Starting Sept. 30, 2014, Genealogy.com will be making a big change. GenForum message boards, Family Tree Maker homepages, and the most popular articles will be preserved in a read-only format, while several other features will no longer be available, including member subscriptions and the Shop.
 
Learn more


[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Ancestors of Charles Hines Dorsey


      22. John Wells Jr., born 1791 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland; died January 18, 1843 in Washington, DC. He was the son of 44. John Wells Sr.. He married 23. Hannah Mayo October 25, 1810 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.

      23. Hannah Mayo, born 1791 in Anne Arundel County, Maryland; died October 30, 1867 in Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Illinois. She was the daughter of 46. James Mayo and 47. Susanna Lusby.

Notes for John Wells Jr.:

Will of JOHN WELLS, JR. of the City of Washington, D.C.

Dated: August 1841
Probated: January 24, 1843

To wife Hannah Wells, all estate; should the law require an administration of the estate (which I hope may not be the case), wife to be executrix, and consult Samuel Redfern who I know to be an honest upright gentleman.

Wife to rear up as her own my two orphan grandchildren John Wells Williams and Hannah Olivia Williams, and in no event let them hold any communication with the Rev, Charles A Davis as I am convinced he is a low vulgar fellow, of brutal and malignant disposition, and errant hypocrite, and a disgrace to the church to which he professes to belong.

Executrix:Hannah Wells, wife
Witnesses:Richard Gott; R.M. Boyer; John George Law

Washington D.C. Will Book 5, pp. 290-291(284-285); OS. 2399; Box 16
__________________

National Intelligencer, January 19, 1843; died January 18, 1843, in the 52nd year of his age.
__________________

Listed as Bookkeeper, 2nd Auditor's Office in 1827 Washington Directory published by S. A. Elliot.
Dwelling at 16th between I and K.

  Notes for Hannah Mayo:
OBIT:
[Died] At the residence of P. H. Dorsey, near Gillespie, Macoupin county, Illinois, on the 30th October, Mrs. HANNAH WELLS, in the 76th year of her age.

Baltimore, Md., and Washington, D.C. papers please copy.

Gillespie (Illinois) News, 1867

___________________________________________________________________________

Aunt Eugenia Wells Memories Daughter of Hannah Mayo and John Wells]\

My Grandfather Wells came from Wales and settled in Annapolis; I think before the Revolution, and I believe he was in the Army. He died before I was born and when my father was a young man. There were three sons and a daughter. My father, the oldest, was married and went to Hagerstown where he lived until the war of 1812, when he moved to Washington and was in the Army. I know he was at the Battle of Bladinsburg, but that is all I know about his Army life. Soon after the war he was appointed bookkeeper and pay clerk in the War Department, which place he held at the time of his death. His brother Daniel, a young man nineteen years old was one of the young men who fired at Ross and saved Baltimore. The young man who fired at the same time was a friend of his. They were both killed - filled with bullets.

I remember my Grandmother Wells. She was over seventy and I must have been a very little girl. I know she was a distinguished looking woman, tall and straight with very dark eyes - I always heard that she came of good family. Father used to laugh and call her the duchess. They are all dead now. Olivia's mother, sister, was the first child. A very handsome, and attractive woman. How she came to have such a child as Olivia is one of the mysteries.

Then there were four sons. The oldest James Mayo, named for my mothers father, was appointed a cadet at West Point, graduated a Lieutenant in the Army. He was in Florida during the Seminole War. Then his regiment was ordered to Texas, where he met the girl he married. She had a great deal of Texas land and he seemed to think he would go there and make a fortune. So he resigned his commission and was poor ever after. But the pride of the family was Hanson. He was so handsome, so bright, and so popular. Everyone liked him. I think he was not fifteen when he was appointed midshipman. His first voyage was to China. Then he went around the world in the Potomac. He went ashore at Bassa Cove in Africa, the boat was upset in the surf. It seems the natives swim in the surf. He held on to the boat until all were saved. No doubt he was exhausted and had to sink. It did seem so cruel. Sister grieved so much it was that it hastened her death. My father was never the same man after that. My brother James was very tall. A splendid looking man. We were so proud of both of them.

