Thomas Welles facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thomas Welles
1st Treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut
In office 1639–1641
Succeeded by	William Whiting
2nd Secretary of the Colony of Connecticut
In office 1641–1648
Preceded by	Edward Hopkins
Succeeded by	John Cullick
Deputy Governor of the Colony of Connecticut
In office 1654–1655
In office 1656–1657
In office 1659–1660
17th Governor of the Colony of Connecticut
In office 1655–1656
Preceded by	Edward Hopkins
Succeeded by	John Webster
20th Governor of the Colony of Connecticut
In office 1658–1659
Preceded by	John Winthrop the Younger
Succeeded by	John Winthrop the Younger
Personal details
Born	(1594-07-10)10 July 1594 Stourton, Whichford, Warwickshire, England
Died	14 January 1660(1660-01-14) (aged 65) Wethersfield, Connecticut
Spouses	Alice Tomes Elizabeth Deming Foote
Children	6
Signature

Thomas Welles (c. 10 July 1594 – 14 January 1660) is the only person in Connecticut's history to hold all four top offices: governor, deputy governor, treasurer, and secretary. In 1639, he was elected as the first treasurer of the Colony of Connecticut, and from 1640–1649 served as the colony's secretary. In this capacity, he transcribed the Fundamental Orders into the official colony records on 14 January 1638, OS, (24 January 1639, NS).

Biography

Welles was born in Tiddington, Warwickshire, England around 1590, the son of Robert Welles and Alice [maiden name unknown] of Stourton, Whichford, County Warwick, England, born about 1543. He married Alice Tomes on 28 September 1615 at St. Peter's Church, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. She was born around 1593 in Long Marston, Gloucestershire, England, the daughter of John Tomes and Ellen (Gunne) Phelps. A brother of Alice Tomes, also named John Tomes like his father, was a faithful royalist who during the escape of Charles II sheltered him in his home on the night of 10 September 1651 when the king was a fugitive after the Battle of Worcester.

After the death of Alice, Welles married again about 1646 in Wethersfield, Connecticut. His second wife was Elizabeth (Deming) Foote, who was a sister of John Deming and the widow of Nathaniel Foote (who founded Wethersfield). Elizabeth had seven children by her previous marriage; there were no children from the second marriage.

The first appearance of Governor Thomas Welles's name in Hartford was on 28 March 1637, according to the Connecticut Colonial Records. Welles came to Hartford with Reverend Thomas Hooker in June 1636. Some believe a copy of a grant in which he is named confirms this statement. He was chosen a magistrate of the Colony of Connecticut in 1637, an office he held every successive year until his death in 1660, a period of twenty-two years. He was elected deputy governor in 1654, and governor of the Connecticut Colony in 1655, and in 1656 and 1657 was deputy governor to John Winthrop the Younger; in 1658 governor, and in 1659 deputy governor, which position he held at his death on 14 January 1660 at Wethersfield, Connecticut.

It is thought that he was buried in Wethersfield, Connecticut. Some sources indicate that his remains were later transferred to the Ancient Burying Ground in Hartford. In either case, his grave is presently unmarked. His name appears on the Founders of Hartford, Connecticut Monument in Hartford's Ancient Burying Ground.

Children

The children of Thomas and Alice Welles who lived into adulthood were:

• Mary (circa 1618 – 1647)
• Anne (circa 1620 – 1680)
• John (circa 1622 – 7 August 1659), settled in Stratford in 1645, serving as a magistrate and a probate judge there before his death in 1659. His son, John, married Mary Hollister the daughter of Lt, John Hollister and Joanna Treat, the daughter of Richard Treat.
• Thomas, Jr. (circa 1625 – 1668) settled in Hartford, Connecticut; his daughter Rebecca married Captain James Judson and settled in Stratford, Connecticut in 1680. James and Rebecca's son David, also a Captain, built the Captain David Judson House, located on the same spot where his great grandfather William had built his first house, made of stone, in 1639.
• Samuel (circa 1628 – 15 July 1675), became a Captain and settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut. He married as his first wife Elizabeth Hollister, the daughter of Lt. John Hollister and Joanna Treat, the daughter of Richard Treat. Elizabeth and Samuel were the parents of six children. Elizabeth died in 1659 and he married as his second wife Hannah, the daughter of George Lamberton of the New Haven Colony. There were no children by the second marriage. His son Samuel married Ruth Rice, daughter of Edmund Rice, on 20 June 1683 and they had six children.
• Sarah (circa 1631 – 12 December 1698)

Descendants of note

• Daniel H. Wells (1814-1891), Justice of the Peace in Nauvoo, Illinois and Lt. General of the Nauvoo Legion, mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah
• Heber M. Wells (1859-1938), first governor of Utah
• Briant H. Wells (1871-1949), Major General of U.S. army
• Elizabeth Wells Cannon (1859-1942), women's suffragist, Utah State Legislator
• Rulon S. Wells (1854-1941), Utah state legislator, religious leader
• Joseph Parrish Thompson (1819-1879), abolitionist, religious leader
• Dana Delany (1956-present), actress, producer, healthcare activist
• Gideon Welles (1802 - 1878), United States Secretary of the Navy under Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson