Mary Welles, only surviving dau. of Thomas Welles and Frances Albright, b. circa 1626-7 at Evesham, Worcester, Eng. where she was bapt. June 30, 1630. Her father dying testate at Evesham, Eng. in Feb. 1637/8, her mother subsequently m. Thomas Coleman likely in England prior to the Coleman family immigrating by the mid-1640s to Wethersfield, Conn. Mary d. testate July 3, 1700 at Hartford, Conn., Æ 74.
By late 1650 either at Wethersfield or Hartford, Conn., Mary m. as his 2nd wife, Jonathan Gilbert, s. of Thomas Gilbert and Elizabeth Bennett, bapt. June 8, 1617 at Yardley, Worcester, Eng. He d. testate Dec. 10, 1682 at Hartford, Conn. They had eight children who are summarized in their father's memorial.
The importance of this memorial and Mary's extant gravestone, albeit her gravestone inscribed her married name and family name of her husband as "Gilbertt", goes beyond the mere evidence of her existence. In 1890 [NEHGR 44:208], George Sheldon contributed a note to a prior article regarding gravestone inscriptions at Colchester, Conn., claiming:
• Hugh Wells, who came from co. Essex, Eng., about 1635, with wife Frances and at least four children,-Thomas, Hugh, Mary and John. He settled in Wethersfield, where he died about 1645. Wid. Frances became second wife of Thomas Coleman [i.e., Mary (Welles) Gilbert's stepfather]. They removed to Hadley with her sons Thomas and John in 1660.
This was enlarged by Stiles in 1902 in his "History of Ancient Wethersfield" (2:780) repeating Shelden while enlarging it to: "Hugh Wells, probably came to New England in the Globe, 1635; was of Hartford, 1636, and appears in Wethersfield abt. 1645, where he is supposed to have d. abt. the same time." Stiles then claims that Hugh's dau. Mary m. Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford. The renowned New England genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus adopted Stiles' rendition as being factual in his "Families of Old Fairfield."
Unfortunately, the said Hugh Wells was a fictitious person and all manner of false genealogies have resulted. In Jacobus' supplemental "Widow Frances Welles and Hugh Wells of Wethersfield" [TAG 28(1952):232] he comments "later writers have accepted these statements [of Sheldon and Stiles] as having substance; among the many, be it confessed, one of the present writers," referring to Jacobus' own "Families of Old Fairfield." Subsequent work regarding the Gilbert family and finally identifying Thomas Welles of Evesham, Eng. as the father of Mary (Welles) Gilbert have thoroughly debunked the fictitious Hugh Wells of Wethersfield. [see TAG 67(1992):161 and NEHGR 146(1992):28]
Edited 8/22/2020
By late 1650 either at Wethersfield or Hartford, Conn., Mary m. as his 2nd wife, Jonathan Gilbert, s. of Thomas Gilbert and Elizabeth Bennett, bapt. June 8, 1617 at Yardley, Worcester, Eng. He d. testate Dec. 10, 1682 at Hartford, Conn. They had eight children who are summarized in their father's memorial.
The importance of this memorial and Mary's extant gravestone, albeit her gravestone inscribed her married name and family name of her husband as "Gilbertt", goes beyond the mere evidence of her existence. In 1890 [NEHGR 44:208], George Sheldon contributed a note to a prior article regarding gravestone inscriptions at Colchester, Conn., claiming:
• Hugh Wells, who came from co. Essex, Eng., about 1635, with wife Frances and at least four children,-Thomas, Hugh, Mary and John. He settled in Wethersfield, where he died about 1645. Wid. Frances became second wife of Thomas Coleman [i.e., Mary (Welles) Gilbert's stepfather]. They removed to Hadley with her sons Thomas and John in 1660.
This was enlarged by Stiles in 1902 in his "History of Ancient Wethersfield" (2:780) repeating Shelden while enlarging it to: "Hugh Wells, probably came to New England in the Globe, 1635; was of Hartford, 1636, and appears in Wethersfield abt. 1645, where he is supposed to have d. abt. the same time." Stiles then claims that Hugh's dau. Mary m. Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford. The renowned New England genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus adopted Stiles' rendition as being factual in his "Families of Old Fairfield."
Unfortunately, the said Hugh Wells was a fictitious person and all manner of false genealogies have resulted. In Jacobus' supplemental "Widow Frances Welles and Hugh Wells of Wethersfield" [TAG 28(1952):232] he comments "later writers have accepted these statements [of Sheldon and Stiles] as having substance; among the many, be it confessed, one of the present writers," referring to Jacobus' own "Families of Old Fairfield." Subsequent work regarding the Gilbert family and finally identifying Thomas Welles of Evesham, Eng. as the father of Mary (Welles) Gilbert have thoroughly debunked the fictitious Hugh Wells of Wethersfield. [see TAG 67(1992):161 and NEHGR 146(1992):28]
Edited 8/22/2020
Mary Welles, only surviving dau. of Thomas Welles and Frances Albright, b. circa 1626-7 at Evesham, Worcester, Eng. where she was bapt. June 30, 1630. Her father dying testate at Evesham, Eng. in Feb. 1637/8, her mother subsequently m. Thomas Coleman likely in England prior to the Coleman family immigrating by the mid-1640s to Wethersfield, Conn. Mary d. testate July 3, 1700 at Hartford, Conn., Æ 74.