My mother's family belonged to the nobility of England. Her grandfather came to this country and settled on South River near Annapolis. He bought a large tract of land on the river and bay and built a large fine house. The bricks were brought from England. He is said to have lived like a lord, with every comfort and elegance. He also built a church and maintained a pastor. The house was burned years before I went to South River, but I often attended the Church. Commodore Mayo kept the place inherited from his father, all the rest has gone out of the family years and years ago. He thought he was living in the same house his father lived in, but it had been so altered and improved that but little of the original remained. I stayed there in my young days. They were very kind to me. He married a daughter of Chancellor Brand. She was a very peculiar woman. Very high tempered, but always kind and liberal to me. She died long ago. Commandore Mayo often met Lord Mayo. He had opportunities as he was so much abroad.

Cousin Isaac was in Europe when he was ordered to Florida during the Seminole War and Lord Mayo came with him and arriving on the coast they went to Tallahassee where Lord Mayo bought some land and gave Commandore Mayo a deed for it. It was done mainly as a compliment and no attention was paid to it. It may have become valuable. He also gave him one dozen fine linen chambray shirts. I had many a pocket handkerchief made of those shirts. Cousin Isaac resigned at the beginning of the war and died soon after. Mrs. Neer Liede's husband knew his place, had been there and could tell you all about it.

My mother's home was on the bay. Her mother was left a widow with three children, two boys. She married a Methodist preacher. He was made guardian for the children and treated them most unkindly. They had no education, no advantages. When my mother was thirteen she told him she was going away and he said he would never give her anything and he never did. Her mother had died and the man married again. My mother lived with an Aunt until she married, when the property was sold but there was nothing left but the base land. There was other property but I heard the lawyer got most of the money. Still I know she had quite a nice little sum if it only had been taken care of. In those days a woman owned nothing. Everything belonged to the husband. My father was luxuriant - fond of good living - so when he died he left nothing.

Mother was considered a beauty in her young days. When I can first remember her she was handsome. After she grew large she lost her good looks.

Eugenia Wells
June 13, 1902


More About Hannah Mayo:
Burial: Bunker Hill Cemetery, Macoupin County, Illinois

Marriage Notes for John Wells and Hannah Mayo:
Mr. John Wells and Miss Hannah Mayo, all of Annapolis, were married at West River on Thursday evening, Oct. 25, 1810, by Rev. Mr. Pitts.

(Maryland Gazette, Oct. 3, 1810)

     
Children of John Wells and Hannah Mayo are:
  i.   Hanson Wells
  ii.   G D Wells
  11 iii.   Maria Louisa Wells, born August 1811; died April 26, 1840 in Washington, DC; married John Williams December 13, 1831.
  iv.   James Mayo Wells, born March 5, 1813 in Hagerston, Maryland; died October 9, 1862 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas; married Emily Sophia Forbes October 1, 1837 in Nacogdoches, Texas; born July 27, 1819 in Miami, Ohio; died May 9, 1888 in Nacogdoches, Texas.
  Notes for James Mayo Wells:


Cadet at U. S. Military Academy at West Point N.Y. from July 1, 1830 to July 1, 1835.

Graduated Number 39 in Class of 1835 (USMA Graduate Number 824)

Military History
Brevet Second Lieutenant, 7th Infantry - July 1, 1835
Served on frontier duty at Fort Gibson , 1835-1836, - Camp Desire
Second Lieutenant, 7th Infantry - August 31, 1836
1836 - Camp Nacogdoches, Texas -- and Fort Gibson 1836-1837
on Recruiting Service, 1838-1839;
First Lieutenant, 7th Infantry - August 31, 1836
in Florida War against Seminole Indians,1839
Resigned May 31, 1839

Served in War with Mexico as Major, Texas Rifle Volunteers, May, 1846 until disbanded August 1856

Reappointed in United States Army with rank of Captain, 12th Infantry April 9, 1847
Served in War with Mexico, 1847-48 until disbanded, July 25, 1848

Civil History

Counselor at Law, Galveston, Texas
Teacher in Mississippi

Joined in the Rebellion of 1861 against the United States

Organized a Confederate Company in Nacogdoches, Texas

  More About James Mayo Wells:
Burial: San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

