Zachariah Wells Sr
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Zachariah Wells Sr (abt. 1745 - abt. 1833)

Zachariah Wells Sr
Born about in Pennsylvaniamap
Ancestors ancestors Descendants descendants
Died about at about age 88 in Whitley, Kentucky, United Statesmap
Profile last modified | Created 11 Jun 2011
This page has been accessed 6,782 times.
  • No. 1 - ZACHARIAH WELLS, SR. -

DO NOT CONFUSE THIS ZACHARIAH WELLS WITH THE WISE COUNTY ZACHARIAH WELLS (Wells-13565)........

NOTE: I HAVE REMOVED ABIGAIL OSBORNE, as a wife. This Zachariah's wife is unknown, Abigail is the wife of Zachariah (Murray-2307)

Contents

Biography

Roll of Honor
Zachariah Wells Sr was a Prisoner of War during American Revolution.
1776 Project
Sergeant Zachariah Wells Sr served with Virginia Militia during the American Revolution.
Daughters of the American Revolution
Zachariah Wells Sr is a DAR Patriot Ancestor, A209366.
1776 Project
Zachariah Wells Sr performed Patriotic Service in Virginia in the American Revolution.

Children

Children of this Zachariah Wells are as follows, dates are unknown. These were taken from court papers dated in the 1700's:

Abraham Wells, William Wells, Jacob Wells, Caty Wells Shipley (married Benjamin Shipley), Polly Wells Jones (married John Jones), Jeremiah Wells, Jesse Wells

DAR and SAR Patriot Indexes Summary

Zachariah Wells (1750-1833) Served as a private, but attained the rank of Sergeant in the Virginia line. He was under Captain Henry Lee, and Henry Peyton and Cols. Henry Lee and Theodore Bland. He served as a life guard for General Washington and was taken prisoner.[1][2]
SAR insignia
Zachariah Wells Sr is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-316386
Rank: Unknown

Zachariah Wells (1750 - 1833)

Born about 1750. He was aged 80 when he applied for a pension in 1825. He had a wife, deceased, and children who were not mentioned by name, but were all adults in 1825.

Died after 1825 is frequently seen (true enough), but 5 Mar 1833, he was in Whitley County, Kentucky swearing that he was the same Zachariah Wells, in order to receive his pension through the Kentucky offfice. According to his final payment voucher, that payment was received the first quarter of 1833. Speculation is that he moved in with one of his children in Kentucky, and then died shortly.

Zachariah was captured while defending the Continental Army crossing into Valley Forge. The British General Cornwallis attacked the Continental Army on December 11th preventing them from crossing the Schuylkill River (known as the Battle of Matson's Ford). On December 12th, General Washington sent out scouting parties to keep track of Cornwallis's location. Zachariah must have been in one of these parties and was captured 15 miles from the rest of the Continental Army who were at Swede's Ford (present-day Norristown) on that day. The army reached Valley Forge on December 19th.[3] Perhaps his 5 months as a POW in Philadelphia saved his life from that hard winter in Valley Forge.

According to records found in the National Archives, Military Service Records Section, the following is the Pension Request filed and granted to Zachariah Wells while living in Sullivan County, TN on March 29, 1825, aged 80 years.

Zachariah Wells appears to have enlisted in Loudoun County, VA, July 28, 1776 and served in Capt. Henry Lee's Company, Col. Theodoria Bland's Regiment of Light Horse. He continued to serve until Capt. Lee was promoted to Col. of Calvary, he then served in Capt. Henry Peyton's Company of Col. Lee's Regiment. He was in the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, at which time he was one of General Washington's Life Guard. He was taken prisoner, December 12, 1777, at "Fox Chase", about fifteen miles above Philadelphia. He was held prisoner for five months, when exchanged he returned to Col. Lee's Reg. He was also in the Battle of Bordentown and served in all two years and five months.

Zachariah was a blacksmith after his war service.

War Pension Statements[4] Index to Final Payments[5] Revolutionary War Pension Documents[6]

Sources

  1. [ Daughters of the American Revolution, DAR Genealogical Research Databases, database online, (http://www.dar.org/), "Record of Zachariah Wells", Ancestor # A209366.]
  2. Sons of the American Revolution Patriot Index
  3. Wikipedia: Matson's Ford
  4. "Southern Campaigns Revolutionary War Pension Statements & Rosters" found under Zachariah Wells S39119
  5. National Archives Catalog ID: 2733385 National Archives Catalog Title: Index to Final Pension Payment Vouchers, compiled 1818 - 1864 Record Group: 217 Roll: box04_00002 State: Tennessee Pensioner name: Wells, Zachariah at Fold3
  6. M804 Publication Title: Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files Publisher: NARA National Archives Catalog ID: 300022 National Archives Catalog Title: Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800 - ca. 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900 Record Group: 15 Virginia S39119 Zachariah Wells
  • Military Records: Revolutionary War Pension Lists Listed in: Pension Roll of 1835, Volume III Page number: 559.
  • Military Records: Virginia in the Revolution and War of 1812. Listed in: Register of Virginians in the Revolution Page number: 816.
  • Military Records: Virginia in the Revolution and War of 1812. Listed in: Revolutionary War Records. Page number: 279.




