Thomas Welles (1662 - 1711)

Born 29 Jul 1662 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

Ancestors

Husband of Thankful (Root) Welles — married 7 Jan 1697 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut

Husband of Jerusha (Treat) Goodrich — married 17 May 1705 in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut

Descendants

Died 7 Dec 1711 at age 49 in Wethersfield, Hartford, Connecticut Colony

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Biography

Captain Thomas, second son of Hon. Samuel and Elizabeth (Hollister) Welles, was born at Wethersfield, Connecticut, July 29, 1662, died there December 7, 1711.

His days were passed in the midst of events that threatened the life of the colony his grandfather had governed. Governor Andros, harsh and tyrannical, was the royal governor of New England. He it was who demanded of the colonial assembly of Connecticut that they surrender their charter, and at the moment of taking it, all lights went out and the charter disappeared, this incident giving name to the famous "Charter Oak," in which it was concealed.

Afterward the oak was carefully guarded and preserved until 1856. Thomas Welles was a soldier of the colonial army, and is designated in the records as-"Captain Thomas Welles." In 1708 he was admitted to practice as an attorney by the Hartford county bar, the fourth person thus qualified for legal business in the county.

He married (first) January 7, 1697, Thankful Root, died 1703, daughter of John Root, of Wethersfield, Connecticut. He married (second) May 17, 1705, Jerusha Treat, born 1678, died January 15, 1754, daughter of Lieutenant James and Rebecca (Lattimer) Treat, and granddaughter of Richard and Joan Treat, the emigrants. She survived her husband, and married (second) Captain Ephraim Goodrich.

Children:

• Thomas, born January 10, 1698; married Mary Curtis.
• Hezekiah, died at age of ten years.
• William, married Mary, daughter of Samuel Hunn, of Wethersfield.
• Wait born 1708
• John, born February 10, 1710.
• Ichabod, married Mary, daughter of Eliphalet and Mary (Grimes) Hall, of Guildford, 'Connecticut.

Sources

• Hollister Family of America, compiled by Lafayette Wallace Case, MD 1886 No. 11, pg 31
• Root Genealogical Records 1600-1870; Comprising the General History of the Root and Roots Families in America, by James Pierce Root, page 110
• pg 113 - History of the Welles family in England and Normandy, with the derivation from their progenitors of some of the descendants in the United States - https://archive.org/stream/historywellesfa00wellgoog#page/n6/mode/2up
• pg. 37 - The Goodrich Family in America. A Genealogy of the Descendants of John and William Goodrich of Wethersfield, Conn., Richard Goodrich of Guilford, Conn., and William Goodridge of Watertown, Mass. Lafayette Wallace Case M.D., Author Role: Editor Publication: Fergus Printing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1889, Second Date, 1984
• Wethersfield Vital Records, in Land Records, Vol. 2, The American Genealogist (1933) Vol. 10, Page 108. Birth record.