Aaron Wells
Family Association
Newsletter #27?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? January
2001
Aaron Wells and Ruth Wiggins were married 31 July
(bond), 3 August (minister’s return), 1790. Children: Nathan, Elizabeth A.,
Rachel E., Drucilla & Ruama, Sarah “Sally?W., Nancy, William W., Robert,
John W., Ruth, Aaron, Mary “Polly? Daniel & Uriah.?
REMINDER!
Wells Family
Reunion
Sunday, July 15,
2001
11:00 a.m.?:00
p.m.
North Central 4-H Center
Carlisle, Kentucky
Genealogist/Founder
Lucy Thompson
1917-1991
President
Jon Hagee
3021 Stanford Drive
Lexington, KY?40517
Day (859)257-5320 ext 321
Eve (859)271-2918
jhagee@mail.com
www.webpub.com/jhagee/
Secretary/Treasurer
Betty Jo Wells
R. R. 2, Box 215
Mount Olivet, KY 41064
(606) 724-5696
Newsletter Editor
Patricia Roane Straube
131 Robinhood Drive?????
San Francisco, CA?94127
(415) 334-6300
straube@earthlink.net
DNA Project
Message
from the President
Dear Wells cousins,
It has been a busy year for
me! I'm looking forward to seeing you all this summer. We have a very exciting
project that we'll be giving more details on in the next newsletter. There is a
worldwide DNA project being organized and we have been chosen to participate
because of the mysterious ancestry of our Aaron Wells. This means that after
years of interesting but sometimes frustrating research, we may be able to
trace our ancestry to one of the major Wells family groups. Isn't modern
science wonderful! We will want to have a big turnout, the more participants,
the better chance that we will get positive results from the project.
A lot of you have been doing
Wells research this past year. The internet continues to be a marvelous
genealogy and communication tool. Several "new" cousins have
contacted Patricia and me looking for Wells and Wiggins information. Associated
families are coming closer as we find out more about our common kin. Patricia
has dug up some interesting things about Edmond Collins Burden, who married
Uriah's daughter Nancy D. Wells. Several cousins fought together in the Civil
War. My own ancestor, Corporal Oscar P. Overbey fought alongside his brother
James and cousin Edmond in the Confederate's 1st Battalion of Kentucky Mounted
Rifles. Edmond's mother was Elizabeth Collins and he was named after his
grandfather Edmond Collins who married Sarah Kenton, Simon Kenton's niece. This
couple are also the ancestors of all the Wells descending from William W. and
Daniel Wells including me. So you see, it all ties together!
Betty Jo has reserved our
regular building at the Carlisle 4-H Camp on July 15th. We'll have detailed
directions in the next newsletter. Let's bring a lot of our research to this
year's reunion. Bring your families. Make it a goal to remind 10 family members
about the reunion this year. That includes Wiggins, Mitchell, Ward, Evans,
Callon. Also Harmon, Barlow, Collins, Thomas, Rice, Young, Durrum, Rankin,
Barnett, Burden, Curtis, Overbey and McConnell. Let's support this exciting new
Wells DNA project. It will be good to see you all!
????????????????????????Your Cousin,
????????????????????????Jon
Dear Cousins,
Here we are well into another
new year. I do hope each of you enjoyed a happy holiday season. In this part of
the country we had a white Christmas along with some below normal temperatures.
On January 7th, I was able to
attend the Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary Celebration for our cousins Dickie and
Helen Wells Rankin in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Many of you know the enthusiasm
that she and her sister Ruth bring to our reunion each year. This was a very
enjoyable winter afternoon with their lovely family and friends amid
picturesque surroundings. We extend congratulation from the members of our
association
At this point we have
$1,079.00 in our treasury. I have just written a check for $137.00 for the
publication of our last newsletter.
We would appreciate any
donations that you care to contribute. It is never too early to start making
crafts to bring to our reunion. May each and everyone of you have a healthy,
happy and prosperous new year.
