Person talk:Samuel Welles (9)


The Date of the Death of Captain Samuel Welles [20 October 2013]

Goodwin (258), Savage (4:477), Stiles' Wethersfield (2:775). Jacobus (FOOF 1:655) and Jacobus (again) (Hale, House 788) all give 15 July 1675 as the date of Captain Welles' death; Goodwin (1856) being the earliest of these records. I can find no earlier record of a an exact date of the event, which was not recorded in any published Connecticut vital records. Manwaring's abstract of the Captain's probate file, presumably taken directly from the primary documents, indicates that the inventory of his estate was taken on 15 July 1675. I find it hard to believe that Captain Welles could drown in the Connecticut River (an unexpected death since he was about 47 years of age at the time); the committee of three prominent citizens (Samuel Talcott, John Chester and John Deming) could be gathered; and the inventory of the Captain's estate completed all on the same day. Since there is apparently nothing close to a primary record of his death, I suspect that it occurred some time before the date indicated by Manwaring for the inventory of his estate.--jaques1724 14:12, 20 October 2013 (UTC)

Apparently he was alive on 9 Jun 1675 since the marriage of Robert Welles and Elizabeth Goodrich was recorded on that date with Capt. Samuel Welles performing the marriage.