Elizabeth (Deming) Welles (abt. 1595 - bef. 1683)

Elizabeth (Deming) Welles migrated to New England during the Puritan Great Migration (1621-1640). Join: Puritan Great Migration Project Discuss: pgm

Biography

Birth

Elizabeth Deming was born about 1595 to Huguenot parents who had arrived in the thriving market town of Colchester, England about ten years earlier. Her parents and other refugees were welcomed in England for their advanced skills in weaving of high quality woolen clothing. They were also Protestants who had fled from increasing waves of violence in France for refusing to return to the Catholic faith.

The first Huguenot refugees in England were welcomed by Queen Elizabeth in 1565, and settled in what became known as Colchester's "Dutch Quarter" soon thereafter. ^[1]

First Marriage

Elizabeth lived with her parents in the "Dutch Quarter", just east of Colchester's medieval castle. Nathaniel Foot lived on East Hill Street, near the west side of the castle. Elizabeth married Nathaniel Foot in St. James Church, on East Hill in Colchester, Essex, England, about 1615. ^{[2] [3]} Since attendance at the nearest church each Sunday was required in Protestant Colchester during this period, it seems very likely that Nathaniel and EIizabeth met while attending services at the St. James Church on Hill Street. [Map and more on this church to be added.]

Together Elizabeth and Nathaniel had seven children. The first two were baptized in Colchester's St. James Church where they were married in the East Hill neighborhood. Their youngest child, Rebecca, was born in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1634.

Seven children were born to Elizabeth and Nathaniel Foot, five females and two males: ^[4]

1. Elizabeth Foot m. Josiah Churchill
2. Nathaniel Foot
3. Mary Foot m. Stoddard, Goodrich, and Tracy
4. Robert Foot
5. Frances Foot m. Dickinson and Barnard
6. Sarah Foot m. Judson
7. Rebecca Foot m. Smith and Cooke

New England

About 1633, Elizabeth and Nathaniel Foot migrated to Massachusetts Bay Colony along with their six children born in England. The first record of Nathaniel Foot in Massachusetts Bay Colony is on September 3, 1634, when he took the colony's freeman's oath.^[5] Rebecca, their seventh child, was born in Watertown that same year.

Shortly thereafter, Nathaniel, Elizabeth and their six children formed a party of other migrants led by explorer John Oldham and left Watertown to begin a new town on the middle Connecticut River. Called first by its native name Pyqaug, it was soon renamed Wethersfield, in honor of Wethersfield in Essex, England.

The first towns settled along the Connecticut River were at first considered to be under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts Colony. However, [the settlers along the Connecticut River chose to separate from the leaders of Boston, forming a alliance with the coastal settlements of New Haven and Milford. ] (add citation)

When Nathaniel died in 1644 at age 51 without having made a will, Elizabeth was appointed administrator by the court, an indication that she was viewed as able to read, write, and handle property matters. She received a third of his estate as prescribed by law.

Second Marriage

In 1646, Elizabeth Foote married for a second time to widower Thomas Welles, who was serving as the Governor of Connecticut Colony in two separate terms. ^[6] Elizabeth was about fifty years old, and no children were born to this marriage. She continued to live in her home in Wethersfield, and Governor Welles split his time between Hartford and Wethersfield.

Governor Welles' will, proved on 11 April 1660, made the following arrangements for Elizabeth: “My will is that my wife should enjoy the on halfe of my houseing & Orchard & twelve pound pr annum out of my Estate during her life, she keeping the said houseing in Repair, and that the land wch I head of hers should return to her agayne; also I give her the bay mare & two kine, ... and that howsehold stuffe wch remaynes that was formerly hers, and the use of such Implements of household during the tyme she remaynes a wyddowe.”

Years later, on 7 Sept 1676: there's a record of “Mrs. Welles petitioning this Court for some relief respecting what was allowed her by her deceased second husband regarding action by his son Robert: "This Court order that Mr. Robert Welles doe set her part of her house in repayre [repair] according to the order of the General Court, & that what he hath damnyfyed her Barne by parting with the other part of the Barn that did adjoyn to it, he shall repayre, & make up the annuity of Twelve pounds Pr annum that By the will the sayd Mr. Welles is to pay his grand mother. He shall pay to her in wheat, pease & Indian Corn by equall proportion at prise Current. And the orchard Mr. Welles had Layd out to her by Mr. Wadsworth & Mr. Demmon as her part of the orchard, she is to possesse it according to his will, & is not to be molested in it by Mr. Robert Welles; & in case of blasting of wheat, then to pay some in porck." [Citation exists, to be added from notes...]

Death

Elizabeth Welles died on July 28, 1683 in Wethersfield, Connecticut Colony. Her death is not registered in Wethersfield per the Barbour Collection of Connecticut Vital Records. She was almost certainly buried in the Wethersfield Church Cemetery, but neither gravestone nor record survived from that time.