????????????????????????Respectfully
submitted,
????????????????????????Betty Jo Wells
????????????????????????Secretary/Treasurer
Welcome to all the new
subscribers to our newsletter, and in several cases ?newfound cousins:
Descendants of Ruth Wells and
William Callon: Jerre Callon Williams, her sister Harrilyn Callon Ellis and
their cousin, Terri Corpuz O’Brien. Descendants of Elizabeth Ashcraft Wells and
William Wiggins: Marilyn Hill and her cousin-in-law, Dixie Rath Fuller. Look
for their contributions of new information in the current newsletter.
Please remember to write me
at my new address:
131 Robinhood Drive
San Francisco, CA?
94127-1626
and share your news. And
don’t forget to let me know of your own changes of address. My email address is
<straube@earthlink.net>.
????????????????????????Sincerely,
?/span>??????????????????????? Patricia
Roane Straube
????????????????????????Newsletter Editor
Biographies
?/span>Curtis/Swart
Our cousin Wendell Curtis, a
descendant of William W. Wells and Matilda Collins, has taken much of the
family history research done by his brother Carroll and posted it on a web
site?< ftp://wcurtis:snert@personal.bellsouth.net/pub/lig/w/c/wcurtis/JOB%20CURTIS%20OF%20VA%20HOMEPAGE.HTML>.
It has lots of great stories and pictures, not only about the Curtis family but
also the Wells, Jett, Overbey and Mann families. Check it out!?
Excerpt from the Francis Edwin "Frank" Curtis section
of Curtis: Some Descendants of Jonathan
and Job Curtis of Virginia:?
Walter Curtis (B. June 3,
1900, D. August 8, 1965) the fifth son of Frank and Alletha [Overbey] Curtis,
married Lemira Edith Swart6 on May 30, 1925. Edith (B. December 13,
1906, D. June 28, 1997) was the daughter of Eva Jane Mullikin5 Swart
[Leonard Franklin Mullikin4, Matilda Wiggins3, Elizabeth
Ashcraft Wells2, Aaron1] and Walter Newton Swart. Walter
Curtis describes his wedding day thus: "We got near Sardis (just across
the Robertson County line) and ran out of gasoline. I walked to Sardis and got
some gas and a preacher and brought them back to the Ford. I had told the
preacher what I wanted and a crowd followed us. We were married in the Ford. I
thought it was fitting since we became engaged in it."
In 1940 Walter bought a
garage, arcade, and feed mill in Sardis, and in the fall of that year he and
his family moved to Sardis. In 1944 he purchased a bus and a contract, with the
Board of Education, and began transporting students to Deming School in Mt.
Olivet. Walter drove the school bus for eighteen years. Walter served as
Justice of the Peace, for the Sixth Magisterial District of Mason County,
during the late '40s. During the process of renovating the large building he
had bought in Sardis, Walter did his first electrical wiring and plumbing work.
He later went into the electrical and plumbing business and continued until
shortly before his death in 1965.
Walter sold his business in
Sardis and he and Edith moved to Mt. Olivet in January 1950. In February, of
that year, they moved for the last time to their home on East Main Street. In
1951 Walter was appointed and later elected to the Mt. Olivet Board of Trustees
and served for several years. Edith continued to live in this house for a number
of years following Walter's death. She eventually moved back to Sardis near her
daughter Joella Carpenter's home and remained there until shortly before her
death on June 28, 1997.
Wood/Wiggins
Mary L. Wood4 was the
daughter of Andrew Wood and Jane Wiggins3 [Elizabeth
Ashcraft Wells2, Aaron1]. In the 1900 Census of
Robertson County, the household of Alfred and Mary Shepherd included his
mother-in-law, Janie Davis, a widow. On March 8, 1888, Jesse S. Davis married
Mrs. Jane Wood in Robertson County. She is buried in the Piqua Methodist Church
Cemetery where her stone reads: “Jane Wood 1826-1901.?