  More About Emily Sophia Forbes:
Burial: Oak Grove Cemetery, Nacogdoches, Texas

  v.   Eugenia Wells, born 1820 in Washington, D.C.; died 1903 in Bunker Hill, Macoupin County, Illinois.
  Notes for Eugenia Wells:
Aunt Eugenia Wells Memories

My Grandfather Wells came from Wales and settled in Annapolis; I think before the Revolution, and I believe he was in the Army. He died before I was born and when my father was a young man. There were three sons and a daughter. My father, the oldest, was married and went to Hagerstown where he lived until the war of 1812, when he moved to Washington and was in the Army. I know he was at the Battle of Bladinsburg, but that is all I know about his Army life. Soon after the war he was appointed bookkeeper and pay clerk in the War Department, which place he held at the time of his death. His brother Daniel, a young man nineteen years old was one of the young men who fired at Ross and saved Baltimore. The young man who fired at the same time was a friend of his. They were both killed - filled with bullets.

I remember my Grandmother Wells. She was over seventy and I must have been a very little girl. I know she was a distinguished looking woman, tall and straight with very dark eyes - I always heard that she came of good family. Father used to laugh and call her the duchess. They are all dead now. Olivia's mother, sister, was the first child. A very handsome, and attractive woman. How she came to have such a child as Olivia is one of the mysteries.

Then there were four sons. The oldest James Mayo, named for my mothers father, was appointed a cadet at West Point, graduated a Lieutenant in the Army. He was in Florida during the Seminole War. Then his regiment was ordered to Texas, where he met the girl he married. She had a great deal of Texas land and he seemed to think he would go there and make a fortune. So he resigned his commission and was poor ever after. But the pride of the family was Hanson. He was so handsome, so bright, and so popular. Everyone liked him. I think he was not fifteen when he was appointed midshipman. His first voyage was to China. Then he went around the world in the Potomac. He went ashore at Bassa Cove in Africa, the boat was upset in the surf. It seems the natives swim in the surf. He held on to the boat until all were saved. No doubt he was exhausted and had to sink. It did seem so cruel. Sister grieved so much it was that it hastened her death. My father was never the same man after that. My brother James was very tall. A splendid looking man. We were so proud of both of them.

My mother's family belonged to the nobility of England. Her grandfather came to this country and settled on South River near Annapolis. He bought a large tract of land on the river and bay and built a large fine house. The bricks were brought from England. He is said to have lived like a lord, with every comfort and elegance. He also built a church and maintained a pastor. The house was burned years before I went to South River, but I often attended the Church. Commodore Mayo kept the place inherited from his father, all the rest has gone out of the family years and years ago. He thought he was living in the same house his father lived in, but it had been so altered and improved that but little of the original remained. I stayed there in my young days. They were very kind to me. He married a daughter of Chancellor Brand. She was a very peculiar woman. Very high tempered, but always kind and liberal to me. She died long ago. Commandore Mayo often met Lord Mayo. He had opportunities as he was so much abroad.

Cousin Isaac was in Europe when he was ordered to Florida during the Seminole War and Lord Mayo came with him and arriving on the coast they went to Tallahassee where Lord Mayo bought some land and gave Commandore Mayo a deed for it. It was done mainly as a compliment and no attention was paid to it. It may have become valuable. He also gave him one dozen fine linen chambray shirts. I had many a pocket handkerchief made of those shirts. Cousin Isaac resigned at the beginning of the war and died soon after. Mrs. Neer Liede's husband knew his place, had been there and could tell you all about it.

My mother's home was on the bay. Her mother was left a widow with three children, two boys. She married a Methodist preacher. He was made guardian for the children and treated them most unkindly. They had no education, no advantages. When my mother was thirteen she told him she was going away and he said he would never give her anything and he never did. Her mother had died and the man married again. My mother lived with an Aunt until she married, when the property was sold but there was nothing left but the base land. There was other property but I heard the lawyer got most of the money. Still I know she had quite a nice little sum if it only had been taken care of. In those days a woman owned nothing. Everything belonged to the husband. My father was luxuriant - fond of good living - so when he died he left nothing.

Mother was considered a beauty in her young days. When I can first remember her she was handsome. After she grew large she lost her good looks.