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DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Zachariah by comparing test results with other carriers of his Y-chromosome or his mother's mitochondrial DNA. However, there are no known yDNA or mtDNA test-takers in his direct paternal or maternal line. It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Zachariah:

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Comments: 25

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Wells-16201 and Wells-1602 appear to represent the same person because: Appears to be the same man.
posted by Sheri Havens
His son wouldn't be William Wells junior.
posted by Sheri Havens
My adopted name is "Fisher" but my confirmed paternal surname is "Wells." My paternal 3rd great-grandfather was Zachariah Wells, b. abt 1775 at Effingham Co. Georgia and d. 1836 at Bryan Co. Georgia. Zachariah's father was Henry Wells, b. abt 1750 in the Bucks Co. PA area, migrated to Effingham Co. Georgia abt 1770 and d. abt 1793 at Effingham Co. Georgia. Zachariah was married to Elizabeth Scott, b. abt 1780 d. 1842 at Bryan Co. Georgia. According to the 1830 Bryan Co. Georgia census, Zach & Elizabeth had 5 sons & 3 daughters; but we have only confirmed two sons, Andrew A. Wells, 1813-1865(my direct paternal line) and Thomas K. Wells, 1820-1864 another paternal line.

Best regards. Douglas W. Fisher(Wells) [email address removed]

posted by Douglas Fisher
The son of this Zachariah is not tagged as junior. He is listed as William Thomas Wells.

Evelyn McKelvey (Murray-2307)

I will move it. Not all of the DNA relatives have appeared on the other profile yet.
posted by Rick Watts
Rick, I take that back the DNA stuff is not on the other profile, would you like to move it.
posted by Anne B
Angie Johnson and Delia Montgomery, If you would like to be added to the trusted list or as a manager to the other Zachariah. The easiest way is to make a trusted list request.
posted by Anne B
Rick Watts, Since the DNA seems to belong to the other profile. And Evelyn has added it over there, Is it ok to remove it from here.
posted by Anne B
The last image "Register of Enlistment for Zachariah Wells" is for a different Zachariah since it was in 1814, and this Zachariah wasn't fighting in the War of 1812. Could it belong to the son of the other Zachariah. It can be moved easily enough or we can delete it.
posted by Anne B
Anne,

That is correct. Here[1] is where my brother left it 13 years ago with essentially no sourcing. There is significant research on Mary "Granny" (Miller) Yates as the daughter of Zachariah T, but nothing sourced beyond that from my side. Evelyn is researching from William Mahal Wells M.D. (1824 - 1902) who is also a descendant of Zachariah T, so perhaps she has more of an idea of which Zachariah was his father?

posted by Rick Watts
Rick & Anne .......

"Granny Yates" was the sister of William Mahal Wells, M.D. and they were the children of Zachariah Wells-13565 and his wife was Abigail ........ Do Not confuse with Zachariah Wells-1602 Evelyn McKelvey (Murray-2307)

Agreed. I do not think these profiles were so well marked back when Anne and I were discussing this in 2017. I think that was when they were actually being split and defined so distinctly which is a vast improvement! I want to come back to the large collection of DNA on 13565 sometime and do some more digging. I wonder if these comments should be archived to prevent confusion?
posted by Rick Watts
So Nancy, Zachariah T, William, Margaret and ? are siblings, but you don't know which Zachariah is the father?
posted by Anne B
Hi Anne,

I am definitely descended from his son, Zachariah (1780 - 1870) and I authored the DNA section on this page. I do believe that the four siblings listed there do belong to the same Zachariah, though I have no citations other than the DNA triangulation from the group of 5th cousins. So I have no idea which Zachariah they would belong to.

posted by Rick Watts
Hello managers.

Let me see if I can help you straighten out this profile. The first thing is to decide who this profile is Zachariah (1745-1833) or (1739-after 1825).

So that we're not working at cross purposes, I need to hear from each of you. Which of the two men is your ancestor? (1745-1833) or (1739-after 1825), or you don't know?

Leave a comment on the profile to let me know. I've temporarily added myself as a manager to facilitate communication.

Looking forward to hearing from you all.

posted by Anne B