LINEAGE LINKS
Wiggins
William Wiggins, father of
Ruth Wiggins, gave consent for her to marry Aaron Wells. Other than that fact,
little else is known about him. Our cousin, Don Claypool, a descendant of
Elizabeth Ashcraft (Wells) Wiggins, has a doubly good reason to research the
Wiggins side of our family. He and I have been sharing our research, which has
grown to include all the Wiggins in north central Kentucky. Other early
settlers include brothers, Phillip and Archibald Wiggins, sons of Thomas and
Matilda Wiggins of Hampshire Co., Virginia (now West Virginia.) Fortunately
Thomas left a will in 1778 naming his children so we know William wasn't a
member of his immediate family. We've had to research all these families since
they lived in the same areas at the same time with many of the same names
(Ruth, for example) and are undoubtedly related. We haven't gotten a
"breakthrough" yet, but we have found some very intriguing
information and clues for further research.
Don received the following
email from Richard Wiggins <wiggins@ieee.org>, a descendant of Daniel K.
Wiggins of Louisiana:
Last week, I spent a day in Hagerstown, Maryland, the
county seat of Washington County. In the Western Maryland Room at the
Washington County Free Library, I found a reference to early Land Records of
Frederick County. Washington County was formed from a part of Frederick County
in 1776. Included are the following two references to land records of interest:
?? "
Daniel Ashcraft recorded deed 28 Aug. 1753 made 14 June 1753 between Col.
Thomas Cresap of Frederick County, for 30 pcm MD, part of tract of land called
"Boyle's Cabin," about a mile and a half below the mouth of Cataphin
Creek, which is in Virginia, containing 60 acres more or less. Signed Thos
Cresap, before Thos. Cresap Junr., Joseph Flint. Deed acknowledged before
Thomas Prather, Nath. Wickham, Receipt. AF paid."?
???
"Joseph Flint recorded deed 17 Aug 1757, made 1 April 1757 between
Daniel Ashcraft of Frederick County for 100 pcm MD, sells tract containing 60
acres, formerly surveyed for Col. Thomas Cresap. but by mutation become
property of Daniel Ashcraft, called "Boyles's Cabbin" on Potomac
River, adj. to William Wiggin's part of
tract. signed Daniel Ashcraft before Philip Jackson, Jarvis Hougham.
Receipt. Ack. AF & duty paid."
From the above, it appears that the tract of land
owned by William Wiggins in Maryland had been acquired before 1757 and was part
of a tract called "Boyles Cabbin."
At the County Courthouse, I found land records that
included a transcription of the deed recorded by Owen Robey on May 29th, 1789
in which William Wiggins sold a
tract of land called "-------" Cabbin for 60 pounds. I am unable to
make out the name of the tract. It looks like "Grafsoy."?Perhaps if I can find the original deed, I
will be able to make out the name. This property was "conveyed into the
said William Wiggins by Joseph Flint" and contained "fifty acres more
or less. On the back of the deed, appears a statement that Elizabeth, wife of said William Wiggins "examined out of the
hearing of her husband" relinquished all her rights to the mentioned land.
It is my understanding that the original deeds of these early transactions are
now housed in Annapolis, Maryland.
At the Historical Society I was able to buy a map
showing many early land patents with the tract of land called "Boyles
Cabbin" right along the Potomac River. On another map, a similar area was
marked "Bayless Cabbin". There are apparently land patents for the
tract of land known as "Bayless Cabbin" in the Hancock District in
1748 and 1752. I didn't have time to track these down but I plan to be in
contact with the Librarian and hope to find out where I might find them. As I'm
sure you know, there seem to be lots of variation in the spellings of names.
Now we know for sure that
William Wiggins' wife's name was Elizabeth and that one of his immediate
neighbors was Daniel Ashcraft. Joseph Flint, the witness to these deeds, was
the father of Mary Flint who married Archibald Wiggins. It appears that William
Wiggins sold his land in Maryland in May of 1789 and in July of the following
year gave his consent in Mason Co., Kentucky. We don't have Richard's copy of
the map to know the location of "Cataphin" Creek, but from the land
records of Hampshire Co., Virginia we have found that those Wiggins lived on
the waters of the Cacapon River. The Cacapon-Town watershed along the Potomac
drains both in Hampshire Co. (Cacapon) and in Washington Co., Maryland (Town).
Further downstream is Catoctin Creek, which is another branch of the Potomac,
and is part of another watershed which drains Washington and Frederick Counties
in Maryland and Loudon Co., Virginia.