Note that her Find A Grave profile lists the disputed parents as fact. ^[7]

Will

Mrs. Elizabeth Welles made her will 28 March 1678. Her inventory was taken 3 Sept 1683, valuing her estate at L 328-12-06. In her will “for the setleing of the Temporall estate God hath lent me. & that peace may be continued amongst my relations.” She left nothing to her Welles family, due to the fact that her marriage to Thomas Welles was late in life and they did not share any children. She asked that her debts be paid and made the following bequests to her Foote children (using her spelling):

• Robert Foote (son who died in 1681) “& to his heires forever prohibiting him the sale of the same – 14 acres in the great meadow and 30 acres in the west field. He was to pay 45 pounds, distributed to his sisters for this land.
• To the children of deceased daughter Sarah Judson – 9 pounds + 1/5 of the remainder of the estate.
• Elizabeth Churchell, daughter – 9 pounds + 1/5 of the remainder of the estate.
• Mary Goodrich, daughter – 9 pounds + 1/5 of the remainder of the estate.
• Frances Barnard, daughter – 9 pounds + 1/5 of the remainder of the estate.
• Rebecca Smith, daughter – 9 pounds + 1/5 of the remainder of the estate.
• Her son Nathaniel Jr. died before 1678 when this will was made. His children inherited: Nathaniel ½ of 11 pounds, Samuel ½ of 11 pounds, Daniel 40 shillings, and Elizabeth 4 pounds.
• John Studder, grandson, son of daughter Mary – “halfe of my Great lott” [Note: This is John Stoddard, jr., son of John sr and Mary Stoddard.]
• Joseph & Benjamin Churchell, grandsons, sons of Elizabeth - “halfe of my Great lott”
• After Robert’s death a “Memorandum” dated 16 Aug 1682 was created leaving one half of Robert’s land (and the payment) to her grandson Nathaniel, son of her son Nathaniel. Nathaniel’s ½ of 11 pounds is divided among the four living daughters. Rents that are due are also to be divided by the four living daughters. [1682 court Memorandum citation not found]

Research Notes

Disputed Parents:

• If anyone has other valid sources for parents John Deming and Elizabeth Gilbert, please add them, with a note in the Comments, as this has been a point of conflict. A primary source would nice. Dellinger-332

• Research Notes for discussion on the now accepted sibling relationship between Elizabeth (Deming) (Foote) Wells and John Deming.

Probable Sister of John Deming In “John Deming and Elizabeth Foote” (1979), George E. McCracken writes:

• • For many years it has been known that in her will dated 28 March 1678, probated 1683, may be found in Manwaring’s Digest 1:379 f. ^[8] Elizabeth, successively wife and widow of Nathaniel Foote and then of Governor Thomas Welles, all of Wethersfield, Conn., named as one of two overseers “my beloved Brother Mr John Deming sen.”… Nathaniel's estate p. 12; Thomas Welles estate p. 162, 163; Elizabeth Welles p. 379.
    

• • The relationship of Elizabeth and John Deming can have been established in one of a number of ways, to wit, as follows:
    

• • • a) If Nathaniel Foote married Elizabeth Deming, sister of John, as most people have supposed;

• • • b) If Nathaniel Foote married Elizabeth, uterine sister of John Deming, a possibility never before, to my knowledge, suggested;

• • • c) If John Deming married a sister of Nathaniel Foote;

• • • d) If John Deming and Nathaniel Foote married sisters;

• • • e) If Thomas Welles married a sister of John Deming for his first wife;

• • • f) If John Deming married a sister of Thomas Welles;

• • • g) If John Deming and Thomas Welles married sisters.^[9]

McCracken proceeds to give arguments against (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g):

Against (c):

• • Even if John Deming were born as early as 1610, as Mrs. [Winifred Lovering Holman] also suggests [in her article "The Deming Line"], he was evidently much younger than Elizabeth who had married Nathaniel Foote about 1615. This suggests that probably he had not married either of the sisters of Nathaniel Foote [Elizabeth and Mary].^[10]

Against (d):

• • Honor Treat [the wife of John Deming] had undeniably a sister named Elizabeth. She, however, was baptized, according to our authorities, 25 July 1627 in Pitminster, whereas Nathaniel Foote was undoubtedly married to our Elizabeth in England ca. 1616… [W]e can be quite certain that it was not this Elizabeth Treat who married, successively, Nathaniel Foote and Thomas Welles.^[11]

Against (e), (f), and (g):

• • There is [an] admirable treatment of the family [of Governor Thomas Welles] in an article by Lemuel Aiken Welles (New England Historical and Genealogical Register 80:279-305; 84:343 f.) which treats the English generations; and also a superb account by Mr. Jacobus himself (Hale, House and Related Families 777-803), and another fine discussion by Mrs. Mary Lovering Holman, Ancestry of Col. John Harrington Stevens and his wife Frances Helen Miller (1948), 433-445. These show that the origin of the Welles family was in Warwickshire, and that the first wife of Governor Thomas Welles was Alice Tomes. It is therefore quite clear that Possibilities (e) and (f) are completely out, and that there is little possibility for (g).^[12]

Given the arguments against (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g), only accounts (a) and (b) remain untouched. If (a), the Elizabeth who married Nathaniel Foote and Thomas Welles shared a father with John Deming and was named “Elizabeth Deming”; if (b), the Elizabeth who married Nathaniel Foote and Thomas Welles shared a mother but not a father with John Deming and was named “Elizabeth” but not “Elizabeth Deming.” If either (a) or (b) is the correct account of the relationship between John Deming and the Elizabeth, John Deming and Elizabeth were at least half-siblings. Since the arguments against (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) render (a) and (b) the most likely accounts of the relationship between John Deming and Elizabeth, the Elizabeth who married Nathaniel Foote and Thomas Welles was probably at least a half-sibling of John Deming.

