 1791. In either event, it is clear that his wife, Anne, subsequently remarried to a William Morrah (or Morrow?).

Based upon the dates of birth of their children, Nathaniel Wells and Elizabeth Simmons were married prior to 1803. Information pertaining to their place of residence prior to1804 is lacking. In 1804 together with his mother and step-father, Nathaniel Wells and his wife Elizabeth Simmons migrated to Pike County, Mississippi.

Elizabeth Simmons, born December 31 1782, was the daughter of Robert Simmons, Jr. and Anne Miller Simmons who came to Pike County in 1804. It is known that Anne Miller was the daughter of Robert Miller and Jane Pickens.

Nathaniel Wells held various elected and appointed offices in Pike County during the 1820s. He is listed as a Justice of Peace in Pike County on April 26, 1822, as an Associate Justice on June 8, 1824, and as a state representative in 1824, 1825 and 1826. In addition, he was a major in the 13th Regiment (Nixon's) of Mississippi Militia during the War of 1812. Nathaniel Wells died October 28, 1843. He and his wife Elizabeth are buried in Chalmette. They were buried first in Pike County then moved during WPA days when the national cemetery for veterans of the Battle of New Orleans was established. ^[3]

"The Chalmette National Cemetery is not just for those who caught in the Battle of New Orleans. It was originally established to bury Union soldiers killed in Louisiana during the Civil War. Later veterans of any war could be and were buried there. Only four soldiers from the War of 1812 are there, and only one of them took part in the Battle of New Orleans:^[4]

Children of Nathaniel Wells and Elizabeth Simmons:

1. Anna Wells Born: October 11, ?
2. Thomas Wells Born: September 13, 1805
3. Robert Wells Born: February 8, 1807
4. William M. Wells Born: June 27, 1808
5. Vashti Wells Born: December 7, 1809
6. Rosalba Wells Born: June 10, 1814 Died: January 3, 1881, married: James S. Gatlin born: April 20, 1810, died: February 21, 1897
7. Ebenezer Wells Born: November 23, 1815
8. Christopher Wells Born: May 20, 1817
9. Nathaniel Wells, Jr. Born: November 16, 1818
10. Sabrina Wells Born: January 4, 1821
11. George Wells Born: June 14, 1822.

After the death of Elizabeth Simmons Wells, Nathaniel Wells married a second time to Rhoda Walker. Their children were:

1. Eleazer Wells, born: September 18, 1839, married: James Smylie, born: October 31, 1841
2. Elizabeth Wells Born: February 17, 1844.

Death

Burial: Chalmette National Cemetery, Louisianna 49924128

Original Burial: 1843 in Nathaniel Wells Cemetery, Johnstons Station, Mississippi. 2nd Burial: 1943, One Hundred Years Later. at Chalmette National Cemetery, Louisiana. Served War of 1812.

Military

War of 1812|13th Regiment, Mississippi Militia

Nathaniel was born on 2 January 1781 in Abbeville, Abbeville, South Carolina, USA.^[5]

Nathaniel served in the military in 1812 in United States.^[6]

Nathaniel served in the military on 6 January 1815 in Mississippi.^[7]

In 1820 Nathaniel (age about 38) was living in No Township Listed, Pike County, MS.^[8]

When Nathaniel was about 55 he married in 1837.^[9]

In the 1840 census Nathaniel (age 59) was living in Pike, Mississippi, United States.^[10]

Civil: 10 November 1840 in Pike, Mississippi, United States.^[11]

In 1841 Nathaniel (age about 59) was living in No Township Listed, Pike County, MS.^[8]

Nathaniel died at the age of 62 on 16 October 1843 in Buried Summit, Pike, MS - reinterred Chalmette Nat'l Cem. LA. Age: 72.^[9][12]

Nathaniel was buried after 16 October 1843 in Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, USA.^[13][14]