The sources of Richard's
information have some very good web sites:
Washington County, Maryland Free Library,
http://pilot.wash.lib.md.us/wcfl/index.html
Washington County, Maryland Historical Society
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdwchs/
Maryland State Archives
http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/
However none of the original
sources appear to have been printed, filmed or digitalized. But for anyone able
to perform the necessary research in Maryland, the chances of success appear to
be excellent.
Another
Wiggins Link
We have some newly discovered
Wells cousins with another Wiggins link. Dixie Rath Fuller’s husband, Henry,
and his 1st cousin, once removed, Marilyn Hill, are descendants of Elizabeth
Jane Mullikin4, daughter of William Mullikin and Matilda Wiggins3
[Elizabeth Ashcraft Wells2, Aaron1] Elizabeth Jane
Mullikin married John Wiggins November 30, 1869 in Robertson Co. Henry and
Marilyn are the descendants of the fourth of their five daughters, Matilda
Wiggins born?6 Dec 1876 in Mount
Olivet, Robertson County, KY. She married Leslie Fuller 13 May 1895. She died 1
Nov 1953 in Campbell County, KY. Leslie was born 6 Sept 1876 in Bracken County,
KY. He died 6 Jul 1954 in Campbell County, KY. Both are buried in Evergreen
Cemetery, Campbell County, KY.
John Wiggins, who was born
about 1844, was apparently the son of Thomas and Margaret Wiggins of Mason Co.
and a Veteran of the Civil War. We’re all still actively researching this
family but it is most likely that Thomas was the son of Archibald and Rachel
Wiggins who are buried in Shannon Methodist Church Cemetery, Mason Co., KY.
Jon Hagee has written a
fascinating account of literally “digging up?the evidence that this Archibald
Wiggins was neither Archibald of Hampshire Co., Virginia nor his son ,
Archibald Jr. Don Claypool has evidence that he was known as?Archibald “Little?Wiggins. Whether this was
a middle name or a nickname is unclear. His relationship to the other Wiggins
is currently unknown. Stay tuned as we try to put all these Wiggins in their
proper places.
In the meantime, check out
Jon’s Wiggins Research web page at:
http://www.webpub.com/jhagee/wiggins.html
?i style='mso-bidi-font-style:
normal'>Archible Wigen’s?tombstone was found several dozen yards from the
Wiggins Family Plot half-buried in the sod. He died Feb 22, 1847 in his 73rd
year. His wife Rachel’s stone, which was found in a pile nearby, reads “died
July 14, 1854 in her 84th year.?/i>
?/span>A Dream Come True
By
Luella Wells
Reprinted from Newsletter #3, November,
1988
When you were a kid, did you
ever have the urge to run away from home and join the circus?
Well, that's just what Oakley
and Hartsel, sons of Irvin Wells [Christopher
Columbus3, Uriah2, Aaron1] did back in
1932. They started with The Mighty Haag Circus as comedy acrobats. Next it was
with The Kay Bros. Circus where they learned to perform on the triple
horizontal bars under the tutelage of Paul LeRoy, Two other young men joined
the act to learn bars, one of which was none other than Burt Lancaster. Comedy
acrobatics then became their number two act, plus they filled in as clowns.
In the spring of 1935 they
signed with The Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus. The show opened indoors in
Chicago before going on the road. After the show closed it was home to Indiana
to visit family and teach their oldest brother, Herman, all they could before
spring. Their partner and teacher, Paul LeRoy, was retiring for health reasons.
In 1936 they again joined The Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus with Herman
completing the act. Thus the billing, The
Wells Bros. Trio, was born.
Then they went to theater
work and special events in winter. In the spring they signed with a circus
until time for state and county fairs. After fair time it was theaters again.
This was the usual except for the winter of 1938 when they toured Cuba for 15
weeks. Then, in February of 1942, they were forced to give up traveling because
of World War II. The original Trio gave their final performance in The State
Theater in Baltimore, Maryland on February 7, 1942. One by one they were
inducted into the service of their country. Oakley made the supreme sacrifice
on October 12, 1944 when he was killed near Aachen, German.