This conclusion is accepted by Robert Charles Anderson (2001), whose entry for Nathaniel Foote in the second volume of The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635 reads in part:

• • MARRIAGE: By 1617 Elizabeth _____, probably Elizabeth Deming, sister of JOHN DEMING {1636, Wethersfield}^[13]

Given that Elizabeth was born about 1595 (based on her marriage to Nathaniel Foote, about 1615) and that John Deming was born about 1615 (based on his being about age 90 when he died in 1705), Elizabeth would have been about 20 years older than John Deming. Such a difference in age is perhaps more common amongst half-siblings than amongst full-siblings.

Sources

1. ↑ See the "Register of baptisms in the Dutch Church at Colchester from 1645 to 1728" by Neder Duytsche Gemeinte (Colchester, England); Huguenot Society of London; Moens, W. J. C. (William John Charles), 1833-1904; and Waller, William Chapman, 1850-1917 Vol 12 at Archive.org
2. ↑ Goodwin, Nathaniel. The Foote Family, Or, The Descendants of Nathaniel Foote, One of the First Settlers of Wethersfield, Conn., with Genealogical Notes of Pasco Foote, who Settled in Salem, Mass., and John Foote and Others of the Name, who Settled More Recently in New York. Hartford, CT: Press of Case Tiffany, 1849. (pp vii-x.)
3. ↑ Foote, Abram W. Foote family, comprising the genealogy and history of Nathaniel Foote, of Wethersfield, Conn., and his descendants; also a partial record of descendants of Pasco Foote of Salem, Mass., Richard Foote of Stafford County, Va., and John Foote of New York City. Rutland, Vermont: The Tuttle Company, 1907. (p 17.)Google Books or Archive.org.
4. ↑ Anderson, Robert Charles, George F. Sanborn Jr., Melinde Lutz Sanborn. 'The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635: Volume II, C-F. New England Historic Genealogical Society: Boston 2001, p. 542. Sketch of Nathaniel Foote.subscriber$
5. ↑ Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, vol. 1 (Boston: William White, 1853), p. 369.
6. ↑ Bradford, Mildred. "Moses S. Curtis Descendants and Ancestors. Publ. Baltimore, Md: Gateway Press, 2000. p. 79.
7. ↑ "Find a Grave", database, Find A Grave: Memorial #28849487 (accessed 2 January 2025), Memorial page for Elizabeth Deming Foote Welles (4 Oct 1595 - 28 Jul 1683), citing Wethersfield Village Cemetery, Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA; Maintained by Dorothy (contributor 47601262).
8. ↑ Manwaring, Charles William (compiler), at Internet Archive.org, [1] A Digest of the Early Connecticut Probate Records. Vol I Hartford District, 1635-1700, (pp 379/80). Hartford: RS Peck & Co., Printers, 1904.
9. ↑ McCracken, George E. "John Deming and Elizabeth Foote." The American Genealogist 55:28. American Ancestors (subscription)
10. ↑ McCracken, George E. "John Deming and Elizabeth Foote." The American Genealogist 55:31.
11. ↑ McCracken, George E. "John Deming and Elizabeth Foote." The American Genealogist 55:29. American Ancestors (subscription)
12. ↑ McCracken, George E. "John Deming and Elizabeth Foote." The American Genealogist 55:30. American Ancestors (subscription)
13. ↑ McCracken, George E. "John Deming and Elizabeth Foote." The American Genealogist 55:28-31. American Ancestors (subscription)

See Also:

• Jacobus, Donald Lines, compiled & edited 1930-2. History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield. For the Eunice Dennie Burr Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution (Fairfield, Connecticut), Vol. 1, page 655.
• Source: New England Marriages Prior to 1700, Author: Clarence Almon Torrey. Publication: Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1985.
• Source : Ancestors of American Presidents: Author: Gary Boyd Roberts. : Publication: New England Historic Genealogical Society; Location: Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, USA; Date: 2009.
• Case, Lafayette Wallace. 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. Publication: Fergus Printing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1889, Second Date, 1984. p. 33
• Welles, Lemuel A., The English Ancestry of Gov. Thomas Welles of Connecticut, NEHGS, Boston, 1926. Vol. 80, Page 23.
• Northwestern Historical Association. Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Northwest Historical Association., Madison, Wisconsin, 1904, Vol. 2, p. 291-294).