Research Notes

Notes from external profile

Maj. Nathaniel Wells Sr was born on 2 Jan 1781 in Abbeville District, SC. He died on 16 Oct 1843 in Summit, Pike Co., MS. He was buried in Chalmette National Cemetery, New Orleans, LA. He married Elizabeth Simmons on 18 Sep 1800 in SC. 2 He, with another brother, crossed the Blue ridge Mountains, according to family tradition, and with his household goods and a stick, floated on a flat-boat down the tributaries into the Ohio River, and down the Ohio river to the Mississippi River, landed in south Mississippi, and entered his land from the United States Government in Amite Co., MS. 2 He was a Major in the Mississippi Militia and was with Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. 2 They lived their lives and were buried in Pike Co. but were later dug up & moved to Chalmette, La. to the Natl. Cemetery for soldiers of the War of 1812 and the Battle of New Orleans. 2 According to daughter Sabrina, as told to her sister Anna, her father, Maj. Nathaniel Wells, purchased two brass cannon and raised a company of men who fought in the "Florida Wars" (1813/14) under Col. Nixon with Gen Andrew Jackson. She also stated that "after he won the Florida Wars, he came back to their home, Magee's Station, until Gen. Jackson sent for him and his men to come down to Louisiana to help win the Battle of New Orleans." (Actually the Battle of New Orleans occurred over an afternoon and the next morning. Maj. Wells and the "troops" from Amite Co. arrived during the night between the battles, and Maj. Wells' two cannon were one of the six cannon "batteries" that greeted the British that nextmorning.) After the Battle of New Orleans, the two cannon were placed on either side of the steps of his home where the children played on them until his youngest two sons (twins, b. about 1841 to Maj. Wells and his second wife, Rhoda Walker) took the cannon off to the civil war, from which neither young man ever returned (one died in Andersonville and the other died in a hospital in St. Louis in 1866 from a war wound to the hip).

In 1936, Major Wells and his first wife, Elizabeth Simmons Wells (Anna's mother), were disintered and moved to the National Cemetary in Chalmette, LA. The story is basically that Anna and Zachariah eloped, and Nathaniel did not speak with either of them for many years. There is an account of Zachariah Reeves in either Connerly's book or in a history of Mississippi Baptist (as Zachriah was an important Baptist preacher).

Elizabeth Simmons was born on 31 Dec 1782 in Darlington District, SC. She died on 10 Jun 1835 in Pike Co., MS. She was buried in Chalmette National Cemetery, New Orleans, LA.

Conflicting death information in a merge 3/2023:

• Died 16 Oct 1843 at age 62 in Pike, Mississippi, United States
• Died 27 Oct 1843 at age 72 in Bogue Chitto, Lincoln, Mississippi, United States

Sources

1. ↑ http://msgw.org/pike/wellsbio.html
2. ↑ http://www.norfield-publishing.com/Genealogy/Gatlin-Hoover.html#1.2.3
3. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 04 November 2020), memorial page for Nathaniel Wells (2 Jan 1771–27 Oct 1843), Find a Grave Memorial no. 49924128, citing Chalmette National Cemetery, Chalmette, St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, USA ; Maintained by Nancy Brown (contributor 47094573) .
4. ↑ Christopher Beard
5. ↑ Birth: Family Data Collection - Births Edmund West, comp. Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
6. ↑ Military: U.S., War of 1812 Service Records, 1812-1815 Direct Data Capture, comp Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
7. ↑ Military: Mississippi, Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers, 1812-1815,
   National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Complied Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812 in Organizations from the Territory of Mississippi; Record Group: 94, Records of the Adjutant General's.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Residence: Mississippi Census, 1805-90 Jackson, Ron V., Accelerated Indexing Systems, comp. Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Death: Family Data Collection - Individual Records Edmund West, comp. Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc,
   Birth year: 1781; Birth city: Abbeville; Birth state: SC.
10. ↑ 1840 Census: 1840 United States Federal Census,
    Year: 1840; Census Place: Pike, Mississippi; Roll: 216; Page: 168; Image: 788; Family History Library Film: 0014841.
11. ↑ Civil: U.S. General Land Office Records, 1796-1907.
12. ↑ Death: Family Data Collection - Deaths Edmund West, comp. Publication: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.
13. ↑ Burial: Web: Louisiana, Find A Grave Index, 1812-2011.
14. ↑ Burial: Chalmette, Louisiana, Chalmette National Cemetery, 1864-2003,
    Chalmette National Cemetery; Section: 46A.

• Title: Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve
• http://www.accessgenealogy.com/military/13th-regiment-of-mississippi-militia.htm

See also:

• Ancestry Family Trees Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com. Original data: Family Tree files submitted by Ancestry members. Ancestry Family Tree Ancestry Profile