After the war the two
remaining tried settling down, however by fall of 1948 the smell of grease
paint and the urge to travel took over. This time their brother, Quentin,
joined the act and once again it was The
Wells Bros. Trio. Their first booking was Haiti, then to Aruba, next came
Curacao, on to Venezuela, and the final stop in Jamaica before returning to the
USA in the spring of?'49. After a
summer with the circus they went to Los Angeles for theater work, once sharing
the billing with The Will Maston Trio
featuring Sammy Davis jr. Another notable engagement was with The Spade
Cooley Show in the Ballroom on the Santa Monica Pier, which was televised.
Early in 1950 The Trio went to Venezuela again. This
time to Caracas where they worked for several weeks in an amusement park called
Coney Island. Then back to the USA with a circus. Later in the year a tragic
accident, while the show was en route between engagements, killed the owner and
a number of show horses, eliminating two acts and causing the show to close.
The trio again showed fairs and did some shows with the Super Circus in Chicago
that were televised nationally. At the close of the 1950 season, Herman left
the act not to return.
During the next couple of
years Hartsel and Quentin worked as a duo. Then, in the winter of 1953, The Wells Bros. Trio billing went up
again. This time it was the youngest, Delmar, who completed the act. Their
first engagement was in Puerto Rico. Most of the balance of?'54 was routine until fall when they went to
work for Roy Rogers at The Canadian National Exposition in Toronto. This was
their last show and what a finale it was, with one of the best in show
business.
Besides working in South
America, the Caribbean, and various places in Canada, they were in just about
every state in the United States. Their very first circus, The Mighty Haag,
performed at the fairgrounds in Mount Olivet, Kentucky. This is the exact spot
where Lucy and Howard Thompson later had their home.
If all this sound like an
exciting way to live, read on. The early years meant traveling by truck,
sleeping and eating in tents, bathing and doing laundry in pails. With The
Clyde Beatty Cole Bros. Circus, life was easier. They traveled by train and had
berths every night - no air-conditioning though! Finally they got their own
cars and travel trailers. Much of the time it meant two or more shows a day,
loading up after the last show about 11:00 pm then taking turns driving most of
the night to reach the next destination for shows that same day.
????????
If any of you old-timers ever saw an act billed The Wells Bros. Trio, you probably had no idea you were watching kin.
Additions and Corrections
Thanks goes to Dixie Fuller and Marilyn
Hill for doing look-ups in the Kentucky Death Certificates.
P. 36, Nathan
Wells Jr. , son of Nathan Wells2, Aaron1] died April
29, 1921 in Kenton Co. at the age of 90 years. A retired carpenter,. he was
born September 30, 1830 the son of?
Nathan Wells of Sardis, Kentucky.
P. 48, Walter
Wells, son of?Christopher Columbus
Wells3 ?/span>[Uriah2,
Aaron1] was born June 1, 1876 and was single when he died April 8,
1941 in Mason Co. though his usual residence was in Bracken Co. The Walter E.
Wells who married Hattie Hitt was born July 17, 1887 and died March 26, 1922 in
Bracken Co. and was the son of Everett Wells and Lousetta Parsons, apparently
no relation to our family.
The Blue and the Gray
When it first became known
that William and Ruth (Wells) Callon’s son, James B. F. Callon served as a
sergeant in Co. K of the 1st Cavalry of the 28th Regiment of Indiana Volunteers
[see Newsletter #25, January 2000], I began to wonder about some pictures of a
soldier that were in the Callon Family Bible. Unfortunately, as is so often the
case, none of the photographs were identified. Taken in Alexandria, Virginia,
one showed the soldier with his injured right leg propped up on a stool. I sent
a scan of these pictures to Jerre Callon Williams, James B.F. Callon’s great
granddaughter. She excitedly wrote back that she had received his pension file
from the National Archives that very day and it contained affidavits explaining
his war injuries...right hip and leg. While charging the Rebel Cavalry, his horse
ran against a tree, throwing him to the ground with great force at White
Plains, Virginia in April 1863; he was hospitalized for a month. Other
affidavits attest to his disabilities, constant pain and need to have someone
assist him with walking in latter years. [He had worked as a firefighter in
Indianapolis immediately after the war.] He was identified!