By late 1650 either at Wethersfield or Hartford, Conn., Mary m. as his 2nd wife, Jonathan Gilbert, s. of Thomas Gilbert and Elizabeth Bennett, bapt. June 8, 1617 at Yardley, Worcester, Eng. He d. testate Dec. 10, 1682 at Hartford, Conn. They had eight children who are summarized in their father's memorial.
The importance of this memorial and Mary's extant gravestone, albeit her gravestone inscribed her married name and family name of her husband as "Gilbertt", goes beyond the mere evidence of her existence. In 1890 [NEHGR 44:208], George Sheldon contributed a note to a prior article regarding gravestone inscriptions at Colchester, Conn., claiming:
• Hugh Wells, who came from co. Essex, Eng., about 1635, with wife Frances and at least four children,-Thomas, Hugh, Mary and John. He settled in Wethersfield, where he died about 1645. Wid. Frances became second wife of Thomas Coleman [i.e., Mary (Welles) Gilbert's stepfather]. They removed to Hadley with her sons Thomas and John in 1660.
This was enlarged by Stiles in 1902 in his "History of Ancient Wethersfield" (2:780) repeating Shelden while enlarging it to: "Hugh Wells, probably came to New England in the Globe, 1635; was of Hartford, 1636, and appears in Wethersfield abt. 1645, where he is supposed to have d. abt. the same time." Stiles then claims that Hugh's dau. Mary m. Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford. The renowned New England genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus adopted Stiles' rendition as being factual in his "Families of Old Fairfield."
Unfortunately, the said Hugh Wells was a fictitious person and all manner of false genealogies have resulted. In Jacobus' supplemental "Widow Frances Welles and Hugh Wells of Wethersfield" [TAG 28(1952):232] he comments "later writers have accepted these statements [of Sheldon and Stiles] as having substance; among the many, be it confessed, one of the present writers," referring to Jacobus' own "Families of Old Fairfield." Subsequent work regarding the Gilbert family and finally identifying Thomas Welles of Evesham, Eng. as the father of Mary (Welles) Gilbert have thoroughly debunked the fictitious Hugh Wells of Wethersfield. [see TAG 67(1992):161 and NEHGR 146(1992):28]
Edited 8/22/2020
By late 1650 either at Wethersfield or Hartford, Conn., Mary m. as his 2nd wife, Jonathan Gilbert, s. of Thomas Gilbert and Elizabeth Bennett, bapt. June 8, 1617 at Yardley, Worcester, Eng. He d. testate Dec. 10, 1682 at Hartford, Conn. They had eight children who are summarized in their father's memorial.
The importance of this memorial and Mary's extant gravestone, albeit her gravestone inscribed her married name and family name of her husband as "Gilbertt", goes beyond the mere evidence of her existence. In 1890 [NEHGR 44:208], George Sheldon contributed a note to a prior article regarding gravestone inscriptions at Colchester, Conn., claiming:
• Hugh Wells, who came from co. Essex, Eng., about 1635, with wife Frances and at least four children,-Thomas, Hugh, Mary and John. He settled in Wethersfield, where he died about 1645. Wid. Frances became second wife of Thomas Coleman [i.e., Mary (Welles) Gilbert's stepfather]. They removed to Hadley with her sons Thomas and John in 1660.
This was enlarged by Stiles in 1902 in his "History of Ancient Wethersfield" (2:780) repeating Shelden while enlarging it to: "Hugh Wells, probably came to New England in the Globe, 1635; was of Hartford, 1636, and appears in Wethersfield abt. 1645, where he is supposed to have d. abt. the same time." Stiles then claims that Hugh's dau. Mary m. Jonathan Gilbert of Hartford. The renowned New England genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus adopted Stiles' rendition as being factual in his "Families of Old Fairfield."
Unfortunately, the said Hugh Wells was a fictitious person and all manner of false genealogies have resulted. In Jacobus' supplemental "Widow Frances Welles and Hugh Wells of Wethersfield" [TAG 28(1952):232] he comments "later writers have accepted these statements [of Sheldon and Stiles] as having substance; among the many, be it confessed, one of the present writers," referring to Jacobus' own "Families of Old Fairfield." Subsequent work regarding the Gilbert family and finally identifying Thomas Welles of Evesham, Eng. as the father of Mary (Welles) Gilbert have thoroughly debunked the fictitious Hugh Wells of Wethersfield. [see TAG 67(1992):161 and NEHGR 146(1992):28]
Edited 8/22/2020
Inscription
Mary
Gilbertt (sic)
Aged 74 Years
Died Jvly 3
1700 The Wife
of Jonathan
Gilbertt (sic)
On the day Mary died she was 73 years old, and Ætatis (i.e., Æ, "Aged," in the XX year of her Age) 74.
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