Eugenia Wells
June 13, 1902


  More About Eugenia Wells:
Burial: 1903, Bunker Hill Cemetery, Macoupin County, Illinois

  vi.   Benjamin Franklin Wells, born 1826 in Washington, DC; died October 25, 1878 in Stephenville, Texas; married (1) Virginia M. Washington December 15, 1849 in Washington, DC; born 1826 in Washington, DC; married (2) Nancy V. McNabb January 3, 1864.
  Notes for Benjamin Franklin Wells:
Lines from the Wells Family Bible

B.F. Wells and Virginia M. Washington were married on the 15th day of December 1849 in Washington City.

B.F. Wells and Nancy V. McNabb (daughter of G.M. Stewart) were married in Freestone County on Sunday, January 3, 1864.

Virginia Maria, daughter of B.F. & Virginia Wells, was born in San Augustine, Texas, the 30th day of September, 1850, at 11:30 a.m.

Frances Henderson, daughter of B.F. & Virginia Wells, was born in Palestine, Texas, on Thursday the 26th of February, 1852.

Phebe Washington, daughter of B.F. Wells & Virginia Wells, was born on the first of May, 1853.

A son still born August 27th, 1854 (in Palestine)

Franklin Grayson, son of B.F. and Virginia Wells was born on Wednesday the 28th of November, 1855 at 3 o'clock a.m. in Palestine.

Emily Eugenia, daughter of B.F. & Virginia Wells was born on the 15th day of June at 7:45 p.m. A.D., 1857 in the town of Owensville, Robertson Co. Texas.

Frank Stockton, son of B.F. and Nancy V. Wells was born in Falls Co. Texas October the 15th (Saturday), 1864, at 11 o'clock p.m.

Cora Alice, daughter of B.F. and Nancy V. Wells was born in Falls Co. Texas on Friday, January 4th, 1867 at 4 o'clock a.m.

Anna Florence, daughter of B.F. and Nancy V. Wells, was born in Erath County Texas one mile and a half south of Stephenville on Friday the 9th day of December, 1870 at 2 o'clock a.m.

Sallie Melinda Wells was born in Stephensville on Sunday May 11th 1873

Mayo Hanson Wells was born August 24th, 1875.

Virginia Maria died December 1851 in Palestine.

Frances Henderson died in Palestine the 11th of March 1852.

Franklin Grayson died in Palestine on Friday the 8th of August (at 1 o'clock a.m.) 1856.

Cora Alice died in Falls Co. August 28th, 1867, at about 10 o'clock a.m. (Wednesday)

Franklin Stockton Wells died in Stephensville, Oct. 15, 1873

B.F. Wells died in Stephensville, Oct. 25, 1878


  vii.   Cora Mayo Wells, born 1830 in Washington, D.C.; died December 29, 1861; married Richard Edward Dorsey Aft. March 1852; born May 17, 1817 in Jefferson County, Kentucky; died May 24, 1874 in Gillespie, Macoupin County, Illinois.
  viii.   Van Ness Wells, born 1831 in Washington, D.C.; died September 26, 1867 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas; married Blascita (Balsa) Gonzales May 16, 1851 in San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas; born 1831.
  Notes for Van Ness Wells:
Van Ness Wells
Enlisted in U. S. Army May, 1848
Age: 22
Eyes: Gray
Hair: Brown
Complexion: Dark
Height: 6' 1"
Born: Washington DC
Occupation: Farmer

Register of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M233, 81 rolls)
_____________________________________________________________________

Patrolman Van Ness Wells
San Antonio Police Department
Texas
End of Watch: Thursday, September 26, 1867

Biographical Info
Age: 36
Tour of Duty: Not available
Badge Number: 143

Incident Details
Cause of Death: Stabbed
Date of Incident: Wednesday, September 25, 1867
Weapon Used: Edged weapon; Knife
Suspect Info: Not available

Patrolman Wells was stabbed to death by a drunken man he was
attempting to arrest. He was walking back from Arsenal and South Main
Streets when he came across the man lying on the ground and tried to
arrest him.

Patrolman Wells was survived by his wife, son, and two daughters.




[ Home Page | First Page | Previous Page | Next Page | Last Page ]

Search for Family - Learn About Genealogy - Helpful Web Sites - Message Boards - Guest Book - Home
© Copyright 1996-99, The Learning Company, Inc., and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved.
© Copyright 1995-97 by Matthew L. Helm. All Rights Reserved.